Blog

This is our CCEM Blog, a column dedicated to sharing a few key ideas about CCEM, or thoughts about the Energy/Economy/Climate models domain. Each entry is kept to a short one page format. More in-depth discussions may be found in our documents.

August 27th, 2025

Infinite Growth with finite resources ?

The idea that infinite growth is impossible in a finite world is compelling, yet System Dynamics shows that economies function as dynamic systems of flows, substitutions, and recycling, where growth can continue in some dimensions even as resources decline. Sustainability depends on balancing consumption with efficiency and substitution, and while scarcity will increasingly constrain economies, models like CCEM reveal pathways where value creation persists. In short, we face real limits, but within them, multiple opportunities for continued—though not infinite—growth remain.

February 16th, 2024

System Dynamic is the proper scientific framework to model and understand adaptation.  Application to the Jevons Paradox.

Rebound effect, also known as the “Jevon Paradox” should be thought of as a form of coupling in a system dynamics approach,  not as  static (behavior)  law (which is often a depressing thought). When thinking about climate changes, adaptation is bound to be the most common behavior, for which system dynamics is a great modeling framework, since each reaction (adaptation or lack of ) changes dynamically the problem in front of us.

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