Decarbonization Of Energy System Research Articles

Decarbonization potential of floating solar photovoltaics on lakes worldwide

As climate change progresses, there is increasing emphasis on net zero and energy system decarbonization. Several technologies are contributing to this agenda, but among these, the growth of solar photovoltaics has consistently exceeded all projections. With increasing land-use pressures, and the expense of building-mounted photovoltaics, water surfaces are increasingly being exploited to host these technologies. However, to date, we lack an understanding of the global potential of floating solar photovoltaics and, as such, we do not yet have sufficient insight to inform decisions on (in)appropriate areas for future deployment. Here we quantify the energy generation potential of floating solar photovoltaics on over 1 million water bodies worldwide (14,906 TWh). Our analysis suggests that with a conservative 10% surface area coverage, floating solar photovoltaics could produce sufficient energy to contribute a considerable fraction (16%, on average) of the electricity demand of some countries, thus playing an important role in decarbonizing national economies.

Deployment of carbon removal technologies could reduce the rapid and potentially disruptive pace of decarbonization in South Africa's climate ambitions

As a developing country, South Africa faces the risk of having to undertake disruptive actions to meet its internationally pledged emission reduction targets. It has become necessary to find alternative measures for South Africa to meet its climate targets without such a disruptive and aggressive transformation of its energy sector. To truly reach net-zero CO2 emissions, South Africa must ensure that residual emissions from its recalcitrant sectors are equally compensated by carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Given the potential for CDR technologies to delay the need for rapid emissions cuts, we leverage this characteristic to explore their role in helping South Africa achieve its climate targets on time, but through a less disruptive and overly aggressive pace of energy system decarbonization. Using an integrated assessment model, we show that while reaching its emission reduction targets, the presence of novel CDR (nCDR) approaches could significantly reduce South Africa's mitigation costs to $155-240/tCO2 instead of $190–590/tCO2 by 2050 in the absence of nCDR. Furthermore, the availability of nCDR may allow for a more gradual transition towards renewable and nuclear power generation compared to scenarios without nCDR. Importantly, we reveal that nCDR could help avoid asset stranding of up to 4–6 GW and $15–25 billion in associated costs between 2016 and 2050. However, this comes at the cost of higher residual greenhouse gas emissions due to the continued reliance on fossil fuels under nCDR availability. Overall, South Africa's priority must remain on decarbonization, especially in sectors where fuel switching and energy efficiency are feasible. Nonetheless, the complementary role of nCDR must not be underestimated, and South Africa should begin investing in these emerging technologies to support its ambitious climate goals.

Analytic Hierarchy Process Assessment Framework for Blockchain in Renewable Energy

The urgency to reach net-zero emissions until 2050 has created a vast interest in innovative technologies for renewable energy sector. At the same time the need for trusty and unfailing solutions will rise considering the increasing amount of decentralized and decarbonized energy systems. It has previously been described in the literature that the aforementioned characteristics could be combined by blockchain technology. Therefore, this study focuses on the practical side – the opinion of industry experts about the use of blockchain technology in renewable energy. By using analytic hierarchy process analysis, the goal of this study is to develop a methodology for the selection of the most appropriate blockchain applications in renewable energy and to identify and evaluate the possible types of use taking into account socio-economic, political and legal, technological and environmental factors. The results of this study highlights the important influence of political, legal and technological factors like involvement of government institutions and possible attacks to the system, but considers the economic factors as the least significant for the introduction and use of blockchain technology in the renewable energy sector. The most promising use cases for blockchain would be associated with reliable and immutable certificates of origin for renewable energy and use in smart grid (including smart metering), smart homes and relevant Internet of Things applications. The use of crypto-assets and initial coin offerings for renewable energy development should be viewed with precaution and willingness to inform and educate considering social factors like public opinion and societies’ knowledge on crypto-assets.

