Energy system

Taking a process view, an energy system "consists of an integrated set of technical and economic activities operating within a complex societal framework".

[1] Conversely, relatively pure economic modeling may adopt a sectoral approach with only limited engineering detail present.

Energy systems can range in scope, from local, municipal, national, and regional, to global, depending on issues under investigation.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) does so, for instance, but covers these measures in separate chapters on transport, buildings, industry, and agriculture.

Such considerations are not common because consumer behavior is difficult to characterize, but the trend is to include human factors in models.

[18]: 2  More explicitly: Demand should, where possible, be defined in terms of energy-service provision, as characterized by an appropriate intensity[b] – for example, air temperature in the case of space-heating or lux levels for illuminance.

This approach facilitates a much greater set of potential responses to the question of supply, including the use of energetically-passive techniques – for instance, retrofitted insulation and daylighting.

[19]: 156 A consideration of energy-services per capita and how such services contribute to human welfare and individual quality of life is paramount to the debate on sustainable energy.

The ESCo is then free to choose the best means to do so, including investments in the thermal performance and HVAC equipment of the buildings in question.

[32] A study noted significant potential for a type of energy systems modelling to "move beyond single disciplinary approaches towards a sophisticated integrated perspective".