The SEEN database has been developed to make searching a particular topic as simple as possible. The information contained in the database is divided into major categories allowing the user to perform a wide search by choosing as few as one search item, or a much narrower search by combining as many as eleven options.

In addition, the map search feature is intended to provide information based on a particular world region or a specific country, and provides a visual landscape of the major concentration areas for fossil fuel and renewable energy projects around the globe.

The Help documents are divided into major sections reflected in the contents shown below. The contents can be viewed by clicking on a topic or by simply scrolling down.

If you have trouble finding help for a particular topic or the help provided is not sufficient, please write to database@seen.org and we will be happy to assist you. Your feedback helps us to improve our database so we welcome your input.

Search Sections:

Simple Search

Advanced Search

Map Search

Suggestions for a successful search

Additional Information

Simple Search

The simple search offers four ways to perform a search: keyword, country, bank and project type. The user may select one of these or all, depending on how wide or narrow he or she wishes to make the search.

Keyword: the search engine will search for a word or phrase entered within the information currently available in all the projects contained in the database. For instance, the key word spill will yield all the projects in which the word "spill" appears in the text. Likewise, short phrases may be used, such as human rights, and the results will include projects in which human rights has been an important issue. There is no need to use quotation marks around short phrases; however, please note that entering multiple words will return hits where all of the words appear somewhere in the record, whether together or separately. Search results are calculated based on whether or not the word is in the title, the frequency of the words in the document, and the position of the first occurrence of the word in the document. The list of results is "merged" for searches with more than one keyword. Results are calculated based on the combined scores for each keyword. All items on the list are ordered highest score to lowest.

Country: This search feature allows the user to search all the projects in one country or in any region. The countries are listed individually and placed within their regional location, in the following order: Africa (limited to sub-Saharan countries); East Asia and Pacific; Europe and Central Asia; Latin America and the Caribbean; Middle East and North Africa; and South Asia. In addition, this feature allows the user to search by "World Region," although this will not display all of the projects around the world, but rather those projects (regardless of location) that involve multiple countries.

Bank: This search option finds only those projects financed by a particular bank or bank group. For example, the user may search only projects financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector finance arm of the World Bank Group. To widen the search the user may select World Bank Group, which would display all the projects financed by not only the IFC but also the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). As of November 2001, the database contains only World Bank Group projects and those of the U.S. Export Credit Agencies (ECA) - the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). However, please check back often, as information on the investments of other multilateral development banks will be added in the near future.

Project type: All the projects in the database are categorized according the type of project. These fall within seven categories:

Coal mining tracks all underground and open pit coal mines, as well as social and other assistance related to coal mining activities.

Fossil fuel infrastructure includes oil refineries, LPG plants, gas or oil pipelines, and fuel terminals.

Fossil fuel power infrastructure contains mostly transmission lines and utility reform projects.

Fossil fuel power plants catalogs all coal-fired, oil-fired, gas-fired and combined cycle power plants.

Oil/gas drilling includes projects to develop, privatize, or refurbish oil and/or gas fields.

Renewable and energy efficiency refers to solar applications, wind power, geothermal, and mini-hydro projects (less than 20 megawatts). Energy efficiency projects are those that do not add fossil fuel heating and power capacity but rather aim to prevent heat and energy losses from existing infrastructure.

Others is a very limited category. Most projects will fit into one of the above categories. However, projects that might be found here include those that may not involve direct exploration, extraction, transportation, or consumption of fossil fuels but have some relevance to a fossil fuel sector.

After selecting one or all of these search options, just click on submit and the projects that match that search will be displayed in alphabetical order, 10 projects at a time. To view a particular project, simply click on the project name and further details will be displayed. If there was an error in making the selections, or to start the search over, click the reset button.

Advanced Search:

The advanced search feature allows the user to perform searches with all of the options of the simple search (see above), in addition to several other menu items. To make multiple selections in the list boxes, use the <ctrl> key (Windows) or <apple> (Mac) and then select either "any of these terms" or "all of these terms" on the right of the menu boxes.

