ESCAPE: Energy Systems Planning

Download ESCAPE Brochure

The Energy Systems Center for Analysis and Policy Evaluation (ESCAPE) is a new center designed to bring informed decision-making to energy systems planning.  Together with our partners from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, ESCAPE will provide whole-system analysis and advanced computing capabilities to evaluate and compare energy technologies and policy alternatives. The first ESCAPE workshop was held at Argonne June 13-17, 2011. Argonne taught students and international policy makers how to leverage Argonne’s Energy and Power Evaluation Program.

The one-week training workshop introduced the foundations of the model and helped researchers understand the systems-based approach to determine long-term energy supply and demand balances. Attendees learned how to leverage the model to evaluate energy policies, energy efficiency and renewable resource implications as well as analyze environmental emissions and plan long-term energy sector development strategies.

More workshops on Argonne’s Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Transportation Model and agent-based modeling capabilities are being scheduled for later in the year. ESCAPE is built on decades of Argonne’s energy systems experience and is closely aligned with Northwestern’s Initiative for Sustainability and Energy and several of the University of Chicago’s interdisciplinary research programs including the Harris School Energy Policy Institute, the Booth School of Business and the Computation Institute.

Drawing on the intellectual resources at Argonne and the universities, ESCAPE provides the platform for progress to develop a blueprint for our nation’s successful transition to a sustainable, environmentally friendly, and secure energy system, including:

• Energy technology research, design, development and deployment
• Transportation technology development and systems engineering
• Power grid modeling
• Economic analysis
• Environmental assessment
• Life cycle analysis
• Social and behavioral modeling
• Energy infrastructure vulnerability and resiliency

For more information about ESCAPE or the upcoming workshops, please contact Pamela Sydelko at (630) 252-6727.

July 2011