The applicability of learning and experience curves for predicting future costs of solar technologies is assessed, and the major test case is the production economics of heliostats. Alternative methods for estimating cost reductions in systems manufacture are discussed, and procedures for using...

IM-GEO is an analysis used to estimate the impact of technology improvements on the relative cost of hydrothermal power. The analysis is available in a tutorial program for use on personal computers. It is designed for use by R and D program managers to evaluate R and D options. Only the...

The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America develops light level recommendations for tasks where visual performance is important. The 1959 and 1972 recommendations for illumination levels were based on the principle of delivering a fixed level of performance as predicted by the visual...

In a market economy demands for commodities are met through various technologies and resources. Markets select the technologies and resources to meet these demands based on their costs. Over time, the competitiveness of different technologies can change due to the exhaustion of resources they...

This report analyzes developments in the electric utility industry using the tools of transaction cost economics. During the last thirty years, the tools of economic analysis have been substantially expanded--notably, Oliver Williamson, building on the insights of Coase and others, has made...

As utilities investigate ways to implement demand-side management (DSM) programs, the differences between customer and utility economic perspectives can play an important role in assessing the economic benefits of the programs. Because utilities directly bear the cost of new energy sources,...

The Anaerobic Digestion Analysis Model (ADAM) has been developed to assist investigators in performing preliminary economic analyses of anaerobic digestion processes. The model, which runs under Microsoft Excel{trademark}, is capable of estimating the economic performance of several different...

Value is often perceived differently by the proponents of new information technologies and those who allocate resources and define priorities. Such differences often become a roadblock to meeting true business needs. Project justifications regularly rely on calculated cost savings, which rarely...

In July 1989, President Bush directed the Secretary of Energy to initiate the development of a comprehensive National Energy Strategy (NES) built upon a national consensus. The overall principle for the NES, as defined by the President and articulated by the Economic Policy Council (EPC), is the...

The cost of repairing or replacing failed components depends on the number and timing of failures. Although the total probability of individual component failure is sometimes interpreted as the percentage of components likely to fail, this perception is often far from correct. Different amounts...