The advanced search options include a feature that provides a list of all the corporations/ institutions that are in one way or another involved with the projects tracked by the database. Corporations may be owners, contractors, investors, financiers, or shareholders in a project. Transnational corporations' (TNCs) specific roles are identified in the project record. The list of corporations/institutions includes private banks (e.g., Citibank). The reason for this is that sometimes, international financial institutions provide guarantees for loans that are actually made by a private bank. Because the SEEN database is intended to track the investments of multilateral development banks and not specifically private banks, we have opted to include these private banks within the list of corporations/institutions and not in the main list of banks.

The advanced search option also allows the user to search by other details such as the project status: approved means that project financing has been approved by the Board of the lending institution and that the project has either not begun or is in progress; completed means the project has been finalized and all funding has been disbursed; and proposed includes those projects that have been presented but that the Board has not made a final decision. Although all projects include a Board Date, approved or completed projects will reflect dates in the past, while proposed projects will show the projected board date, which will be at a future time. NOTE: In cases where the fiscal year, but not the actual date, of project approval is known, the date is listed as Jan. 1, XXXX.

In addition, the user is also able to search by total project cost or by international financial institution (IFI) support by entering a range in millions of US dollars. Others options include approval date (projects in the database are from 1992 to 2001). This is the date that the Board approved the project, which is not necessarily the date in which the project was begun. Project cycles can last for several years, from the time they are proposed to their actual initiation date. As was explained above, projected Board dates indicate that a decision on the project will be made at a future date. Thus, by entering future years, the user will be able to see those projects that have been proposed but not yet approved.

Finally, the advanced search feature allows the user to search specific projects by their capacity, which is normally measured in barrels for oil, megawatts for power plants or renewable energy mechanisms, cubit feet for gas, and tons for coal, by entering a range. For example, to get a listing of power plants between 500 and 1000 megawatts, the user would (enter) 500 (select) UNITS (enter) 1000 (select) UNITS (select) MEGAWATTS, and click on SUBMIT. Similarly, information may also be sorted by the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that a project is expected to release during its operational life, which is measured in tons. More about the methodology used in calculating these figures can be found here.

Once again, once the options have been entered, click SUBMIT or to start over click RESET.

Map Search

The map search feature of the database provides the user with a number of options to facilitate the search. In addition, it displays a visual landscape of the major concentrations of projects around the globe. It is intended to allow the user to search a particular region or country by simply clicking on that part of the world on the map. Once an area of the map is clicked, the projects plotted in that region will be displayed 10 at a time in alphabetical order directly under the map. Simply scroll down to see the project list. Once the world map has been zoomed in at least one level (by clicking on any part of the map) the user may also navigate around the globe by clicking on the words "south", "north", "east", "west" located on the perimeters of the map box. The map has several levels which allows the user to further narrow the search. The more you zoom, the smaller the area, the fewer the hits. You can also zoom in and out by clicking on the "zoom in" and "zoom out" buttons below the map. Although the projects are plotted with colored dots in the initial map search page, as the user zooms in closer and closer, icons describing the project types will identify the projects in that area. For example, a sun symbolizes renewable energy, while a pick denotes coal mining. The map key on the right of the map shows all seven categories and further explanation of each of these is in the Simple Search section of this Help document (please see Project Types.

Suggestions for a successful search

Ways to ensure that the user finds what he or she is looking for vary, depending on the amount of information needed and the prior knowledge of the user. The fewer items that are selected in the search options, the wider the search will be and the more hits will be displayed. However, if a user is looking for something very specific it is better to narrow the search as much as possible by selecting as many items as the user knows about the project he or she is searching. There are also ways to save time while performing a search. For example, if you select a few items in the simple search and a number of projects are displayed, you can click on any of those projects to get all the project details. Similarly, you can also click on any other word that appears in blue and underlined to obtain cross-referencing information. For instance, if you performed a simple search and selected Brazil, the search results will display all projects in that country. However, the display list provides other information such as the Bank involved, the project cost, IFI contribution, and the project status. Therefore, if the user is particularly impressed by a proposed project in Brazil and interested in seeing other proposed projects in that region, he or she can click on that project's status (PROPOSED) and will be provided with all other related proposed projects in the database without having to return to the initial search page.

Additional Information

As of June 2002, this database contains ALL of the fossil fuel and renewable energy and energy efficiency projects financed by the World Bank Group, the Export-Import Bank of the US, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, from 1992 to present. This will be continuously updated to ensure that it is always current. Data on other multilateral development banks such as the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Inter-American Development Bank will be added as information becomes available. Please check back often.