Energy Investment Strategies and long term Emission Reduction Needs

01.05.2010 - 30.04.2012
Research funding project
Policy actions and subsequent investments within the energy system are increasingly influenced by future emission reduction requirements. This future development towards high performance and low emissions will require huge investments, capital as well as capacity building. Investment decisions taken now are affecting the energy system in the long run. However, in order to avoid expensive lock-in effects and sunk investments, policy makers need to support such investment decisions by governing long term paths towards a desired sustainable future. The basis of such policy and investment strategies is formed by top down derived (exogenous) requirements for Austrian emission pathways (due to international burden sharing) and bottom up derived energy consumption and production and investment scenarios. Hence, the first aim of this study is to determine the future requirements for Austria with respect to greenhouse gas emission reductions on a scientific basis. In order to achieve this objective, global and trans-regional climate and energy scenarios will be broken down consistently into Austrian scenarios. As the second aim, the effects of these scenarios on the Austrian energy system, the corresponding technologies and associated investments as well as their mitigation potentials will be assessed. This step will be performed for the sectors housing and service, key industries, energy supply and transport. The top down determined emission scenarios will be confronted with a bottom up analysis of reduction potentials in order to assess the possible contribution of various sectors (including demand reduction). For this step we apply sector specific, cost driven, simulation models. Finally, these analyses allow ¿ under consideration of future uncertainties ¿ to derive cornerstones of necessary policy actions as well as normative scenarios of a long-term Austrian emission reduction and energy strategy. These key dates of a long-term strategy, including effects for various economics sectors, enable the necessary political discussions on consequences of climate targets and corresponding decisions.

People

Project leader

Project personnel

Institute

Grant funds

  • Kommunalkredit Austria AG (National) Kommunalkredit Public Consulting (KPC)

Research focus

  • Sustainable and Low Emission Mobility: 70%
  • Modeling and Simulation: 30%

Keywords

GermanEnglish
Klimaclimate
Reduktionspotentialereduction potentials
Energieerzeugungenergy supply
Simulationsmodellesimulations models
EnergiesystemEnergysystem
Emissionsreduktionemission reduction
Investitionsstrategieninvestment strategies
Energieverbrauchenergy use
Treibhausgasemissionengreenhouse gas emissions

External partner

  • Institut für Energiesysteme und Elektrische Antriebe
  • Universität Graz, Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change
  • Institut für Energietechnik und Thermodynamik
  • ÖIR Informationsdienste GmbH

Publications