| Capability Title | Bioeconomy Air Emissions, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Energy Consumption Model (Bioeconomy AGE) |
| Laboratory | Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) |
| Capability experts | Hao Cai (ANL), George G. Zaimes (ANL), Troy Hawkins (ANL) |
| Description | Bioeconomy AGE is a scenario-based spreadsheet model that estimates the energy and environmental impacts of technology development and rollout of a wide range of technologies including transportation systems, energy systems, and energy and material products at scale. Bioeconomy AGE is integrated with several existing BETO supported models including the Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model, Biomass Scenario Model (BSM), and Automotive Deployment Options Tool (ADOPT), and has been used for cross-sectoral analysis and assessment of co-optimized fuels and light-duty engines. Recently, Bioeconomy AGE has been expanded to evaluate scenarios involving the interaction between internal combustion engine, hybrid, and electric vehicles, and a more complete treatment of heavy-duty vehicles. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) scenarios and temporally resolved emissions factors for aviation and marine fuels were added to Bioeconomy AGE to improve estimates of biomass and waste resource use, and emissions across sectors. |
| Limitations | Uncertainty in technology deployment, substitution, and rebound effect(s). These limitations can be addressed via sensitivity analysis, and scenario evaluation covering a wide solution space. |
| Unique aspects | Bioeconomy AGE quantifies the size of the prize and potential tradeoffs across energy and environmental metrics associated with scaling up technologies, including how future changes in the energy sector and economy could affect the efficacy of technology deployment. |
| Availability | The analysis team is available for consultation with industry and academic partners. |
| Citations/references |
Rogers, J. N.; Stokes, B.; Dunn, J.; Cai, H.; Wu, M.; Haq, Z.; Baumes, H. An Assessment of the Potential Products and Economic and Environmental Impacts Resulting from a Billion Ton Bioeconomy. Biofuels Bioprod. Biorefining 2017, 11 (1), 110–128. https://doi.org/10.1002/bbb.1728. Dunn, J. B.; Newes, E.; Cai, H.; Zhang, Y.; Brooker, A.; Ou, L.; Mundt, N.; Bhatt, A.; Peterson, S.; Biddy, M. Energy, Economic, and Environmental Benefits Assessment of Co-Optimized Engines and Bio-Blendstocks. Energy Environ. Sci. 2020, 10.1039.D0EE00716A. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EE00716A. |