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Energy Research at DOE: Was It Worth It? Energy Efficiency and Fossil Energy Research 1978 to 2000 (2001)
Board on Energy and Environmental Systems (BEES)

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. "4 Evaluation of the Fossil Energy Programs." Energy Research at DOE: Was It Worth It? Energy Efficiency and Fossil Energy Research 1978 to 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2001.

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Energy Research at DOE was it Worth it?: Energy Efficiency and Fossil Energy Research 1978 to 2000

TABLE 4–6 Fossil Energy Technology Case Studies Slotted in the Matrix Cells That Are Most Relevant Today

Type of Benefit

Realized Benefits

Options Benefits

Knowledge Benefits

Economic benefits

Drilling, completion, and stimulation

Atmospheric fluidized-bed combustion

Western gas sands

Eastern gas shales

Improved enhanced oil recovery

Field demonstrations

Seismic technology

Coal-bed methane

Waste management and utilization

Improved indirect liquefaction

Improved direct liquefaction

Drilling, completion, and stimulation

Atmospheric fluidized-bed combustion

Advanced turbine system

Fuel cells

Western gas sands

Eastern gas shales

Improved enhanced oil recovery

Shale oil

Flue gas desulfurization

IGCC

Coal preparation

Mercury and air toxics

Improved indirect liquefaction

Drilling, completion, and stimulation

Improved direct liquefaction

Pressurized fluidized-bed combustion

Advanced turbine systems

Fuel cells

Gas-to-liquids

Magnetohydrodynamics

Western gas sands

Eastern gas shales

Improved enhanced oil recovery

Field demonstration

Seismic technology

Flue gas desulfurization

Coal-bed methane

Downstream fundamentals

IGCC

Coal preparation

Waste management

Mercury and air toxics

Environmental benefits

Drilling, completion, and stimulation

Atmospheric fluidized-bed combustion

Western gas sands

Eastern gas shales

Improved enhanced oil recovery

Field demonstrations

Seismic technology

NOx control

Coal-bed methane

Improved indirect liquefaction

Drilling, completion, and stimulation

Pressurized fluidized-bed combustion

Advanced turbine systems

Fuel cells

Eastern gas shales

Field demonstrations

Shale oil

Flue gas desulfurization

NOx control

IGCC

Improved indirect liquefaction

Drilling, completion, and stimulation

Fluidized-bed combustion

Advanced turbine systems

Improved enhanced oil recovery

Shale oil

Field demonstration

Seismic technology

Flue gas desulfurization

IGCC

NOx control

Waste management

Mercury and air toxics

Security benefits

Drilling, completion, and stimulation

Improved enhanced oil recovery

Field demonstrations

Seismic technology

Improved indirect liquefaction

Drilling, completion, and stimulation

Improved direct liquefaction

Field demonstrations

Shale oil

Drilling, completion, and stimulation

Fuel cells

NOTE: When more than one type of benefit is relevant for a technology, the primary benefit is shown in boldface type.

continued for a long time without any real promise of commercial success. Although all of the fossil energy research programs that were evaluated had potential for commercial success initially, some fell short of commercial market needs. While this is to be expected in all R&D programs, the costs can be minimized by recognizing market and commercialization constraints and focusing efforts on addressing those constraints before committing to or continuing large-scale spending. A current example is the stationary fuel cell program, which has a history of partial technological success but has failed to achieve expectations in market penetration. This program should have been reviewed critically to determine whether technical and economic barriers could be overcome and if potential market applications (considering the technology that will compete against fuel cells in these applications) warrant continued high levels of funding. Likewise, the PFBC program should have been reviewed during the early 1990s in light of rapidly changing environmental requirements, severe technical hurdles, and competition with IGCC and gas turbine combined-cycle technologies. A realistic peer review might have been useful in making these assessments.

Finding 2h. DOE was found to be successful in establishing programs to identify concepts and take them through all stages of research, development, and commercial demon-

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