Originally published in 1984, this book develops a quantitative model designed for use in the evaluation of the relative merits of alternative energy R&D programmes. It is used to compare the merits of major energy-technology R&D programmes during the 1970s in the USA: Liquid-metal fast breeder reactors, synthetic fuels derived from coal and oil shale and improved efficiency in end-use technologies. The benefits/disadvantages are analyzed in terms of economics, security and the environment. Although published some years ago, the economic benefit assessed is in terms of the impact that commercialization of a particular energy-technology would have on the total 60 year cost of the US energy supply system. The security benefit is measured in terms of the reduction of crude oil imports and the environmental factors are measured here by the total tonnage of coal and oil shale that is extracted each year. All of these issues continue to be relevant today.

In order to address the twenty-first-century challenges of decarbonisation, energy security and cost-effectiveness it is essential to understand whole energy systems and the interconnection and interaction between different components. An integrated language is therefore needed to assist energy policymakers and to help industrial stakeholders assess future energy systems and infrastructure and make realistic technical and economic decisions. Whole Energy System Dynamics provides an interdisciplinary approach to whole energy systems; providing insights and understanding of it in the context of challenges, opportunities and solutions at different levels and time steps. It discusses approaches across disciplinary boundaries as well as existing issues within three main themes: theory, modelling and policy, and their interlinkage with geopolitics, markets and practice. Spataru argues that there is an urgent need for a whole energy system integration. This is necessary for effective analysis, design and control of the interactions and interdependencies involved in the technical, economic, regulatory and social dimensions of the energy system. This book is essential reading for students interested in the area of energy systems, policy and modelling. It is also a valuable read for policymakers, professionals, researchers, academics, engineers and industrial stakeholders.

Using a system dynamics approach, this book illustrates the physics of fundamental accumulation processes (stocks and flows) across the demand and supply sectors of energy systems. Examples of system dynamics simulation models are presented where these accumulation processes are driving the behavior of the system. Based on these modeling efforts, two cases (the socio-economic and environmental implications of the energy policy of Pakistan and the dynamics of green power in Ontario, Canada) are analyzed and discussed. By studying the dynamics of the fundamental structures of an energy system, the reader gains an enhanced understanding of the stocks and flows of complex systems as well as their role in energy policy. This book is of use to managers and practitioners, teachers, researchers, and students of design and assessment of policy making for complex, dynamic energy systems.

This open access book analyzes and seeks to consolidate the use of robust quantitative tools and qualitative methods for the design and assessment of energy and climate policies. In particular, it examines energy and climate policy performance and associated risks, as well as public acceptance and portfolio analysis in climate policy, and presents methods for evaluating the costs and benefits of flexible policy implementation as well as new framings for business and market actors. In turn, it discusses the development of alternative policy pathways and the identification of optimal switching points, drawing on concrete examples to do so. Lastly, it discusses climate change mitigation policies’ implications for the agricultural, food, building, transportation, service and manufacturing sectors.

A comprehensive textbook that integrates tools from technology, economics, markets, and policy to approach energy issues using a dynamic systems and capital-centric perspective. The global energy system is the vital foundation of modern human industrial society. Traditionally studied through separate disciplines of engineering, economics, environment, or public policy, this system can be fully understood only by using an approach that integrates these tools. This textbook is the first to take a dynamic systems perspective on understanding energy systems, tracking energy from primary resource to final energy services through a long and capital-intensive supply chain bounded by both macroeconomic and natural resource systems. The book begins with a framework for understanding how energy is transformed as it moves through the system with the aid of various types of capital, its movement influenced by a combination of the technical, market, and policy conditions at the time. It then examines the three primary energy subsystems of electricity, transportation, and thermal energy, explaining such relevant topics as systems thinking, cost estimation, capital formation, market design, and policy tools. Finally, the book reintegrates these subsystems and looks at their relation to the economic system and the ecosystem that they inhabit. Practitioners and theorists from any field will benefit from a deeper understanding of both existing dynamic energy system processes and potential tools for intervention.