Environment General Courses (ENVIRON)

graduate level, taught in Durham

298.29. Energy Systems Modeling
Sometimes the many variables involved in a system and the complex interactions in time and space between these variables make it impossible to use analytic methods to test a theory. In these cases something analogous to experimentation must be used: computer modeling. By building a simplified model of the relevant system and enabling a computer to recreate its behavior, one can get a better understanding of the major forces that govern that system, formulate the right questions and shed some light on them. With some luck one will also be able to give some conditional answers of the form: “If X and Y happen then it is much better to do Z”.

Computer modeling is widely applied in the physical and social sciences, engineering, and business and is a fundamental tool for the analysis of energy systems. The design of new energy technologies, business strategies, and good policy requires modeling in one form or another.

The outcomes of our energy system can often be seen as the result of the optimization processes of many agents. Fuel prices, emissions quantities, capital investments, technological choices, industry organization, are all outcomes that result from the interaction of industries seeking to maximize profits, (or minimize costs), consumers seeking to maximize their welfare, and regulators seeking to minimize societal costs. Each of the actors chooses the best strategies given the constraints and uncertainties imposed by the actions of others and by our natural environment and economic system.

Understanding how to formulate an optimization problem and how to solve it is then an essential skill for analyzing energy systems and making decisions at the user, corporate or regulatory level.

Course General Objective

This intends to be a friendly and practical introduction to the use of computer models and the methods of optimization and simulation for students interested in the analysis of energy and environmental systems. The course makes emphasis in formulation of optimization problems or simulation models and in the identification of the available methods to solve them.

The goal is to enable students to formulate, implement, and use their own quantitative model to puzzle out problems related to private and public decision making in the context of our energy system and the environment. The class presents applications and case studies that deal with problems of energy systems, their externalities and the government policies that affect them, but students from other fields will be given the opportunity to study applications closer to their interests.