The simulations show that switching to a low carbon economy can be done without damaging businesses or living standards, Mr. Henning said.

“We set as a baseline condition of our model that CO2 emissions could not exceed Germany’s ambitious CO2 reduction target for 2050,” he said. “Germany is committed to reducing its CO2 emissions by at least 80 percent below 1990 levels by then.”

“Another baseline condition was that Germany would not be economically harmed by our results,” Mr. Henning added. “Industry would become more efficient but would remain strong. There would be no decrease in the standard of living, in comfort levels or in mobility.”

“Everything is included in this model, starting from electricity generation, storage and end-use electricity, all the fuel sectors including biomass and also hydrogen production and even methane from power-to-gas technologies,” Mr. Henning said. “For mobility, electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles, and also fuel-powered vehicles are part of the model.”

“We think that this is probably the first model that is really able to appropriately treat this challenge of a highly complex system with many interdependencies and many components,” he said.

Prof. Manfred Fischedick, vice president at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, said the model was an important contribution to discussions about renewable energy. “There are not many studies available trying to investigate what a renewable energy-based system would look like,” Professor Fischedick said. “This model distinguishes itself by its level of technological detail and its comprehensive coverage of the relevant interactions in the system.”

Energy efficiency in buildings is an important variable in the model — the more buildings are retrofitted to save on heat and power, the less solar and wind generating capacity needs to be installed. Another variable is the balance between renewable energies, conventional power plants and gas-fueled combined heat and power, or C.H.P., plants.