Dartmouth Events

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Meeting ID: 999 5495 4616   
Passcode: 664246

Achieving an economy-wide net-zero emissions target entails transformational changes in human-environmental-engineered systems. Designing future energy and industrial infrastructure systems requires balancing multiple and often conflicting objectives of multiple actors.

Macro-energy system models are increasingly used to plan systems and typically adopt least-cost objectives to select optimal technoeconomic pathways to achieve climate goals. Whereas non-cost objectives that may influence decision and design processes are often treated as outcomes rather than explicit objectives.

This presentation will review technological pathways and infrastructure deployment to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century. Then, an approach for operationalizing non-cost objectives associated with air quality, labor, and land use in macro-energy system models will be demonstrated through case studies of coal electric power retirements, natural gas supply chain development, and utility-scale solar siting.