The Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) is a structured forum for discussing important issues related to energy and the environment. The EMF was established in 1976 at Stanford University. The EMF works through a series of ad hoc working groups, each focusing on specific corporate or policy decisions. The EMF provides a non-partisan platform that ensures objective consideration of opposing views. Participation is by invitation only.
Since the late 1990s, the EMF has made contributions to the economics of climate change, as reflected in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and in the field of integrated assessment modeling more generally.
John Weyant is the current director of the EMF. Other members of the EMF include Hillard Huntington, James Sweeney, and Frank Wolak.
Ethos
The EMF was convened in 1976 over concerns that the insights that large-scale energy models could provide policymakers were being overshadowed by the "plethora of detailed quantitative results" being disseminated and discussed.2: 449 As a result, the EMF sought to bring energy modelers together to provide a proper context for their work. Indeed, the EMF was "formed to foster better communication between the builders and users of energy models in energy planning and policy analysis".3: 449
The EMF periodically establishes ad hoc working groups to conduct studies on selected energy topics. A working group then identifies relevant existing models and sets a series of tests to illuminate the basic structure and behavior of each model. Results are then compared, and the strengths and weaknesses of each model are documented in a report, which, as of 1982 is freely available.4
List of EMF projects
Reports for most completed projects are available on the EMF website.5 However, reports since 2006 occasionally been published exclusively in special editions of paywalled academic journals instead.
EMF projects 6| Project | Reported | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Completed projects | ||
| EMF 01 | 1977 | Energy and the economy |
| EMF 02 | 1978 | Coal in transition: 1980–2000 |
| EMF 03 | 1979 | Electric load forecasting: probing the issue with models |
| EMF 04 | 1980 | Aggregate elasticity of energy demand |
| EMF 05 | 1982 | US oil and gas supply |
| EMF 06 | 1981 | World oil |
| EMF 07 | 1986 | Macroeconomic impacts of energy shocks |
| EMF 08 | 1987 | Industrial energy demand, conservation, and interfuel substitution |
| EMF 09 | 1989 | North American natural gas markets |
| EMF 10 | 1991 | Electricity markets and planning |
| EMF 11 | 1992 | International oil supplies and demands |
| EMF 12 | 1993 | Controlling global carbon emissions: costs and policy options |
| EMF 13 | 1996 | Markets for energy efficiency |
| EMF 14 | — | Integrated assessment of climate change |
| EMF 15 | 1998 | A competitive electricity industry |
| EMF 16 | 1999 | The costs of the Kyoto Protocol |
| EMF 17 | — | Prices and emissions in a restructured electricity market |
| EMF 18 | — | International trade dimensions of climate policies |
| EMF 19 | 2002 | Climate change: technology strategies and international trade |
| EMF 20 | 2003 | Natural gas, fuel diversity, and North American energy markets |
| EMF 21 | 2008 | Multi-gas mitigation and climate change |
| EMF 22 | 2010 | Climate change control scenarios |
| EMF 23 | 2009 | World natural gas markets and trade |
| EMF 24 | 2014 | US technology and climate policy strategies |
| EMF 25 | 2011 | Energy efficiency and climate change mitigation |
| EMF 26 | 2013 | Emissions and market implications of new natural gas supplies |
| EMF 27 | 2014 | Global technology and climate policy strategies |
| EMF 28 | 2013 | The effects of technology choices on EU climate policy |
| EMF 29 | 2012 | The role of border carbon adjustment in unilateral climate policy |
| Current projects (as of late-2016) | ||
| EMF 30 | Short-lived climate forcers and air quality | |
| EMF 31 | North American natural gas markets in transition | |
| EMF 32 | US GHG and revenue recycling scenarios | |
| EMF 33 | Bio-energy and land use | |
| ||
See also
- Open Energy Modelling Initiative – an open source energy modeling initiative centered on Europe
External links
References
"Energy Modeling Forum - people". Retrieved 18 February 2025. https://emf.stanford.edu/people ↩
Huntington, Hillard G; Weyant, John P; Sweeney, James L (1 January 1982). "Modeling for insights, not numbers: the experiences of the Energy Modeling Forum" (PDF). Omega: The International Journal of Management Science. 10 (5): 449–462. doi:10.1016/0305-0483(82)90002-0. ISSN 0305-0483. Retrieved 2016-10-22. https://web.stanford.edu/group/emf-research/docs/planning_papers/PP6.5.pdf ↩
Huntington, Hillard G; Weyant, John P; Sweeney, James L (1 January 1982). "Modeling for insights, not numbers: the experiences of the Energy Modeling Forum" (PDF). Omega: The International Journal of Management Science. 10 (5): 449–462. doi:10.1016/0305-0483(82)90002-0. ISSN 0305-0483. Retrieved 2016-10-22. https://web.stanford.edu/group/emf-research/docs/planning_papers/PP6.5.pdf ↩
Huntington, Hillard G; Weyant, John P; Sweeney, James L (1 January 1982). "Modeling for insights, not numbers: the experiences of the Energy Modeling Forum" (PDF). Omega: The International Journal of Management Science. 10 (5): 449–462. doi:10.1016/0305-0483(82)90002-0. ISSN 0305-0483. Retrieved 2016-10-22. https://web.stanford.edu/group/emf-research/docs/planning_papers/PP6.5.pdf ↩
"Projects — Energy Modeling Forum". Energy Modeling Forum (EMF). Stanford, CA, USA. Retrieved 2016-10-23. https://emf.stanford.edu/projects ↩
"Projects — Energy Modeling Forum". Energy Modeling Forum (EMF). Stanford, CA, USA. Retrieved 2016-10-23. https://emf.stanford.edu/projects ↩