New release of LEAP

Thursday, 25 October 2007 02:00

SEI announces the release of a major new version of LEAP, its Windows-based software for climate change mitigation and energy policy analysis.

Key improvements in the latest version, LEAP2008, include new transport modeling capabilities that allow users to better analyze bio-fuels and other fuel-switching policies, and new features that examine how requirements in energy importing countries can drive exports from other regions. The new version also includes significant usability improvements.

- By being easy-to-use, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-explain to decision makers, LEAP is helping to democratize energy policy making, says Charles Heaps, Ph.D., the developer of LEAP and Director of the U.S. Center of the Stockholm Environment Institute.

Used in more than 150 countries
In recent years, LEAP has become one of the most widely used modeling tools for energy policy analysis and climate change mitigation. It has already been applied by thousands of users in more than 150 countries.

Its users include local and national government agencies, consulting companies, energy utilities, academics and non-governmental organizations. LEAP has been applied at many different scales including city, state, national, regional and global levels.

- I have found LEAP to be an excellent tool for organizing, developing and analyzing energy and environmental data in a wide variety of settings, from village to global levels, from the most basic to the most developed economies, says David von Hippel of the California-based Nautilus Institute.

Read more about LEAP and its supporting documentation and training materials here.