The Department of Energy and Climate change has developed a web tool - 2050 Web tool - a user-friendly model that lets you create your own UK emissions reduction pathway, and see the impact using real UK data.
The tool presents you with three charts, describing the demand for energy, the supply of energy and the greenhouse gas emissions for the UK. Below the charts are a list of sectors. For each sector of the economy, four trajectories have been developed, ranging from little or no effort to reduce emissions (level 1) to extremely ambitious changes that push towards the physical or technical limits of what can be achieved (level 4). These are indicated by four numbered boxes.
If you click on a number, then that trajectory is selected and the charts recalculate - this calculation may take up to 30 seconds. If you move your mouse over the levels, a box will appear describing what that choice represents. You can find out more about each sector and what the changes would mean in practice by clicking on the name of each sector - these will display a short summary introducing the sector and explaining the levels and choices available.
Where there are letters (A, B, C, D) instead of numbers this means the trajectories within this sector represent different scenarios, rather than levels of effort. For example, we could derive energy from biomass (a lump of wood) in different ways – we could leave it as a solid fuel, or turn it into a liquid or a gas.
“National Grid believes the 2050 Calculator is a comprehensive and excellent tool by which to study alternative levels of energy demand and sources of energy supply and their potential implications for meeting the environmental targets in the most cost efficient manner. Clearly with such a complex problem the next phase of the model development will be crucial in gaining further insights and we are keen to work with DECC on such developments both in the heat sector, where the scope for different solutions for different types of properties is greatest, and on the transition to a low-carbon future.”
(Duncan Rimmer, Energy Scenarios Manager, National Grid)
Click this link and try out the tool yourself!