Analysis of an urban energy metabolic system: Comparison of simple and complex model results

Yan Zhang, Shengsheng Li, Brian D. Fath, Zhifeng Yang and Naijin Yang

Ecological Modelling, 2011, vol. 223, issue 1, 14-19

Abstract: A fundamental difference between simple and complex systems is how the research objects are subdivided to support different study purposes. Based on a comparison between two urban energy system models – one with 5 and the other with 17 sectors – we concluded that the two models were most similar in terms of their description of the overall system structure and most different in terms of their description of specific intra-system relationships. The smaller number of system components and relationships in the 5-sector model facilitated judgments of the system's overall situation, thereby revealing where the key problems were found. In contrast, the 17-sector model provided enough details about the system to assist in the formulation of concrete operational measures to solve specific problems. Our results indicate that the division of a model into sectors should depend on the explicit problem to be solved and the context for that problem; different goals will require different numbers of system components. The results also demonstrate how simple and complex models can be used in tandem to examine a system from different perspectives.

Keywords: Model selection; Urban energy metabolism; Systems analysis; Ecological network analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:223:y:2011:i:1:p:14-19

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2011.08.005

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