Low Emissions Analysis Platform Training Exercises

This guide provides a series of modular training exercises for the Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) 2020 software. Using a fictional country called "Freedonia" and a hypothetical region called "Transportia," the document instructs users on how to model energy demand, transformation processes, emissions, cost-benefit analyses, and least-cost optimization for energy systems.

• The training is structured into seven modular exercises that progress from basic energy demand and supply analysis to complex optimization and non-energy emission modeling. Exercise 1 introduces basic elements, while Exercises 2 and 3 expand demand and supply analysis. Exercise 4 focuses on cost-benefit analysis, Exercise 5 covers non-energy greenhouse gases, Exercise 6 focuses on transportation, and Exercise 7 explores least-cost electric generation optimization.
• The guide uses a fictional country, Freedonia, to simulate real-world energy data, contrasting an industrialized urban population with a rural population that has limited energy access and relies heavily on biomass.
• LEAP's Analysis View allows users to organize data using a tree structure with specific branch types: Category branches for hierarchical organization, Technology branches for energy consumption/production, Key Assumption branches for independent variables, Fuel branches for resources, and Environmental Loading branches for pollutants.
• The software supports scenario analysis through an inheritance system, where new scenarios can inherit modeling expressions from a parent scenario or the 'Current Accounts' (historical data) set. Explicitly entered data is color-coded blue, while inherited data is black.
• Transformation modules in LEAP model energy supply and conversion. These modules consist of 'Processes' (individual technologies) and 'Output Fuels' (energy products). The guide demonstrates this through modules for electricity generation, transmission and distribution, oil refining, and coal mining.
• LEAP can perform integrated cost-benefit analysis from a societal perspective, incorporating demand costs, transformation capital and O&M costs, resource costs, and environmental externality costs from emissions.
• The platform allows for the inclusion of non-energy sector emissions following IPCC GHG inventory guidelines, specifically covering Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU), Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU), and Waste.
• For transportation studies, LEAP utilizes a 'Stock Turnover Method' to model vehicle fleets, incorporating lifecycle profiles for stock vintages, survival rates (retirement), and mileage degradation as vehicles age.
• LEAP's optimization features, powered by the OSeMOSYS model, can automatically determine the least-cost combination of power plants to meet demand. This includes the ability to impose annual emission constraints (e.g., a CO2 cap) to see how it alters technology choices and overall costs.

APA

Heaps, C. (2020). Low Emissions Analysis Platform Training Exercises. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://leap.sei.org/documents/LEAPTrainingExerciseEnglish2020.pdf#page=69&zoom=100,102,86

Chicago

Heaps, Charles. Low Emissions Analysis Platform Training Exercises. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2020. https://leap.sei.org/documents/LEAPTrainingExerciseEnglish2020.pdf#page=69&zoom=100,102,86.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Heaps |first1=Charles |title=Low Emissions Analysis Platform Training Exercises |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=17 September 2020 |url=https://leap.sei.org/documents/LEAPTrainingExerciseEnglish2020.pdf#page=69&zoom=100,102,86 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{heaps2020low, author = {Heaps, Charles}, title = {{Low Emissions Analysis Platform Training Exercises}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://leap.sei.org/documents/LEAPTrainingExerciseEnglish2020.pdf#page=69&zoom=100,102,86}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }