×F5. Modelling the impact of low carbon energies

Over the past two decades and due to international pledges such as Paris Agreements, most countries around the world are moving towards decarbonising their economies. Decarbonisation requires finding alternative sources of energies that produce less (or ideally zero) greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels. The development and uptake of cleaner energy technology such as solar and wind is causing significant changes to the way national and regional energy markets are being operated. Accelerated developments in low carbon fuels such hydrogen and biogas, will require further technical, economic and social challenges to be overcome before they can meet our future energy needs associated with mobility and heating. These challenges related to our rapidly changing energy systems can be addressed by further research into:

• the economic costs and benefits of decarbonisation gas and electricity networks the potential economic benefits for industries that can adapt to low carbon fuels such as ammonia and hydrogen
• the capacity and potential of hydrogen export/imports (as a carrier of renewable energy)
• the social impact and safety issues associated with introducing new low carbon fuels
• the challenges and opportunities of using existing infrastructure for transportation and storage of new energy.

These investigations require development and application of economic, social and technical models. We invite original research papers addressing one (or several) of the aforementioned challenges, principles or characteristics.

Key topics: Low carbon fuels, Renewable energies, Electricity network, Gas network