LEAP Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System Volume 2

The LEAP (Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning) Volume 2 User Guide provides detailed technical instructions for using a computer-based accounting and simulation tool designed for policy makers to evaluate energy policies and develop sustainable energy plans. The system integrates demand forecasting, energy transformation, biomass resource tracking, and environmental impact assessment into a modular framework for scenario analysis.

• LEAP is designed as a modular, integrated system consisting of three main program groups: Energy Scenarios, Aggregation, and the Environmental Data Base (EDB).
• The Energy Scenario group comprises five linked programs: Demand, Transformation, Biomass, Environment, and Evaluation, which are typically run in that sequence to model the energy system from end-use consumption back to primary resource requirements.
• Scenario analysis in LEAP begins with a "base case" representing the current situation and expected future growth, which is then used as a reference to develop alternative policy scenarios by entering only the data that deviates from the base case.
• The Demand program uses a four-level hierarchical structure—Sector, Subsector, End Use, and Device—to calculate annual energy demand based on activity levels and energy intensities.
• The Transformation program simulates energy conversion through four module types: Simple, Transmission and Distribution, Detailed, and Electricity Type, allowing for the modeling of various energy industries such as electricity generation and oil refining.
• The Electricity module includes specialized features for simulating the dispatch of power plants by merit order to meet both annual energy requirements and instantaneous peak loads using either a default or user-defined load curve.
• The Biomass program provides a physical inventory of land and biomass sources, organizing land into a three-tier structure of Subareas, Zones, and Landtypes to analyze the sustainability of wood resources.
• The Environment program estimates emissions and impacts by linking Demand and Transformation sources to the Environmental Data Base (EDB), which contains emission coefficients for various air, water, and land pollutants.
• The Evaluation program performs a social cost-benefit analysis by comparing two scenarios (a Reference case and an Alternative case), calculating the differences in capital, O&M, resource, and environmental externality costs.
• The Aggregation program allows for coordinated planning across multiple spatial levels, enabling the combination of area-specific results from the county or district level up to the national or global level.
• The Environmental Data Base (EDB) is structured as a matrix where rows are Source categories (technologies) and columns are Effect categories (pollutants), with cells containing specific emission coefficients and bibliographic references.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (1992). LEAP Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System Volume 2. https://leap.sei.org/documents/LEAPManual_1992.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. LEAP Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System Volume 2. 1992. https://leap.sei.org/documents/LEAPManual_1992.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=LEAP Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System Volume 2 |date=March 1992 |url=https://leap.sei.org/documents/LEAPManual_1992.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute1992leap, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{LEAP Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System Volume 2}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {1992}, month = mar, url = {https://leap.sei.org/documents/LEAPManual_1992.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }