High-resolution modeling of energy-services supply systems using deeco: Overview and application to policy development

Contemporary energy policy problems typically involve issues of (1) technology selection, placement, and scheduling, (2) energy-services demand modification by location and time-of-use, and/or (3) new sourcing options including emerging renewables. The high-resolution energy systems modeling environment deeco (dynamic energy, emissions, and cost optimization) naturally captures interactions between these components. deeco can assist with the search for policy sets which reduce CO2 and/or displace depletable resource use and which take advantage of cost-effective system integration synergies. The network management objective may be treated as an exogenous variable and process performance can depend on the thermodynamic intensive state of the system. Numerical studies indicate that multiple policy interventions cannot be assumed to be independent and that staging can be significant. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]