A recently published book is taking a hard look at the use of model-based analysis and scenarios in energy policy design and assessment, which has seen phenomenal growth during the past several decades.
Energy Policy Modeling in the 21st Century, edited by Professor Hassan Qudrat-Ullah of York’s School of Administrative Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, is part of the Understanding Complex Systems series published by Springer.
The book outlines how modeling applications work to improve energy policy in public decision making and it provides examples of modelling approaches and models.
It also touches on a number of current issues with chapters on Managing the Energy Basket in the Face of Limits; Power Plant Relocation Policy versus Investments in Transmission
Network Infrastructure: A Study on the Italian Energy Market; Understanding the Dynamics of Electricity Supply and Demand in Canada; and Making Progress Towards Emissions Mitigation: Modeling Low-Carbon Power Generation Policy.
“Decision making in energy systems is a complex task at best,” says Qudrat-Ullah in the book’s preface. “Complexity stems primarily from the nonlinear nature of energy–economy–
environment interactions. Given the global trend of focusing on low carbon economies, energy policy design and assessment has become a dynamic problem.”
Hassan Qudrat-Ullah
The primary focus of the modelling activity has been to study energy–economy interactions and impacts. On the other hand, there has been a global trend of energy planning efforts, increasingly focusing on low-carbon–economy interactions. The renewed concerns about climate change and energy security pose unique modelling challenges.
The book aims to disseminate the roles and applications of various modelling approaches geared at improving the usefulness of energy policy models in public decision making. The key focus is on the development, validation and applications of system dynamics and agent-based models in the service of energy policy design and assessment in the 21st century.