PRObs models
Contents
PRObs models¶
Material flow models for the Physical Resources Observatory.
The definition of a model is split into two steps:
System Definitions describe a set of Processes and Object types being modelled.
Then various specific models which interpret the System Definition into actual equations which can be solved.
There is currently one material flow model:
PACTOT (Process ACTivity – Object Trade) model, based on linear constrained optimization.
And one “content-solver” model:
SCOUT (Source, Crossover, OUTput) model.
Aims¶
One aim of this type of model is to understand the flows of goods and materials through the economy, and their associated carbon emissions: for example, how plastics are assembled into products, before eventually reaching the end of their life and being recycled.
To do this we take a systems approach, building models of “processes” linked by “flows” representing the quantity of a particular material that moves from one location/activity to another, during a given time period (often 1 year). For example, the figure below shows a sketch of two processes, represented by the boxes. The flows are represented by the arrows.
