Alternative Energy/Give an overall picture of the AE field

Answer the questions:

Give an overall picture of the field.

*How was this field born and how is it evolving?

• 1970 Oil Embargo raised US interest in alternative energies for energy/economic security and resource and environmental sustainability.[1]
  
• Before 1970, hydropower was the predominant alternative energy in the US.
• After 1995 hydropower production stagnated due to lack of available water.
• Hydro facilities still account for the majority of alternative energy production in the US, but there has been very little growth in hydropower capacity or production since 1995.
• Alternative energy plants such as wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and tidal cost more than coal and natural gas power plants.
• Since the 1970's the US has used government run subsidy programs to give these technologies a competitive advantage in the US market.
• The Public Utilities and Regulatory Policy Act of 1978 (PURPA) was the first US policy that gave alternative energy a competitive advantage[3]:
  • Required Utilities to buy energy from alternative energy producers
  • Paid premium prices for each kilowatt hour of electricity produced
  • Guaranteed the prices for the entirety of 20 year contracts
  • Act was ultimately unpopular because:
  1. The high prices created windfall profits for alternative energy producers
  2. PURPA contracts were paid for by the electric utility, raising the price of electricity for all consumers
• After PURPAs initial, but brief, success, there was stagnation in US alternative energy development until 1997 caused by:
  • Electric power sector restructuring
  • repeal of federal and state incentives
  • sharply lower natural gas prices - making new natural gas plants more financially appealing
• In 1997 a new era of alternative energy policies began, which has helped to grow the alternative energy sector in the US.
• The most important of these policies are:
  • Renwable Portfolio Standards (RPS)

more on the way

*What are the main business models?

coming soon

*What are the innovation dynamics in this field? (inputs/outputs, timing of innovation/ disruptive or incremental innovation?)

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*How does knowledge flow in this field?

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*Is this field replicating models from other fields?

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*How many companies?

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*How much money do they make or how much money do they “move” in the American economy?

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*How important is research from universities in this specific field?

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*How important is public funding in this field?

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*How important is private funding / venture capital in this field?

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*Are there any specific public policies (from agencies, federal or state policies) that give incentives for openness or enclosure?

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*What is the cost structure of the field?

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*Who are the producers, the buyers, and the users?

coming soon

*What is the structure of power from the production side and what is the structure of power in the demand side? E.g., who has the power to control production and demand? How is the control distributed?

coming soon

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