Article ID: | iaor2001768 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Volume: | 51 |
Issue: | 2 |
Start Page Number: | 136 |
End Page Number: | 144 |
Publication Date: | Feb 2000 |
Journal: | Journal of the Operational Research Society |
Authors: | Dyner Isaac |
Keywords: | simulation: applications |
The energy field has been dominated by ‘hard’ modelling approaches advocated by researchers from engineering and economics disciplines. The recent trend towards a more liberalised environment moves away from central planning to market-based resource allocation, leading to the creation and use of strategic tools, with much ‘softer’ specifications, in the ‘systems-thinking’ tradition. This paper presents the use of system dynamics in a generalised way, to provide a platform for integrated energy analysis. Issues of modularity and policy evolution are important in the design of the modelling platform to facilitate its use, and reuse. Hence the concept of a platform, rather than a model, has to be implemented in a coherent way if it is to provide sustained value for ongoing support to both government policy and corporate strategy.