6.1. Energy and economic modeling on the microcomputer

The introduction of microcomputers has had a major impact on energy and economic modeling. Microcomputer technology has improved so that even relatively large and complex mainframe models can be run on modern microcomputers with reasonable running times. Energy and economic models implemented on microcomputers often result in more widespread use among analysts because of the ease of accessibility and model transferability. Also, microcomputer models often have increased emphasis on convenient user/model interfaces. It is likely that microcomputer applications of energy and economic models will increase in importance as more analysts have access to the models and to continually improving hardware. This is especially true in developing countries.