Meeting the Challenges: Energy Policy Modeling with System Dynamics

Abstract

Given that energy systems are feedback systems, system dynamics methodology appears to be a natural choice for the energy policy modeling community. Among its strengths is that, it provides a powerful language to represent the causal relationship among the variables of an energy system. First, this chapter provides a brief overview of how system dynamics has been applied to a variety of issues related to the energy policy area. Second, to explain the fundamental structures of energy systems, feedback loops, and the causal loop diagram (CLD) are introduced. Procedures and rules on a feedback loop polarity are elaborated. The utility of a CLD in the construction of a dynamic hypothesis of complex problems is also discussed.