IMAGE

edit About

About

Name and version

IMAGE framework 3.0

Model link

https://models.pbl.nl/image

Institution

PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), Netherlands, https://www.pbl.nl/en.

Documentation

IMAGE documentation consists of a referencecard and detailed model documentation

Process state

published

edit Model scope and methods

Model scope and methods

Model documentation: Model_scope_and_methods - IMAGE

Model type

• Integrated assessment model
• Energy system model
• CGE
• CBA-integrated assessment model

Geographical scope

• Global
• Regional

Objective

IMAGE is an ecological-environmental model framework that simulates the environmental consequences of human activities worldwide. The objective of the IMAGE model is to explore the long- term dynamics and impacts of global changes that result. More specifically, the model aims

1. to analyse interactions between human development and the natural environment to gain better insight into the processes of global environmental change;
2. to identify response strategies to global environmental change based on assessment of options and
3. to indicate key inter-linkages and associated levels of uncertainty in processes of global environmental change.

Solution concept

• Partial equilibrium (price elastic demand)
• Partial equilibrium (fixed demand)
• General equilibrium (closed economy)

Solution horizon

• Recursive dynamic (myopic)
• Intertemporal optimization (foresight)

Solution method

• Simulation
• Optimization

Anticipation

Simulation modelling framework, without foresight. However, a simplified version of the energy/climate part of the model (called FAIR) can be run prior to running the framework to obtain data for climate policy simulations.

Temporal dimension

Base year:1970, time steps:1-5 year time step, horizon: 2100

Spatial dimension

Number of regions:26

1. Canada
2. USA
3. Mexico
4. Rest of Central America
5. Brazil
6. Rest of South America
7. Northern Africa
8. Western Africa
9. Eastern Africa
10. South Africa
11. Western Europe
12. Central Europe
13. Turkey
14. Ukraine +
15. Asian-Stan
16. Russia +
17. Middle East
18. India +
19. Korea
20. China +
21. Southeastern Asia
22. Indonesia +
23. Japan
24. Oceania
25. Rest of South Asia
26. Rest of Southern Africa

Time discounting type

• Discount rate exogenous
• Discount rate endogenous

Policies

• Emission tax
• Emission pricing
• Cap and trade
• Fuel taxes
• Fuel subsidies
• Feed-in-tariff
• Portfolio standard
• Capacity targets
• Emission standards
• Energy efficiency standards
• Agricultural producer subsidies
• Agricultural consumer subsidies
• Land protection
• Pricing carbon stocks

edit Socio-economic info

Socio-economic drivers

Model documentation: Socio-economic drivers - IMAGE

Population

• Yes (exogenous)
• Yes (endogenous)

Population age structure

• Yes (exogenous)
• Yes (endogenous)

Education level

• Yes (exogenous)
• Yes (endogenous)

Urbanization rate

• Yes (exogenous)
• Yes (endogenous)

GDP

• Yes (exogenous)
• Yes (endogenous)

Income distribution

• Yes (exogenous)
• Yes (endogenous)

Employment rate

• Yes (exogenous)
• Yes (endogenous)

Labor productivity

• Yes (exogenous)
• Yes (endogenous)

Total factor productivity

• Yes (exogenous)
• Yes (endogenous)

Autonomous energy efficiency improvements

• Yes (exogenous)
• Yes (endogenous)

edit Macro-economic info

Macro-economy

Model documentation: Macro-economy - IMAGE

Economic sector

Industry

• Yes (physical)
• Yes (economic)
• Yes (physical & economic)

Energy

• Yes (physical)
• Yes (economic)
• Yes (physical & economic)

Transportation

• Yes (physical)
• Yes (economic)
• Yes (physical & economic)

Residential and commercial

• Yes (physical)
• Yes (economic)
• Yes (physical & economic)

Agriculture

• Yes (physical)
• Yes (economic)
• Yes (physical & economic)

Forestry

• Yes (physical)
• Yes (economic)
• Yes (physical & economic)

Macro-economy

Trade

• Coal
• Oil
• Gas
• Uranium
• Electricity
• Bioenergy crops
• Food crops
• Capital
• Emissions permits
• Non-energy goods

Cost measures

• GDP loss
• Welfare loss
• Consumption loss
• Area under MAC
• Energy system cost mark-up

Categorization by group

• Income
• Urban - rural
• Technology adoption
• Age
• Gender
• Education level
• Household size

Institutional and political factors

• Early retirement of capital allowed
• Interest rates differentiated by country/region
• Regional risk factors included
• Technology costs differentiated by country/region
• Technological change differentiated by country/region
• Behavioural change differentiated by country/region
• Constraints on cross country financial transfers

Resource use

Coal

• Yes (fixed)
• Yes (supply curve)
• Yes (process model)

Conventional Oil

• Yes (fixed)
• Yes (supply curve)
• Yes (process model)

Unconventional Oil

• Yes (fixed)
• Yes (supply curve)
• Yes (process model)

Conventional Gas

• Yes (fixed)
• Yes (supply curve)
• Yes (process model)

Unconventional Gas

• Yes (fixed)
• Yes (supply curve)
• Yes (process model)

Uranium

• Yes (fixed)
• Yes (supply curve)
• Yes (process model)

Bioenergy

• Yes (fixed)
• Yes (supply curve)
• Yes (process model)

Water

• Yes (fixed)
• Yes (supply curve)
• Yes (process model)

Raw Materials

• Yes (fixed)
• Yes (supply curve)
• Yes (process model)

Land

• Yes (fixed)
• Yes (supply curve)
• Yes (process model)

Technological change

Energy conversion technologies

• No technological change
• Exogenous technological change
• Endogenous technological change

Energy End-use

• No technological change
• Exogenous technological change
• Endogenous technological change

Material Use

• No technological change
• Exogenous technological change
• Endogenous technological change

Agriculture (tc)

• No technological change
• Exogenous technological change
• Endogenous technological change

edit Energy

Energy

Model documentation: Energy - IMAGE

Behaviour

In the energy model, substitution among technologies is described in the model using the multinomial logit formulation. The multinomial logit model implies that the market share of a certain technology or fuel type depends on costs relative to competing technologies. The option with the lowest costs gets the largest market share, but in most cases not the full market. We interpret the latter as a representation of heterogeneity in the form of specific market niches for every technology or fuel.

