The annual INFORMS conference is a destination for scientists, researchers, and industry experts focused on operations research & analytics. The conference was recently held in Anaheim, CA, October 24-27, 2021.
I had the privilege of chairing a session titled “Macro Energy Systems: Energy and Climate.” Researchers shared presentations from the cutting edge of energy system modeling. Their work explored possible trajectories towards a low-carbon energy transition and the policies and technologies that could enable such transition.
- Lei Duan of Carnegie Science presented an analysis of the potential for nuclear power combined with thermal energy storage to contribute to a low-carbon future.
- Kenji Shiraishi of UC Berkeley shared an analysis of the possible role of hydrogen and policy choices in shaping Japan’s long-term energy future.
- Charalampos Avraam of New York University presented a detailed study of the North American natural gas market and how renewable energy policy may affect it.
- Tom Brown of the Technical University of Berlin presented a method of incorporating public acceptance of different technologies into a least-cost energy system model.
- My presentation built on the work I shared at the MIT A+B 2021 Symposium and studied the improvements modelers can find when incorporating more years of weather data into their models with large fractions of wind and solar power.
The INFORMS community is increasing interest in energy system modeling from a low-carbon transition perspective. This can only lead to positive outcomes for energy systems modelers as more researchers with backgrounds in optimization and operations research become interested in our field.
I look forward to this conference and the connections I will make next year and hope to actually attend in-person.