Multi-option analytical modeling of levelized costs across various hydrogen supply chain nodes

Hydrogen is envisioned to become a fundamental energy vector for the decarbonization of energy systems. Two key factors that will define the success of hydrogen are its sustainability and competitiveness with alternative solutions. One of the many challenges for the proliferation of hydrogen is the creation of a sustainable supply chain. In this study, a methodology aimed at assessing the economic feasibility of holistic hydrogen supply chains is developed. Based on the designed methodology, a tool which calculates the levelized cost of hydrogen for the different stages of its supply chain: production, transmission & distribution, storage and conversion is proposed. Each stage is evaluated individually, combining relevant technical and economic notions such as learning curves and scaling factors. Subsequently, the findings from each stage are combined to assess the entire supply chain as a whole. The tool is then applied to evaluate case studies of various supply chains, including large-scale remote and small-scale distributed green hydrogen supply chains, as well as conventional steam methane reforming coupled with carbon capture and storage technologies. The results show that both green hydrogen supply chains and conventional methods can achieve a competitive LCOH of around €4/kg in 2030. However, the key contribution of this study is the development of the tool, which provides a foundation for a comprehensive evaluation of hydrogen supply chains that can be continuously improved through the inputs of additional users and further research on one or more of the interconnected stages.

Operative Benefits of Residential Battery Storage for Decarbonizing Energy Systems: A German Case Study

The reduction in PV prices and interest in energy independence accelerate the adoption of residential battery storage. This storage can support various functions of an energy system undergoing decarbonization. In this work, operative benefits of storage from the system perspective, namely, generation cost reduction and congestion mitigation, are investigated. Germany is chosen as a case study due to its strong reliance on variable renewable energy. For the analysis, an economic dispatch model with a high spatial resolution is coupled with a pan-European transmission grid model. It is shown that the system’s generation costs are highest when the assets are used only to maximize PV self-consumption, and the costs are lowest when the storage also reacts to the market dynamics. This amounts to a 6% cost reduction. Both operation strategies result in an equal level of grid congestion and infrastructure loading. This is improved with a strategy that accounts for regional peak reduction as a secondary objective. The high congestion level emphasizes that grid expansion needs to keep pace with the generation and electrification expansion necessary to decarbonize other sectors. Lastly, policymakers should enable multipurpose utilization, e.g., via the introduction of market-oriented retail electricity prices with intervention options for grid operators.

The Role of Flexibility in the Integrated Operation of Low-Carbon Gas and Electricity Systems: A Review

The integration of gas and electricity networks has emerged as a promising approach to enhance the overall flexibility of energy systems. As the transition toward sustainable and decarbonized energy sources accelerates, the seamless coordination between electricity and gas infrastructure becomes increasingly crucial. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art research and developments concerning the flexibility in the operation of low-carbon integrated gas and electricity networks (IGENs) as part of the whole system approach. Methods and solutions to provide and improve flexibility in the mentioned systems are studied and categorized. Flexibility is the system’s ability to deal with changes and uncertainties in the network while maintaining an acceptable level of reliability. The presented review underscores the significance of this convergence in facilitating demand-side management, renewable energy integration, and overall system resilience. By highlighting the technical, economic, and regulatory aspects of such integration, this paper aims to guide researchers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders toward effective decision-making and the formulation of comprehensive strategies that align with the decarbonization of energy systems.

Transitioning to a Hydrogen Economy: Exploring the Viability of Adapting Natural Gas Pipelines for Hydrogen Transport through a Case Study on Compression vs. Looping

The growing importance of hydrogen as an energy carrier in a future decarbonised energy system has led to a surge in its production plans. However, the development of infrastructure for hydrogen delivery, particularly in the hard-to-abate sectors, remains a significant challenge. While constructing new pipelines entails substantial investment, repurposing existing pipelines offers a cost-effective approach to jump-starting hydrogen networks. Many European countries and, more recently, other regions are exploring the possibility of utilising their current pipeline infrastructure for hydrogen transport. Despite the recent efforts to enhance the understanding of pipeline compatibility and integrity for hydrogen transportation, including issues such as embrittlement, blend ratios, safety concerns, compressor optimisation, and corrosion in distribution networks, there has been limited or no focus on pipeline expansion options to address the low-energy density of hydrogen blends and associated costs. This study, therefore, aims to explore expansion options for existing natural gas high-pressure pipelines through additional compression or looping. It seeks to analyse the corresponding cost implications to achieve an affordable and sustainable hydrogen economy by investigating the utilisation of existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure for hydrogen transportation as a cost-saving measure. It explores two expansion strategies, namely pipeline looping (also known as pipeline reinforcement) and compression, for repurposing a segment of a 342 km × 36 inch existing pipeline, from the Escravos–Lagos gas pipeline system (ELPS) in Nigeria, for hydrogen transport. Employing the Promax® process simulator tool, the study assesses compliance with the API RP 14E and ASME B31.12 standards for hydrogen and hydrogen–methane blends. Both expansion strategies demonstrate acceptable velocity and pressure drop characteristics for hydrogen blends of up to 40%. Additionally, the increase in hydrogen content leads to heightened compression power requirements until approximately 80% hydrogen in the blends for compression and a corresponding extension in looping length until around 80% hydrogen in the blend for looping. Moreover, the compression option is more economically viable for all investigated proportions of hydrogen blends for the PS1–PS5 segment of the Escravos–Lagos gas pipeline case study. The percentage price differentials between the two expansion strategies reach as high as 495% for a 20% hydrogen proportion in the blend. This study offers valuable insights into the technical and economic implications of repurposing existing natural gas infrastructure for hydrogen transportation.

