Topic: unexpected cost-benefits resultsSubscribe | Previous | Next
Nadia Ouedraogo 3/11/2018
Hi,
I am getting unexpected results regarding the resources costs calculation.
I have a fuels resources exporting country which also imports small scale of resources.
The ressources exported are much higher compared to that imported. I have the same costs for both (assumed to be equal since I do not have data on exports costs.
The social costs for the imported fuels are much much higher compared to the exported fuels (imports resources in trillion and the exports in billion).
These results are not expected and I failed to spot with this is coming from.
How the resources costs are calculated. Isn't imports costs x resources imports and exports costs x resources exports?
Does the calculation takes into account Fuels (resources) from other branches ?
Thanks for your help
Nadia
Emily Ghosh 3/12/2018
1 Like Hi Nadia,
In the "Social Costs" Results View, you can diagnose which branches are being considered in the fuel cost calculation. To see this result, ensure "All Branches" is selected in the legend drop-down, then go into the cost drop-down menu at the top (labeled "All Costs") and select to view only the Fuel cost categories. Then, ensure that the top branch is selected of your data set is selected. This will show all of the main branches which have fuel costs associated with it. I've attached a screenshot below which provides instructions in how to see this result.
In general, the social costs consider the cost elements defined in the following help page: https://www.energycommunity.org/Help/Results_Categories/Costs.htm
If you would like to change how the fuel cost calculation boundary is drawn, you can do so in the "Cost" tab under Basic Params. More information on the different costing boundaries is provided here: https://www.energycommunity.org/Help/Supporting_Screens/Basic_Parameters_Screen.htm#Costing_Methodology
Hope this helps!
Emily
Nadia Ouedraogo 3/12/2018
Dear Emily,
Thanks for your reply.
I believe I did not make myself clear enough, I will try once again.
I know how to visualise the social costs and their sub-components, as well as to drawn the boundaries of the costs calculation.
I calculate the social costs for the entire system.
When visualising the different components of these costs, I noticed that the resources costs (at the costs: fuel imports and costs:fuels exports), are not those I was expecting. Since my country is a fuels exporting country, that my exports are much higher than that of the imports and that my imports and exports costs are the same, I was expecting that my costs: fuels exports results be higher than the fuels: imports.
I couldn't spot my mistake if any. For me, logically at this branch, the costs should be calculated as follow: import Costs x resources imported and exports costs x resources exported. If this is the case, so I should find at the "resources costs" that my exports benefits are higher than my exports costs.
I went through the different posts and re-reads the user guide and the training material but I couldn't find a clear answer to my question (how the imports and exports costs are calculated and why my exports benefits are lower to the imports costs while it should not the case).
Thanks for your help
Nadia
Taylor Binnington 3/28/2018
1 Like Hi Nadia -
Based on your description, you are correct about how LEAP calculates costs associated with the Fuel Imports and Fuel Exports cost categories (with a caveat that LEAP will display Fuel Export "costs" as negative numbers in its Social Costs, if you have entered positive costs into the Export Benefit variable in Analysis view).
To understand what LEAP is doing to calculate Social Costs, I recommend using the Energy Balance view in conjunction with Results view. If your cost-benefit calculation boundary is set to Complete Energy System - which according to your message I believe is true - then the three lines at the top of the energy balance screen (these are: Production, Imports, and Exports) can be used to calculate the different contributions to your fuel costs. These costs are calculated in LEAP using the following identities, of the form Result variable name = Category in energy balance * Data variable name.
Fuel Production = Production * Indigenous Cost
Fuel Imports = Imports * Import Cost
Fuel Exports = Exports * Export Benefit (note that Exports is defined in the Energy Balances as a negative number)
also:
(cost of) Unmet Fuel Requirements = Unmet Requirements * Cost of Unmet Requirements
Hope this helps you to track down the source of your uncertainty. I'd suggest first verifying that the actual imports and exports are calculated as you expect, before moving on to costs.
Taylor