Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) produced the first diagrams illustrating U.S. national commodity use in the mid-1970s. The most widely recognized of these charts is the U.S. energy flow chart, however, LLNL has also published charts depicting carbon (or carbon dioxide potential) flow and water flow at the national level as well as energy, carbon and water flows at the international, state, municipal and organizational (eg. Air Force) level. Flow charts, also referred to as Sankey Diagrams, are valuable as single‐page references that contain quantitative data about resource, commodity and byproduct flows in a graphical form that also conveys structural information about the system that manages those flows. These flow charts help scientists, analysts, and other decision makers to visualize the complex interrelationships involved in managing our nation’s resources.