Beyond dollars and cents: why socio-political factors matter in energy system modeling

Abstract

Traditional energy system modeling (ESM) has predominantly focused on techno-economic factors such as costs and efficiency. However, this narrow perspective fails to capture the intricate interplay between energy systems and socio-political dynamics that significantly influence their real-world impact. This piece underlines the importance of incorporating socio-political factors into ESM and highlights the need for a more comprehensive approach. We identify several reasons why socio-political factors are often overlooked in ESM, including technical bias, complexity, data standardization challenges, time and resource constraints, and societal biases. These factors must be addressed to improve the relevancy of ESM, reduce social injustice, and promote innovation in the design of future energy systems. Incorporating socio-political factors into ESM offers several benefits. To achieve these benefits, the paper suggests a shift towards a more comprehensive and value-driven approach and offers several options for improving ESM including: (I) recognizing that socio-political factors are just as important as techno-economic factors (II) improving the structure of the modeling process (III) developing new and innovative metrics for socio-political factors (IV) linking different types of models (V) emphasizing the need for interdisciplinarity in ESM. By prioritizing the aspects of the energy system that concern people to the same degree we prioritize cost, we can derive value-driven insights to assist in creating a more sustainable future for all.