Developing a Multi-Regional Physical Supply Use Table framework to improve the accuracy and reliability of energy analysis

Physical Supply Use Tables overcome some of the main limitations of the commonly used Energy Extended Input Output Analysis by describing the Energy Conversion Chain in energy terms only. In this paper, we build on recent advances in the field to construct a Multi-Regional Physical Supply Use Table framework. We use data from the International Energy Agency and have developed open source R packages, thereby enabling easy adoption of the present work. The new framework enables analysts to take into consideration the trade in energy products and to track energy flows across regions. In addition, we expand the existing Physical Supply Use Table framework to provide the mathematical structure with symmetry, by adding a resource extraction matrix at the upstream end of the Energy Conversion Chain, thereby enabling reverse Input–Output calculations.

Then, we demonstrate two important applications of the new multi-regional framework. First, we show how the framework can be used for energy security analysis, how the primary energy supply can be broken down by region of origin, and how the exposure to overseas suppliers can be quantified by energy product, and final demand sector. Second, we show how energy-related greenhouse gas emissions can be accounted for and disaggregated in terms of energy use by the energy industry, downstream energy use by final demand sectors, and methane leakages and flaring. The framework, which consistently binds energy products supplied to the economy to the Energy Conversion Chain, may be helpful for numerous subfields of energy analysis and modelling.