US lays out first 'battle strategy' for energy technology

With some already likening our energy challenges to a war, it seems appropriate that the US Department of Energy (DOE) is now preparing a regular, strategic review of energy technologies similar to the Defense Department’s Quadrennial Defense Review.

Released today, the first-ever Quadrennial Technology Review (DOE-QTR) assesses the DOE’s energy technology research-and-development portfolios. It also establishes a framework for the department’s energy technology activities, including principles it can use to prioritize technology research and development.

Inspired by the Quadrennial Defense Review, the DOE-QTR was recommended by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) as a first step toward a government-wide Quadrennial Energy Review that would spell out a national energy policy.

“Innovation in energy technology is going to be central to solving our energy challenges,” said John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and co-chair of PCAST. “New energy technologies can reduce the cost of energy services to firms and families, improve the productivity of manufacturing, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, increase the reliability and resilience of our energy infrastructure, and reduce the risks from climate change, even as they strengthen and sustain US competitiveness in global markets.”

“We really have two energy challenges,” said Steven Koonin, Under Secretary for Science at the DOE. “In transportation, our challenge is energy security — we currently send $1 billion out of the country each day to pay for oil. In our residential, commercial and industrial sectors, our challenge is to provide heat and power in environmentally responsible ways that strengthen US competitiveness and protect the climate.”

The DOE-QTR identifies six key strategies: increase vehicle efficiency; electrify the light-duty fleet; deploy alternative fuels; increase building and industrial efficiency; modernize the electrical grid; and deploy clean electricity. Among the report’s recommendations:

• The DOE should put more emphasis on the transport sector relative to the stationary-energy sector.
• In transport, the department needs to devote its greatest effort to electrification of the vehicle fleet, a sweet spot for pre-competitive DOE R&D.
• Within the stationary heat and power sector, the department should increase emphasis on efficiency and understanding the grid. The DOE should also keep a focus on its role as a source of information and as a convener of interested parties, two functions that are unique, often underestimated and indispensible in advancing energy technologies.
• The department need to develop stronger, more integrated policy, economics and technical analyses of its research-and-development activities.

“With nearly 90 percent of the energy system owned and operated by the private sector, the DOE-QTR recognizes that the department is not the sole agent in transforming the system,” Koonin said. “Through discussions with hundreds of energy stakeholders, we have learned that, beyond our technology development activities, the department’s unique role as a convener and source of accurate techno-economic information is a great public benefit.”