KU Leuven’s Agent-Based Modeling in the AMIGDALA Project

Prof. Dr. Erik Delarue is a leading expert in sustainable energy systems at KU Leuven. He is involved with the KU Leuven Energy Institute and EnergyVille, a research collaboration between KU Leuven, VITO, and imec, focused on developing smarter and more sustainable energy solutions.

“KU Leuven’s agent-based modeling expertise brings a unique perspective by providing detailed insights into how pathways to industrial decarbonization are shaped by the decisions of boundedly rational actors. By bridging the gap between normative theoretical models and the complex realities of decision-making, this approach ensures a more nuanced and realistic understanding of the transition to a low-carbon economy.”

What is the primary focus of KU Leuven in the AMIGDALA project?

The primary goal of KU Leuven is to deploy an agent-based model to investigate the interplay between energy and environmental policies and the decision-making processes of industrial actors. This model aims to understand how these policies influence and constrain the choices of these actors and, in turn, how these decisions impact the broader dynamics of the energy transition and industrial decarbonization. To achieve this, the model incorporates insights from behavioral and institutional economics, ensuring a more nuanced representation of human behavior and institutional factors within the energy system. By integrating these perspectives, the model aims to provide a deeper understanding of the complex mechanisms driving the transition to a low-carbon economy and the role of industrial actors within it.

How will KU Leuven’s expertise in agent-based modeling contribute to the integration and interaction of different models in this project, and why is this approach important for understanding future pathways for European industries?

In AMIGDALA, we recognize that the energy and industrial sectors are inherently complex systems, with intricacies that cannot be fully captured by a single model. Hence, our approach entails the integration of multiple models, each designed to shed light on different facets of these sectors at varying temporal and spatial resolutions. This model integration is a significant challenge within the project, but it represents a critical scientific advancement. It enables us to better understand how the industrial sector can be decarbonized by providing insights into how decisions at the individual-level, along with technical, economic, and social drivers, collectively shape the pathways toward industrial decarbonization.

KU Leuven’s expertise in agent-based modeling plays a pivotal role in this integration. By providing a detailed insight into how pathways to industrial decarbonization are shaped by the decisions of boundedly rational actors – particularly in their investments in energy and chemical technologies, as well as in the production and consumption of energy and chemicals – KU Leuven’s agent-based modeling expertise brings a unique perspective. These insights are essential to inform and refine the parametrization of optimization models used within the consortium, which traditionally assumes that actors are perfectly rational and possess complete information. Through this integration, we aim to bridge the gap between normative theoretical models and the complex realities of decision-making in the energy and industrial sectors.