Search results

Innovation has been a driving force in the successful deployment of nuclear energy and remains essential today for its sustainable future. As nuclear energy is an attractive option for ensuring diversity and security of energy supply, as well as lower global climate change risks, the way to continue this innovation is a key issue for industry and interested governments. For greater innovation in the nuclear area to be realised, more in-depth discussions on ways and means for promoting nuclear innovation are crucial, and enhanced knowledge of nuclear innovation systems is required. This report

An integrated innovation policy model for energy technology -- Promoting development and adoption of new energy technology -- Toward a roadmap for launching technological innovation in energy -- Energy R & D and implementation : what is the level of funding and where will the money come from? -- Institutional gaps in the mechanisms of support for different stages of innovation -- All pumping together? prospects for international collaboration -- Political prospects and conclusions

With the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) expiring in 2020, the EU needs to revisit its energy technology policy for the post-2020 horizon and to establish a policy framework that fosters the achievement of ambitious EU commitments for decarbonization by 2050. We discuss options for a post-2020 EU energy technology policy, taking account of uncertain technology developments and uncertain carbon prices. We propose a revised SET Plan that enables policy makers to be pro-active in pushing innovation in promising technologies, no matter what policy context will be realized in the future. In particular, we find that a revised SET Plan is needed to support EU market actors who face market failures with respect to financing innovation within a highly competitive global market for energy technologies. An extension of the current SET Plan and corresponding technology push policies is insufficient, as this does not allow policymakers to provide adequate support, especially in a policy context with low or zero carbon prices.

Escalating energy demand may be the most important issue facing the United States and the world today. There is little disagreement that research and development (R&D) is needed to develop new energy technologies for the future; however, there is less agreement over the specific research agenda to be pursued and how that agenda is funded. This book addresses the social importance of new energy technologies, illustrates policy-relevant applications of evaluation techniques and proposes new perspectives for a US energy investment strategy. -- Through detailed examples related to solar, geothermal, and vehicle technologies, the authors outline the need for robust evaluation methods to document social returns to taxpayers' R&D investments. They argue that such evaluations are necessary for the public sector to make rational decisions about the allocation of its scares resources. The evaluation methods considered involve developing alternative technology and market pathways from which the benefits of government research can be measured.