Expanding, and Improving Targeting Of, U.S. Investment in Energy Innovation: An Analytical Approach
Recommended Citation:
Anadon, Laura Diaz, Gabriel Chan, and Audrey Lee. 2014. “Expanding, and Improving Targeting Of, U.S. Investment in Energy Innovation: An Analytical Approach” in Transforming U.S. Energy Innovation. Ed. Laura Diaz Anadon, Matthew Bunn, and Venkatesh Narayanamurti. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., and New York, NY, USA, pp. 36–80.
Abstract
Our analysis in this chapter starts with the energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) investments of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) – the single largest public funder of energy RD&D in the United States. Despite the broader scope of DOE’s jurisdiction, which we trace to its historical roots, we limit our analysis to only the department’s energy RD&D funding activities. After describing DOE’s current role investing in energy RD&D, we analyze how DOE makes decisions about its energy RD&D investments. We argue that a method to inform public energy RD&D funding decisions that allows for an integrated, consistent, and transparent analysis among competing technology areas is needed. We present and implement such a method, relying on a broad set of detailed expert elicitations and a comparably detailed energy-economic model of the U.S. economy. The method we propose in this chapter has broader applicability and could be used in similar RD&D funding institutions in the United States and abroad.
Keywords
energy technology innovation policy, climate change, R&D, portfolio analysis
