Energetics Develops DOE Portfolio of Technology Assessment Tools

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published a repository of resources to help users assess emerging technologies, determining their potential costs and environmental impacts. Energetics worked with the Industrial Efficiency & Decarbonization Office and the Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office to develop these resources, which include analysis tools, training videos, and examples.

The jewel of the collection is the Techno-economic Energy & Carbon Heuristic Tool for Early-State Technologies, or TECHTEST. TECHTEST aids users in estimating potential energy, carbon, and cost impacts of a new technology in a streamlined spreadsheet tool that integrates life cycle assessment (LCA) and technoeconomic analysis (TEA) methods. This tool allows a variety of stakeholders to create cost, energy, and emissions profiles for a technology throughout its life cycle, as well as identifying performance factors that lead to improvements. TECHTEST also allows a user to compare a new technology to its commercial benchmark.

The repository includes other strategic analysis tools, as well as short tutorial videos that explain basic concepts of LCA and TEA in the context of emerging technologies.

The resources are available on the DOE website.