World energy models for a sustainable future
SAPIENTIA is an EU funded project involved in the dynamics of technology and the affect that R&D activities have on technological developments. The project expands on the exploration of former power generation technologies in addressing sustainable development issues analysing both medium and long-term prospects. R&D expenditure data was gathered so that it could be integrated in all the analytical tools employed in the project. Furthermore, sustainable development indicators encompassing energy CO2 emissions, climate change, health concerns, pressure on natural resources, transport congestion, measures of social exclusion and regional imbalances were distinguished. The span of world energy models has been broadened to include longer-term analysis, which involves the re-designing of model mechanisms. Thus, a stochastic model that integrates a span of changes to the large-scale model in a scaled down form has been designed. This model enables the measurement of uncertainties and their interconnections. New technologies that will most probably have significant potential in the future have been discovered and presented to specifically serve the needs of the SAPIENTIA project. This was of primary importance since the suitable structure of the model needed to be significantly altered. Therefore, the POLES World Model was broadened to exemplify the Hydrogen Economy. Additionally it can encompass decentralised electricity generation and Carbon Capture and Sequestration technologies (CCS) for H2 and electricity production.
