Engineering-economic studies of energy technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: Opportunities and challenges

This paper compares the results of four recent engineering-economic studies of the potential for energy technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emission s. The review includes a sector-by-sector assessment of specific technology opportunities and their costs, as estimated by (a) five National Laborator ies, (b) the Tellus Institute, (c) the National Academy of Sciences, and (d ) the Office of Technology Assessment. These studies document that numerous cost-effective, energy-efficient technologies remain underutilized in each end-use sector of the economy. Supply-side options, on the other hand, are generally found to involve some net costs. Demand- and supply-side options benefit from being pursued concurrently because of various interaction eff ects. In combination, large carbon reductions are possible at incremental c osts that are less than the value of the energy saved. An aggressive nation al commitment involving some combination of targeted tax incentives, emissi ons trading, and non-price policies is needed to exploit these carbon reduc tion opportunities.