| Energy modelers have traditionally taken top-down or bottom-up approaches to portray the interactions between energy production and consumption, and the economy. Top-down models provide a more realistic representation of behavior and the feedbacks in an economy, while bottom-up models are better able to explicitly model technological change and technology focused policies. Hybrid energy-economy models, such as CIMS, attempt to combine these strengths, and as such are able to provide more realistic and meaningful predictions. One of the major challenges in developing a hybrid model is accurately depicting how firms and individuals will choose between technologies.; Discrete choice modeling was identified as a tool capable of meeting this challenge, because it has been specifically developed to empirically examine technology level choices and the factors that influence them. This research developed highly significant and intuitive discrete choice models for mode and vehicle choice decisions in the personal urban transportation sector. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
