February 2010

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9th Annual Latin American LEAP Workshop
June 14-25 2010,  Bariloche, Argentina  

Hosted by the Institute for Energy Economics of the Fundación Bariloche (IDEE/FB) in beautiful Bariloche Argentina, this workshop will provide participants with a unique opportunity to enhance their knowledge of energy and environmental analysis, in addition to providing participants with a thorough grounding in the use of LEAP.  The workshop will be conducted primarily in Spanish and will be split into two segments: week one will focus on the basic concepts of energy planning and energy scenario analysis and week two will be devoted to an intensive LEAP training session.  A limited number of scholarships are available to help defray the costs of tuition.  More information and application forms available here.

The Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA)

LEAP is now being used by the State of Massachusetts to develop a new energy and climate mitigation plan for meeting its ambitious 2020 and 2050 goals for GHG reductions.  Access the MASS DEP web site here.

SEI and  Fundación Bariloche: A New Partnership

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and the Fundación Bariloche in Argentina (FB) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) designed to recognize FB as the focal point and principal regional center of expertise for LEAP and COMMEND activities in South America. SEI and FB have long established a close working relationship.Most notably, they have partnered in the development and management of the LEAP software and COMMEND online community, and for the last eight years have jointly organized an annual Latin American workshop on energy planning and LEAP. The two organizations have also worked together closely to support the UNFCCC's national climate mitigation assessment process as well as regional agencies such as OLADE and ECLAC. The new MOU is intended to further deepen the working relationship between SEI and FB. A first example of this new phase of joint work is the new Spanish language forum on COMMEND, which will be jointly moderated by staff of SEI and FB. In addition, SEI and FB will shortly be announcing the 2010 dates for the 9th annual workshop on energy planning and LEAP. If you would like to know more about SEI and FB's work, please contact either Charlie Heaps of SEI (leap@sei-us.org) or Nicolás Di Sbroiavacca of Fundación Bariloche (ndisbro@fundacionbariloche.org.ar).

New Version of LEAP for Windows 7

A new version of LEAP that is compatible with Windows 7 has been released. The new version also includes new chart types such as GHG mitigation wedge charts and bar charts showing energy or emissions avoided in a mitigation scenario compared to a baseline scenario.  See example charts below.  The new version also supports UNICODE so provides better support for Asian and other complex character set languages.  Download LEAP here.

New LEAP-Related Applications Described on the Applications Page

The applications page now includes descriptions of additional applications that make use of LEAP.   They include:

• The Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA). LEAP is now being used by the State of Massachusetts to develop a new energy and climate mitigation plan for meeting its ambitious 2020 and 2050 goals for GHG reductions.
   
  
• CASINDO: CApacity development and strengthening for energy policy formulation and implementation of Sustainable energy projects in INDOnesia.  A collaboration between eight Indonesian partners and the Dutch Governmentfor building capacity among national and regional agencies for energy planning.
   
  
• Europe’s Share of the Climate Challenge: A major new report by SEI that analyzes how Europe can embark on a domestic transition to a low GHG future, while meeting its international obligations to assist the world’s developing nations do the same. Main report, summary and press materials available here.
  
  

• A CO₂ Neutral Copenhagen by 2025: The Danish consulting company, RAMBOLL, used LEAP to help create a plan for the city of Copenhagen to become CO₂ neutral by 2025. This formed the basis for Copenhagen setting a target of a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2015 compared to 2005 and for becoming first capital in the world to be completely CO₂ neutral by 2025.

• China Economics of Climate Change: a technical analysis by SEI of how China’s energy systems might be altered over the coming four decades to allow China to meet its development goals while making a transition to a low GHG future.
   
  
• MEDEC: Low-carbon Development for Mexico: A new study by the World Bank that evaluates the potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Mexico over the next 20 years.
  
  
• New Zealand’s EnergyScape: An initiative of the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) designed to help its citizens understand the flow of energy in New Zealand.
  
  
• Economics of Climate Change For Central American Countries: a study by ECLAC on the economics of climate change in Central American countries (Panama , Costa Rica , Nicaragua , Honduras , El Salvador , Belize and Guatemala).
   
• Capacity Building, Energy Planning and GHG Mitigation Assessment in Latin America and the Caribbean: A summary of the many recent LEAP-related initiatives of Fundacion Bariloche (FB) throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
  
  
• Promising GHG Mitigation Options in China, Mexico, India, Brazil, South Africa, and South Korea: A report by SEI to the U.S. EPA that identifies promising GHG mitigation options in six of the largest developing countries.