This study by the National Research Council (NRC) was requested by DOE's Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies. The study focuses on the processes used by the USABC to select, evaluate, and manage R&D projects on EV batteries in Phases I and II of the program.
This study by the National Research Council (NRC) was requested by DOE's Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies. The study focuses on the processes used by the USABC to select, evaluate, and manage R&D projects on EV batteries in Phases I and II of the program.
This report examines the operations of the APT, reviews its extensive assessment program, and provides NRC Committee findings concerning the ATP's operations and recommendations for potential improvements to the program. The report includes a summary of a major conference held in April 2000 as well as seven papers, including surveys of the industry participants or users of the ATP program, a summary of the results of fifty awards, detailed assessments of major joint ventures, and a description of the current selection process. It is the most comprehensive study to date of the program's origins, operations, achievements, and assessment. Its conclusion: the program works.
Small businesses have increasingly been recognized as a source of innovation, and one way in which the Federal government encourages such innovation is through the Small Business Innovation Research program. SBIR sets aside 2.5 percent of federal agencies' R&D budgets for R&D grants to small business. Although the program's budget was nearly $1.2 billion in 1998, SBIR has been subject to relatively little outside review. As part of the STEP's ongoing project on Government-Industry Partnerships, the Board convened policymakers, academic researchers, and representatives from small business to discuss the program's history and rationale, review existing research, and identify areas for further research and program improvements.
The growth in government programs to support high-technology industry within national economies and their impact on international science and technology cooperation and on the multilateral trading system are of considerable interest worldwide. Accordingly, these topics were taken up by STEP in a study carried out in conjunction with the Hamburg Institute for Economic Research and the Institute for World Economics in Kiel. One of the principal recommendations for further work emerging from that study was a call for an analysis of the principles of effective cooperation in technology development, to include lessons from national and international consortia, including eligibility standards and assessments of what new cooperative mechanisms might be developed to meet the challenges of international cooperation in high-technology products.
Electric drive vehicles (EDVs) are seen on American roads in increasing numbers. Related to this market trend and critical for it to increase are improvements in battery technology. Battery Technology for Electric Vehicles examines in detail at the research support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the development of nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) and lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries used in EDVs. With public support comes accountability of the social outcomes associated with public investments. The book overviews DOE investments in advanced battery technology, documents the adoption of these batteries in EDVs on the road, and calculates the economic benefits associated with these improved technologies. It provides a detailed global evaluation of the net social benefits associated with DOEs investments, the results of the benefit-to-cost ratio of over 3.6-to-1, and the life-cycle approach that allows adopted EDVs to remain on the road over their expected future life, thus generating economic and environmental health benefits into the future.
Green Taxation and Environmental Sustainability explores the critical issue of how taxes can be applied across relevant environmental issues _ including transport, nuclear power, and water and waste management _ to achieve sustainability. Containing topical chapters written by environmental experts, the book covers a number of key issues, including interaction of biofuels and EU state aid rules; territorial differences for transport fuel demand; electric vehicles, taxation and electricity transmission; public policy issues on the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in Japan; landfill and waste incineration taxes; and many other topics. This insightful study will appeal to policy makers in government, as well as to students and academics in environmental law, environmental economics and environmental sustainability.
The first comprehensive history of auto regulation in the United States. Regulation has shaped the evolution of the automobile from the beginning. In Moving Violations, Lee Vinsel shows that, contrary to popular opinion, these restrictions have not hindered technological change. Rather, by drawing together communities of scientific and technical experts, auto regulations have actually fostered innovation. Vinsel tracks the history of American auto regulation from the era of horseless carriages and the first, faltering efforts to establish speed limits in cities to recent experiments with self-driving cars. He examines how the government has tried to address car-related problems, from accidents to air pollution, and demonstrates that automotive safety, emissions, and fuel economy have all improved massively over time. Touching on fuel economy standards, the rise of traffic laws, the birth of drivers' education classes, and the science of distraction, he also describes how the government's changing activities have reshaped the automobile and its drivers, as well as the country's entire system of roadways and supporting technologies, including traffic lights and gas pumps. Moving Violations examines how policymakers, elected officials, consumer advocates, environmentalists, and other interested parties wrestled to control the negative aspects of American car culture while attempting to preserve what they saw as its positive contributions to society. Written in a clear, approachable, and jargon-free voice, Moving Violations will appeal to makers and analysts of policy, historians of science, technology, business, and the environment, and any readers interested in the history of cars and government.
Despite the many benefits of energy, most of which are reflected in energy market prices, the production, distribution, and use of energy causes negative effects. Many of these negative effects are not reflected in energy market prices. When market failures like this occur, there may be a case for government interventions in the form of regulations, taxes, fees, tradable permits, or other instruments that will motivate recognition of these external or hidden costs. The Hidden Costs of Energy defines and evaluates key external costs and benefits that are associated with the production, distribution, and use of energy, but are not reflected in market prices. The damage estimates presented are substantial and reflect damages from air pollution associated with electricity generation, motor vehicle transportation, and heat generation. The book also considers other effects not quantified in dollar amounts, such as damages from climate change, effects of some air pollutants such as mercury, and risks to national security. While not a comprehensive guide to policy, this analysis indicates that major initiatives to further reduce other emissions, improve energy efficiency, or shift to a cleaner electricity generating mix could substantially reduce the damages of external effects. A first step in minimizing the adverse consequences of new energy technologies is to better understand these external effects and damages. The Hidden Costs of Energy will therefore be a vital informational tool for government policy makers, scientists, and economists in even the earliest stages of research and development on energy technologies.
This book explores the role of institutions in policy-making and the states, role in promotion of technology, focusing on, environmental technology development. Case studies include wind power diffusion in the UK and Germany, waste recycling in a variety of countries, and green automobile technology in the US and Japan.
