Comparing advanced energy cycles and developing priorities for future R&D

Abstract

This report lists and discusses the types of information that are necessary for making decisions about the allocation of R&D funds among various electric power related energy technologies. The discussion is divided into two parts: (1) the task of choosing among different technologies and (2) the task of guiding toward the most important specific projects within an individual technology. To choose among alternative energy technologies requires assumptive information, assessment infor- mation, probabilistic information, and techniques for quantifying the overall desirability of each alternative. Guidance toward the most important projects requires information about levels and uncertainties of certain performance measures and their importance relative to external thresholds or relative to the performance of competing technologies. Some simple examples are presented to illustrate the discussion. A bibliography of more than 200 important references in this field was compiled and is appended to this report.