Understanding the Current Energy Paradigm and Energy System Models for More Sustainable Energy System Development

Abstract

This study contributes to a better understanding of where to place different energy modelling tools and support better decision-making related to the sustainable development of energy systems. It is argued that through the connection of the energy field and the field of sustainable development, the current energy paradigm—encompassing economic, environmental and social aspects—has emerged. This paper provides an analysis of different categories of existing energy system models and their ability to provide answers to questions arising from the current energy paradigm formulated within this study. The current energy paradigm and the relevant questions were defined by conducting conceptual framework analysis. The overarching question of the current paradigm asks how different energy pathways impact on the (sustainable) development of the energy system and overall (sustainable) development globally and nationally. A review of energy system models was conducted to analyse what questions of the current energy paradigm are addressed by which models. The results show that most models address aspects of the current energy paradigm but often in a simplified way. To answer some of the questions of the current energy paradigm in more depth and to get novel insights on sustainable energy system development, it might be necessary use complementary methods in addition to traditional energy modelling methodological approaches.

Life-Cycle Assessment of Sector-Coupled National Energy Systems: Environmental Impacts of Electricity, Heat, and Transportation in Germany Till 2050

“…Lopion et al (2018) reviewed energy system models and concluded that four elements are required to provide holistic insight for national GHG reduction strategies: 1) cross-sectoral technologies (Pregger et al, 2013;Lopion et al, 2018); 2) high temporal resolution (Lopion et al, 2018;Mallapragada et al, 2018;Victoria et al, 2019); 3) high spatial resolution (Haller et al, 2012;Lopion et al, 2018;Victoria et al, 2019); and 4) evaluating environmental impacts holistically, for which LCA is best suited (Lopion et al, 2018;Ringkjøb et al, 2018). Most energy models reviewed by Lopion et al (2018) aim only for cost-optimal GHG reduction strategies but do not consider other environmental impacts (Spittler et al, 2019), e.g., REMIX (Gils et al, 2017), TIMES (Loulou et al, 2016), and OSeMOSYS (Howells et al, 2011).…”

Complementary Cooling, Heating and Power Generation System Based on Sustainable Improvement of Solar Energy and Biomass Energy

“…Solar energy is a widely distributed, sustainable source, and its applications are generally environmentally friendly. However, it has a series of serious disadvantages: relatively low energy density, intermittent and uneven distribution [5]. If it is to become one of the main energy suppliers, solar energy must be converted into other forms, such as electricity or heat.…”

Integrating Methods and Empirical Findings from Social and Behavioural Sciences into Energy System Models—Motivation and Possible Approaches

“…According to Ref. [15], the model landscape can be divided into top-down (economy-wide perspective; limited representation of the energy system), bottom-up (detailed representation of the energy system) and hybrid models (those that include the energy sector as a module), among which different methods (e.g., econometric, optimisation) are used. The distinction between bottom-up and top-down approaches is less conceptual and based more on the different sectoral and technological levels of detail [16].…”