• Energy Research

Energy Systems Modelling is growing in relevance on providing insights and strategies to plan a carbon-neutral future. The implementation of an effective energy transition plan faces multiple challenges, spanning from the integration of the operations of different energy carriers and sectors to the consideration of multiple spatial and temporal resolutions. In this review, we outline these challenges and discuss how they have been tackled by the current literature, as well as pointing at directions for future research. Many of the existing reviews identify a list of challenges common to most models, but they tend to be grouped according to type or energy carrier. Here we take a new approach and structure both well-established models and solution approaches along with the main challenges that energy modelling will have to deal with in the near future. We focus on four main current challenges that energy system models face: time and space; uncertainty; multi-energy; energy behaviour and energy transition. The main findings suggest that: demand-side management applied to multi-carrier energy system models lacks; prosumers is explored only in a limited manner; general, multi-scale modelling frameworks should be established and considered both in the dimensions of time, space, technology and energy carrier; long term energy system models tend to address uncertainty scarcely; there is a lack of studies modelling uncertainties related to emerging technologies and; modelling of energy consumer behaviour is one of the major aspect of future research.

SummaryEnvironmentally extended multiregional input‐output (EE MRIO) tables have emerged as a key framework to provide a comprehensive description of the global economy and analyze its effects on the environment. Of the available EE MRIO databases, EXIOBASE stands out as a database compatible with the System of Environmental‐Economic Accounting (SEEA) with a high sectorial detail matched with multiple social and environmental satellite accounts. In this paper, we present the latest developments realized with EXIOBASE 3—a time series of EE MRIO tables ranging from 1995 to 2011 for 44 countries (28 EU member plus 16 major economies) and five rest of the world regions. EXIOBASE 3 builds upon the previous versions of EXIOBASE by using rectangular supply‐use tables (SUTs) in a 163 industry by 200 products classification as the main building blocks. In order to capture structural changes, economic developments, as reported by national statistical agencies, were imposed on the available, disaggregated SUTs from EXIOBASE 2. These initial estimates were further refined by incorporating detailed data on energy, agricultural production, resource extraction, and bilateral trade. EXIOBASE 3 inherits the high level of environmental stressor detail from its precursor, with further improvement in the level of detail for resource extraction. To account for the expansion of the European Union (EU), EXIOBASE 3 was developed with the full EU28 country set (including the new member state Croatia). EXIOBASE 3 provides a unique tool for analyzing the dynamics of environmental pressures of economic activities over time.