Examples of competition and/or complementarities between several different energy carriers can be found in many situations in society. The most common example in Norway today is the dual supply systems of electricity and district heating in larger cities. Introduction of gas distribution will bring a third infrastructure into the picture. New technologies like cogeneration with gas engines and fuel cells will increase the interaction between the different energy carriers and infrastructures. This will cause increased complexity in the task of designing an optimal energy supply system with respect to economy, environment and energy efficiency. Such situations will occur e.g. in the planning stages of a new suburb with service functions like school, kindergarten, shops, health care etc, new office or service buildings, industrial sites or commercial buildings. The ability to combine many different technologies and energy carriers in one single analysis will yield a better flexibility and more alternatives than classical analyses of each solution at a time. It will result in better evaluation of aspects like energy efficiency and environmental consequences, and quantify how decisions regarding one energy infrastructure will influence other infrastructures and technologies within the same area.
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