Coordinating multiple Power-To-Gas plants for optimal management of e-fuel seasonal storage

Seasonal storage is a key feature of future decarbonized energy systems with a high share of renewable energy integration. Power-to-Gas technologies represent a promising solution to enable such storage. They allow the conversion of surplus renewable electricity into e-fuels and their storage in the long-term. Their utilization enables the integration of the electrical, fuel and heating sectors, by converting electricity into fuels and recovering the waste heat from the process. Nevertheless, to design the most profitable management strategy for such systems, advanced control tools are required. This study introduces a novel control architecture for multiple multi-energy systems that share an e-fuel seasonal storage. Each energy system has its own short-term control logic, based on Model-Predictive Control (MPC), which manages day-ahead energy exchanges, while a long-term MPC controller considers yearly dynamics and the system as a whole. This gives additional constraints to the short-term controllers, which ensure the fulfillment of yearly goals. A multi-temporal and multi-spatial hierarchical control architecture is proposed, which enables optimal seasonal storage management, and its operation is verified in a Model-in-the-Loop configuration. The controller efficiently uses seasonal storage to balance seasonal mismatch between production and demand, resulting in higher utilization of renewable energy, lower emissions and costs.

Quantifying the energy flexibility potential of a centralized air-conditioning system: A field test study of hub airports

Centralized air-conditioning systems are widely considered a major energy consumer with high energy flexibility, contributing to renewable penetration and power system regulation. Nevertheless, a lack of understanding of their system components' abilities limits the utilization of their full potential. Hereby, we took the centralized air-conditioning systems of two hub airports as typical examples and quantified their energy flexibility potential by cooling load reduction potential (qmax), cooling energy storage capacity (Q), based on field test. Cooling plants had the highest potential (qmax = 70–110 Wc/m2; Q = 500∼1500 Whc/m2), followed by terminal devices with building thermal mass (qmax = 2–11 Wc/m2; Q = 10–40 Whc/m2) and transmission & distribution networks (qmax = 50–200 Wc/m2; Q = 10–20 Whc/m2). Various air-conditioning terminal devices utilize building thermal mass to different degrees. During the investigation, the conventional all-air system used 7.8 %∼18.7 % of the building's thermal capacity, whereas that of the radiant floor system significantly increased to 38.9 %∼48.3 %. Consequently, the systems of the hub airports can participate in demand response programs with a cooling load reduction of 2∼15 MWe, for 6–20 h using different operating strategies. These findings shed light on demand-side flexibility characterization and exploitation to support a decarbonized energy system.

Modeling combined-cycle power plants in a detailed electricity market model

The efficiency and flexibility of combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGT) are gaining importance in view of more decarbonized energy systems. Therefore, an adequate representation of CCGTs in large-scale energy system models is required. When modeling large-scale energy systems, a trade-off between detailed representation of the technical restrictions and reasonable computing times emerges because of limited computing capacities.We present an approach that accounts for the operational dependencies between the gas and steam turbines of a CCGT but remains applicable in large-scale market models. Duct burners and bypasses that enable the solo operation of steam or gas turbines are also modeled. We implement our approach using the well-established Joint Market Model and apply it in a case study of the German electricity system in 2040.Our modeling approach captures more detailed operation modes, while increases in computation time remain limited. Thus, the approach is advantageous when turbine-wise modeling and analysis of CCGTs is required, e.g. for a detailed analysis of start-ups and operations. The results show no substantial differences between the aggregated market results of five cases investigated. The consideration of bypasses and duct burners yet leads to higher contribution margins for individual CCGTs – with stronger effects observed for more efficient groups.

