The state of macro-energy systems research: Common critiques, current progress, and research priorities

Rachel Moglen; Kiran Prakash Chawla; Patricia Levi; Yinong Sun; Oladoyin Phillips; Benjamin D Leibowicz; Jesse D Jenkins; Emily A Grubert

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106325

The state of macro-energy systems research: Common critiques, current progress, and research priorities

iScience. 2023 Mar 5;26(4):106325. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106325. eCollection 2023 Apr 21.

Authors

Rachel Moglen¹, Kiran Prakash Chawla², Patricia Levi³, Yinong Sun⁴, Oladoyin Phillips⁵, Benjamin D Leibowicz¹, Jesse D Jenkins⁶, Emily A Grubert⁷

Affiliations

¹ Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
² Stanford Law School and Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
³ Form Energy, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA.
⁴ Environmental Health and Engineering Department, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
⁵ School of Public and International Affairs Center for Policy Research on Energy & Environment and Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
⁶ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
⁷ Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.

Abstract

The growing field of macro-energy systems (MES) brings together the interdisciplinary community of researchers studying the equitable and low-carbon future of humanity's energy systems. As MES matures as a community of scholars, a coherent consensus about the key challenges and future directions of the field can be lacking. This paper is a response to this need. In this paper, we first discuss the primary critiques of model-based MES research that have emerged because MES was proposed as a way to unify related interdisciplinary research. We discuss these critiques and current efforts to address them by the coalescing MES community. We then outline future directions for growth motivated by these critiques. These research priorities include both best practices for the community and methodological improvements.

Keywords: Energy management; Energy modeling; Energy policy; Energy systems.

Publication types

Review