Energy and Environmental Analysis

Energy is the life-blood of the U.S. economy. Today our energy sector is facing unprecedented change, such as states restructuring electricity markets, and the consideration of new legislation to control carbon, mercury, and particulate emissions, oil and gas drilling in sensitive areas, and pipeline safety. The recent boom in the "new economy," which features a rapid rise in Internet and E-commerce firms, relies heavily on reliable and abundant electricity. In California this boom has contributed to supply and demand imbalances in a newly restructured electricity market with a subsequent rapid and unexpected rise in wholesale electricity prices. Coupled with rising oil and natural gas prices,this situation indicates a time of high volatility in energy markets in the U.S.

Government and industry decision makers are faced with increased unknowns and complexities as they attempt to establish sound policies to track and manage rapid energy market changes. Fortunately, D-4 is developing new analysis tools that can capture the interaction of humans, markets, and physical infrastructure systems in simulations of complex energy systems. We leverage significant computational resources and state-of-the-art software to build these simulations. The energy analysis projects in D-4 involve the modeling and analysis of various energy supply systems, both domestic and international. These analyses are used to forecast resource production and consumption using different assumptions and constraints. Studies are also done to determine the impact of changing technologies, such as the introduction of environmentally friendly processes, and the impact of changing regulations on energy supply.