Implications of hydrogen import prices for the German energy system in a model-comparison experiment

With its ability to store and transport energy without releasing greenhouse gases, hydrogen is considered an important driver for the decarbonisation of energy systems. As future hydrogen import prices from global markets are subject to large uncertainties, it is unclear what impact different hydrogen and derivative import prices will have on the future German energy system. To answer that research question, this paper explores the impact of three different import price scenarios for hydrogen and its derivatives on the German energy system in a climate-neutral setting for Europe in 2045 using three different energy system models. The analysis shows that the quantities of electricity generated as well as the installed capacities for electricity generation and electrolysis increase as the hydrogen import price rises. However, the resulting differences between the import price scenarios vary across the models. The results further indicate that domestic German (and European) hydrogen production is often cost-efficient.

The potential of decentral heat pumps as flexibility option for decarbonised energy systems

Decarbonising the energy system requires high shares of variable renewable generation and sector coupling like power to heat. In addition to heat supply, heat pumps can be used in future energy systems to provide flexibility to the electricity system by using the thermal storage potential of the building stock and buffer tanks to shift electricity demand to hours of high renewable electricity production. Bridging the gap between two methodological approaches, we coupled a detailed building technology operation model and the open-source energy system model Balmorel to evaluate the flexibility potential that decentral heat pumps can provide to the electricity system. Austria in the year 2030 serves as an example of a 100% renewable-based electricity system (at an annual national balance). Results show that system benefits from heat pump flexibility are relatively limited in extent and concentrated on short-term flexibility. Flexible heat pumps reduce system cost, CO2 emissions, and photovoltaics and wind curtailment in all scenarios. The amount of electricity shifted in the assessed standard flexibility scenario is 194 GWhel and accounts for about 20% of the available flexible heat pump electricity demand. A comparison of different modelling approaches and a deterministic sensitivity analysis of key input parameters complement the modelling. The most important input parameters impacting heat pump flexibility are the flexible capacity (determined by installed capacity and share of control), shifting time limitations, and cost assumptions for the flexibility provided. Heat pump flexibility contributes more to increasing low residual loads (up to 22% in the assessed scenarios) than decreasing residual load peaks. Wind power integration benefits more from heat pump flexibility than photovoltaics because of the temporal correlation between heat demand and wind generation.

Subsidizing Grid-Based Electrolytic Hydrogen Will Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Coal Dominated Power Systems.

Clean hydrogen has the potential to serve as an energy carrier and feedstock in decarbonizing energy systems, especially in "hard-to-abate" sectors. Although many countries have implemented policies to promote electrolytic hydrogen development, the impact of these measures on costs of production and greenhouse gas emissions remains unclear. Our study conducts an integrated analysis of provincial levelized costs and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions for all hydrogen production types in China. We find that subsidies are critical to accelerate low carbon electrolytic hydrogen development. Subsidies on renewable-based hydrogen provide cost-effective carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emission reductions. However, subsidies on grid-based hydrogen increase CO2e emissions even compared with coal-based hydrogen because grid electricity in China still relies heavily on coal power and likely will beyond 2030. In fact, CO2e emissions from grid-based hydrogen may increase further if China continues to approve new coal power plants. The levelized costs of renewable energy-based electrolytic hydrogen vary among provinces. Transporting renewable-based hydrogen through pipelines from low- to high-cost production regions reduces the national average levelized cost of renewables-based hydrogen but may increase the risk of hydrogen leakage and the resulting indirect warming effects. Our findings emphasize that policy and economic support for nonfossil electrolytic hydrogen is critical to avoid an increase in CO2e emissions as hydrogen use rises during a clean energy transition.

Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) as a Decision-Making Tool for Low Carbon Buildings

According to the European Energy Efficiency Directive for Buildings, member states are required to develop long-term strategies to adopt more sustainable, secure, and decarbonized energy systems in buildings by 2050. In this line of approach, an optional common regime has been established to define and calculate the smart readiness of buildings and assess their ability to adapt their operation to the needs of the occupants and the network. Thus, the smart readiness indicator (SRI) emerged, which assesses technological readiness by examining the presence and evaluation of the functionality level of various smart services, aiming at energy savings, the ability of the building to respond to users’ needs, and energy flexibility. This paper focuses on examining the SRI calculation methodology’s application to an office building, which is currently being deeply renovated. Initially, there is an analysis of the SRI, its calculation methodology, and its goals. This is followed by the practical calculation part of the SRI for a typical office building located in Greece and belonging to the climate zone of southern Europe. The results indicate that the SRIs application is not a straightforward issue since parameters that need to be considered are not regulated to the same degree. On the other hand, SRI can provide a stimulus for exploiting the renovation potential of buildings, precisely by integrating the various aspects and linking those to the use of innovative technologies.

