Markus Haller was born in Frankfurt a. M. on November 4th, 1975.
He studied medicine at the Philipps University at Marburg and energy and process engineering at the Technical University at Berlin. In 2007 he received his degree in energy and process engineering (with distinction). In 2006 he wrote his diploma thesis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) where he investigated the integrated assessment of technological options for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Since April 2007 he continues his work as a research assistant at the research area 'Sustainable Solutions' at PIK where he participates in the development of energy system models.
"A differentiated view on least developed, advanced developing and developed countries in energy system modeling:
Representation of structural and macro-economical differences and their influence on the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies" Energy system models are playing an increasingly important role for the development of long term strategies in climate and energy policy. But the models that are currently used have been designed to represent the dynamic behavior of industrialized countries. Special characteristics of least developed and developing countries, most notably the lack of transmission and distribution infrastructure, a distinct divide between urban and rural areas, and the widespread use of traditional biomass, are not adequately integrated in current models. An endogenization of these characteristics could lead to different results when assessing the role of mitigation options. This holds especially for the competitiveness of decentralized supply structures that are based on renewable energy sources. The aim of this PhD project is to examine the aforementioned criteria that distinguish regions with different development levels, and to implement their representation in the model ReMIND. ReMIND is a welfare optimizing hybrid model with a highly disaggregated energy sector and (currently) twelve world regions that is being developed at PIK. The extended model will be used to develop and analyze detailed development scenarios for selected regions with distinct structural differences (e.g. India and Western Europe). The project will be supervised by Ottmar Edenhofer who is currently leading the research area 'Sustainable Solutions' at PIK and will assume a professorship in environmental economics at the Technical University at Berlin in spring 2008.
