Measuring the Impact of Energy Technology Investment on Long-term Sustainability

Turton, H. (2005). Measuring the Impact of Energy Technology Investment on Long-term Sustainability. IIASA Interim Report. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: IR-05-038

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Abstract

The global energy system currently faces a number of significant challenges which have the potential to undermine long-term sustainable development, including the need to maintain secure access to affordable energy supplies and mitigate climate change. This report explores the role of energy technology investment policies, including R&D and demonstration and deployment (D&D) programs in overcoming these challenges. The analysis considers the mechanisms by which energy technology policy initiatives may affect technology characteristics and deployment, and how technology deployment influences overall features of the energy system, and thereby energy security and climate change. The results identify potential targets for technology policy support, including the need to co-ordinate complementary technology strategies. Moreover, we discuss some critical insights related to the impact of the broader policy environment on successful technology deployment, and the potential for certain technology policies to result in undesirable technology lock-out.

This research was carried out under the SAPIENTIA project, sponsored by the European Commission (DG Research), which sought to develop methodologies to support decision makers concerned with the energy-environment-policy nexus in formulating technology policy. Importantly, the results presented here represent only part of the output of the integrated SAPIENTIA project, and are highly dependent on the characteristics of our modeling tools. Nonetheless, this analysis provides some instructive insights for the development of more comprehensive methodologies for the assessment of impacts of energy technology support policies.

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