Redesign for flexibility through electrification: Multi-objective optimization of the operation of a multi-energy industrial steam network

Steam networks are attractive for contributing to the decarbonization of energy systems. The partial or complete electrification of steam generators is expected to reduce direct carbon emissions by replacing fossil fuels. Still, this solution poses challenges in the operation of industrial sites. Most studies on the optimization of steam networks focus on single-period problems that disregard the dynamic operation of flexibility and consider only costs or profit as their objective function. In this study, we analyze the effects of the electrification of steam generators in a multi-period, multi-objective problem, which accounts for profit from energy exchanges, direct and indirect emissions, and steam blow-off. To that end, we use data from an industrial steam network and model it as a multi-objective mixed integer linear program. Five different design scenarios based on flexibility measures in steam networks are formulated with data from an industrial case study. Each problem is solved iteratively using the AUGMENCON-R algorithm to obtain points in the Pareto front efficiently. Electrification together with the inherent storage capacity of the steam network resulted in a potential average profit increase of 488 EUR/day, a potential average emissions reduction of 17.8 tCO2/day, and a potential average blow-off steam reduction of 5.7 t/day. Furthermore, our multi-objective approach reveals an operational carbon emissions abatement cost ranging from 62.5 to 363.6 EUR/tCO2, depending on exogenous data.

A critical review of challenges and opportunities for the design and operation of offshore structures supporting renewable hydrogen production, storage, and transport

Abstract. The climate emergency has prompted rapid and intensive research into sustainable, reliable, and affordable energy alternatives. Offshore wind has developed and exceeded all expectations over the last 2 decades and is now a central pillar of the UK and other international strategies to decarbonise energy systems. As the dependence on variable renewable energy resources increases, so does the importance of the necessity to develop energy storage and nonelectric energy vectors to ensure a resilient whole-energy system, also enabling difficult-to-decarbonise applications, e.g. heavy industry, heat, and certain areas of transport. Offshore wind and marine renewables have enormous potential that can never be completely utilised by the electricity system, and so green hydrogen has become a topic of increasing interest. Although numerous offshore and marine technologies are possible, the most appropriate combinations of power generation, materials and supporting structures, electrolysers, and support infrastructure and equipment depend on a wide range of factors, including the potential to maximise the use of local resources. This paper presents a critical review of contemporary offshore engineering tools and methodologies developed over many years for upstream oil and gas (O&G), maritime, and more recently offshore wind and renewable energy applications and examines how these along with recent developments in modelling and digitalisation might provide a platform to optimise green hydrogen offshore infrastructure. The key drivers and characteristics of future offshore green hydrogen systems are considered, and a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat) analysis is provided to aid the discussion of the challenges and opportunities for the offshore green hydrogen production sector.

Characterization of a 5-nozzle array using premix/micromix injection for hydrogen

Hydrogen is one of the most promising fuels to decarbonize energy systems since it has a high specific energy, a carbon-free combustion process, and may be produced sustainably through electrolysis. Direct fuel drop-in replacement cannot be done in traditional lean, premixed combustion burners because of the high reactivity of the hydrogen-air mixture and its inherently unstable nature that might lead to flashback and hardware failure. Consequently, new injection strategies and burner geometries are investigated to mitigate these risks. Here we present hydrogen capabilities of a premix/micromix injector that relies on a two-staged fuel injection strategy to offer wide fuel flexible capability (methane to hydrogen) within a single design. Five injectors are placed in a cross-shaped array to simulate a sector found in multi-element combustion systems. Stability and combustion dynamics maps are obtained for the array and OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) provides additional insight into the combustion process of these novel burners when placed in an array. The use of micromixing is shown to drastically improve the acoustics of this geometry and expand the flashback limits compared to the fully premixed configuration. Significant variability in flashback limits are observed for different additively-manufactured injector configurations. Phase-averaged OH-PLIF measurements, obtained by registering the acquisition with the acoustics module, and the 3D reconstruction of a partially-premixed flame highlight the complexity of the stabilization mechanisms for these highly three-dimensional, non-axisymmetric flames that may be subjected to large thermoacoustics. This first investigation into premix/micromix clustered injectors demonstrates the importance of better understanding the impact of flame–flame interaction in multi-element combustion systems with micromixed, or partially-premixed, combustion.