Energy technology substitution

Energy technology choice

• No discrete technology choices
• Logit choice model
• Production function
• Linear choice (lowest cost)
• Lowest cost with adjustment penalties

Energy technology substitutability

• Mostly high substitutability
• Mostly low substitutability
• Mixed high and low substitutability

Energy technology deployment

• Expansion and decline constraints
• System integration constraints

Energy

Electricity technologies

• Coal w/o CCS
• Coal w/ CCS
• Gas w/o CCS
• Gas w/ CCS
• Oil w/o CCS
• Oil w/ CCS
• Bioenergy w/o CCS
• Bioenergy w/ CCS
• Geothermal power
• Nuclear power
• Solar power
• Solar power-central PV
• Solar power-distributed PV
• Solar power-CSP
• Wind power
• Wind power-onshore
• Wind power-offshore
• Hydroelectric power
• Ocean power

Hydrogen production

• Coal to hydrogen w/o CCS
• Coal to hydrogen w/ CCS
• Natural gas to hydrogen w/o CCS
• Natural gas to hydrogen w/ CCS
• Oil to hydrogen w/o CCS
• Oil to hydrogen w/ CCS
• Biomass to hydrogen w/o CCS
• Biomass to hydrogen w/ CCS
• Nuclear thermochemical hydrogen
• Solar thermochemical hydrogen
• Electrolysis

Refined liquids

• Coal to liquids w/o CCS
• Coal to liquids w/ CCS
• Gas to liquids w/o CCS
• Gas to liquids w/ CCS
• Bioliquids w/o CCS
• Bioliquids w/ CCS
• Oil refining

Refined gases

• Coal to gas w/o CCS
• Coal to gas w/ CCS
• Oil to gas w/o CCS
• Oil to gas w/ CCS
• Biomass to gas w/o CCS
• Biomass to gas w/ CCS

Heat generation

• Coal heat
• Natural gas heat
• Oil heat
• Biomass heat
• Geothermal heat
• Solarthermal heat
• CHP (coupled heat and power)

Note: CHP also has a CCS option

Grid Infra Structure

Electricity

• Yes (aggregate)
• Yes (spatially explicit)

Gas

• Yes (aggregate)
• Yes (spatially explicit)

Heat

• Yes (aggregate)
• Yes (spatially explicit)

CO2

• Yes (aggregate)
• Yes (spatially explicit)

Hydrogen

• Yes (aggregate)
• Yes (spatially explicit)

Energy end-use technologies

Passenger transportation

• Passenger trains
• Buses
• Light Duty Vehicles (LDVs)
• Electric LDVs
• Hydrogen LDVs
• Hybrid LDVs
• Gasoline LDVs
• Diesel LDVs
• Passenger aircrafts

Freight transportation

• Freight trains
• Heavy duty vehicles
• Freight aircrafts
• Freight ships

Industry

• Steel production
• Aluminium production
• Cement production
• Petrochemical production
• Paper production
• Plastics production
• Pulp production

Residential and commercial

• Space heating
• Space cooling
• Cooking
• Refrigeration
• Washing
• Lighting

edit Emissions, climate and impacts

Emission, climate and impacts

Model documentation: Emissions - IMAGE, Climate - IMAGE, Non-climate sustainability dimension - IMAGE

Greenhouse gases

• CO2 fossil fuels
• CO2 cement
• CO2 land use
• CH4 energy
• CH4 land use
• CH4 other
• N2O energy
• N2O land use
• N2O other
• CFCs
• HFCs
• SF6
• PFCs

Pollutants

• CO energy
• CO land use
• CO other
• NOx energy
• NOx land use
• NOx other
• VOC energy
• VOC land use
• VOC other
• SO2 energy
• SO2 land use
• SO2 other
• BC energy
• BC land use
• BC other
• OC energy
• OC land use
• OC other
• NH3 energy
• NH3 land use
• NH3 other

Climate indicators

• Concentration: CO2
• Concentration: CH4
• Concentration: N2O
• Concentration: Kyoto gases
• Radiative forcing: CO2
• Radiative forcing: CH4
• Radiative forcing: N2O
• Radiative forcing: F-gases
• Radiative forcing: Kyoto gases
• Radiative forcing: aerosols
• Radiative forcing: land albedo
• Radiative forcing: AN3A
• Radiative forcing: total
• Temperature change
• Sea level rise
• Ocean acidification

Carbon dioxide removal

• Bioenergy with CCS
• Reforestation
• Afforestation
• Soil carbon enhancement
• Direct air capture
• Enhanced weathering

Climate change impacts

• Agriculture
• Energy supply
• Energy demand
• Economic output
• Built capital
• Inequality

Co-Linkages

• Energy security: Fossil fuel imports & exports (region)
• Energy access: Household energy consumption
• Air pollution & health: Source-based aerosol emissions
• Air pollution & health: Health impacts of air Pollution
• Food access
• Water availability
• Biodiversity