Identification of Energy Conservation Research Opportunities: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature

摘要

Thirty-eight studies of energy conservation research opportunities are reviewed. The 38 studies chosen for review include many of the major efforts in the identification of energy conservation research and development (R and D) opportunities and provide a representative sample of the types of studies that have been performed. The sample includes studies that focus on specific energy use (e.g., auto transport), as well as studies that focus on specific types of research (e.g., materials science). The sample also includes studies that can be further contrasted in terms of long-term vs. short-term projects, evolutionary vs. revolutionary ideas, generic vs. process-specific activities, and technology base research vs. hardware development. Each of these perspectives contributes toward assuring coverage of the breadth of energy conservation R and D opportunities. In each review the technical or end-use focus is described, the research ideas identified in the study are listed, and a critical summary is given. The reviews also indicate whether the studies present end-use consumption data, estimate potential energy savings, estimate times to commercialization, summarize existing research programs, or describe the identification methodology. In Section 2.0 the various research studies are compared. In Section 3.0 the characteristics of an aggregate list of research ideas are discussed. The characteristics were collected from the research opportunities studies, which are included in Appendix A. Appendix A contains a compilation of energy conservation R and D opportunities arranged by energy end-use applications. Appendix B contains an outline of the format followed in writing the critical reviews of the studies, the individual study reviews, and the extended bibliography of 88 studies that describe energy conservation research opportunities.