Local aggregator enhanced possibilities coupling energy savings and demand response activations

Energy communities and local flexibility aggregators offer new pathways for decentralization and decarbonisation of energy systems. Local flexibility aggregators blending heterogenous distributed energy sources (DER) are strengthening the role of households’ consumers in becoming active participants of the energy transition. The recent technological advances resulting in decline in price and increased performance of end-user premises communication devices enable the aggregation based on the granular contribution of DERs. These new aggregating actors have an unenviable role in terms of data collection, optimization and setting up a fair compensation program between peers. Aggregators have a quite important and responsible role in the energy transition, being key players in activating the granular contribution, however their technical and regulatory toolbox is lacking. This is particularly true if the current state-of-the-art of the data collection system is considered. This paper evaluates the opportunities for delivering a synergetic business model bringing together flexibility activations and energy savings delivered by households’ consumers, paying specific attention to robust approach in terms of low availability of the data. Besides revenue diversification opportunities for a local aggregator, such business model could offer a good opportunity to overcome both technical and motivational challenges for the activation of consumers in the energy market. One of the main challenges identified in a paper are the data collection requirements and the development of proper monitoring and verification techniques which could ease the identification of both energy savings and short-term flexibility activations. This paper proposes possible solutions for establishing a business model enabling the delivery of both energy savings and demand response activations for a local aggregator accessing the energy market, having in mind the technical, regulatory and privacy challenges regarding efficient and performant data collection.

The role of repowering India’s ageing wind farms in achieving net-zero ambitions

India’s ambitious net-zero climate goals include plans for a four-fold increase in current levels of wind energy generation by 2030. Many existing wind farms in India occupy sites with the best wind resources nationally but use older, smaller turbines that achieve lower capacity factors compared to modern turbine designs. A strategy of replacing existing wind turbines with state-of-the-art models (termed repowering) could boost capacity factors and ensure maximal use of available wind resources. However, a nationwide assessment of the potential wind generation increases resulting from repowering is currently lacking for India. Here, we present the first validated synthetic wind generation dataset for India based on reanalysis data and show that full repowering of the existing fleet of wind turbines could boost capacity factors by 82% nationwide (from 0.19 to 0.35). Our assessment of attainable capacity factors under full repowering exceeds equivalent estimates within the National Electricity Plan of India and national decarbonisation pathways compiled by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), suggesting less total installed capacity is required to achieve specific generation outcomes than previously estimated. Ongoing technological progress, leading to increased turbine dimensions, will drive capacity factors beyond the levels estimated here, which could further add to the generation benefits of repowering. Yet, despite the higher average output from a repowered fleet of wind generators, substantial variability in generation across timescales persists, highlighting the increasing need for power system flexibility within a decarbonised energy system.

Quantifying the carbon footprint of energy storage applications with an energy system simulation framework — Energy System Network

Energy storage is a crucial flexibility measure to temporally decouple power generation from power demand and is touted as the missing link in realizing a decarbonized energy system based on renewable energy. Energy storage capacity buildup at all levels of the global energy system is expected to accelerate the decarbonization process. To this end, a coherent mathematical framework to ascertain the carbon footprint of localized energy systems with energy storage is indispensable. This article presents an open-source energy system simulation program — Energy System Network (ESN). A variety of energy system configurations can be simulated with the Python program, which incorporates key energy system components such as generation, grid, storage, and loads. ESN features an integrated bottom-up approach that combines energy system modeling with streamlined life cycle assessment techniques to quantify the carbon footprint of all components in a localized energy system. The lifecycle phases of each component, including production, operation, and end-of-life treatment, can be considered. Carbon footprint values are obtained for two demonstrative case studies with lithium-ion battery applications: energy arbitrage and home energy systems. The metric Levelized Emissions of Energy Supply (LEES) has been used to evaluate the carbon footprint of each application. An unconventional energy arbitrage strategy designed to exploit the grid carbon intensity spreads instead of the energy price spreads manages to achieve a LEES value about 17% lower than the conventional variant. The influence of rooftop solar generation, battery energy storage system, and the energy management strategy on the LEES values for a home energy system is explored. A maximum LEES reduction of over 37% vis-á-vis the base scenario was observed with optimal energy management for the solar generation and the battery system. The open-source availability of ESN can contribute to transparency, comparability, and reproducibility in carbon footprint assessments of localized energy systems with energy storage.