Impacts of new energy technologies as measured against reference energy systems. [Brookhaven RES]

Each energy option will have specific and distinct effects on the efficiency, cost, and environmental attributes of the energy system that must be analyzed and understood through policy analyses performed in support of decision making in industry and government. The comprehensive analyses that must be performed on a technical or policy option include engineering process studies; economic analysis; and the analysis of the transport, conversion, and health impacts of pollutants. Many analytical techniques are employed in this comprehensive analysis; however, the results must be integrated in a complete but straightforward representation and expressed in the context of the overall system. The Reference Energy System was developed for this purpose. It is a physical description of the energy flows in the system from resources to end use, augmented with compilations of economic and environmental attributes associated with those flows.