Users' Guide for GLIMPSE: a Tool for Integrated Air-Climate-Energy Planning (Version 1)

GLIMPSE is a decision support tool being developed at the U.S. EPA to assist the EPA, states, and others with long-term environmental and energy planning. GLIMPSE is an acronym for the “GCAM Long-Term Interactive Multi-Pollutant Scenario Evaluator”, where GCAM is the “Global Change Analysis Model.” GCAM is a human-Earth systems model, developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which simulates the co-evolution of the economy, energy system, land use, and climate systems, including how this co-evolution is shaped by policy and other external factors. GLIMPSE acts as a graphical user interface for GCAM. Using GLIMPSE, decisionmakers and analysts at the national, regional, and state levels can examine potential policies, investigate the impacts of emerging technologies, develop cost-effective strategies for meeting air pollutant and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation targets, and explore the tradeoffs at the nexus of energy, water, and land use.