Program

Then, two days were devoted to practical group exercises. Those sessions, using TIMES models, allowed participants to discover the model (for beginners) or to exchange on their ongoing work if they were already advanced TIMES users. A prospective study project was conducted, and students had to work on it in groups during the week. The last half-day was dedicated to an oral presentation of this project and possibly the first draft of an academic paper for submission to an international peer-reviewed journal (the most advanced proposal(s) may have been continued in collaboration with the organizers up to the submission).

Spurred by issues of climate change and economic globalization, prospective modeling was considerably reinvested following years of neglect. The connections it made between numerical/quantitative projection, mathematical economics, public economy, and strategic thinking made it a valuable tool in the context of international negotiations on climate.

The renewed interest in this subject was an opportunity to present the range of analyses and prospective elements developed using the TIMES family of models to build informed energy policies compatible with climate challenges and in line with the chosen direction of society.

A variety of different research environments used the TIMES family of models; the topic was multi-disciplinary, and many TIMES modeling teams/groups were small. To be an adept user of comprehensive energy system optimization models like TIMES required expertise on the system in focus, operation research and economics, coupled with knowledge about what policymakers needed.

During the Autumn School, dedicated sessions using TIMES models allowed participants to discover the model (for beginners) or to exchange on their ongoing work if they were already advanced TIMES users.

In the context of energy transition and using concrete examples, we explored how these tools, which brought into play applied mathematics and economics skills, had become an essential aid to prospective reflection on policies to fight climate change. In other words, we intended to understand the mechanisms underlying ambitious contemporary energy policies at work in selected countries using studies carried out by local and national ETSAP teams partnering with the project.