Electric drive vehicles have the potential to change the road as we know it. However their cost is still high and many technical and non-technical barriers impede the diffusion of this technology. Within the Icarus project, we interviewed fourteen leading international experts on the expected evolution of electric drive vehicles. In this short report, we […]
Icarus, moving forward
07/07/2011 by
This newsletter marks half the lifetime of the ICARUS Project. This newsletter marks half the lifetime of the ICARUS Project. In the past months we reached some important milestones with respect to data collection and analysis, expert elicitation, and modelling innovation and technology transfer. With respect to data collection and analysis, we made a significant […]
Understanding technology diffusion: a key to sound policy making
07/07/2011 by
Understanding the mechanism of technology diffusion, for its important repercussions on development, is a tremendously important task. In particular, the transfer of new, more efficient and less polluting ways of producing energy is beneficial in many ways: it can reduce energy poverty, alleviate local pollution and lower the cost of transitioning towards a low-carbon society. […]
Report: Policy recommendations for SOLAR PV and CSP technologies
25/06/2011 by
SOLAR PV and CSP technologies Policy recommendations from the ICARUS survey on current state and future developments Solar PV and CSP technologies represent a concrete and promising solution to reduce the dependence from fossil sources, and therefore to meet climate change policy targets while ensuring reliable energy supply. The ICARUS team interviewed 16 leading experts […]
Short Technical Report : Biofuel technologies
24/06/2011 by
Biofuels are an option for the substitution of fossil fuels in the transport sector. Despite the many technologies available for the transformation of biomass in liquid fuels, there still is a long road before becoming a sustainable and competitive alternative. Based on interviews to 15 leading international experts, this short report on biofuels – produced […]
Report: RD&D to Enhance the Role of Nuclear Energy in Meeting Climate and Energy Challenges
10/06/2011 by
The future role of nuclear energy is a key factor in determining a long-term energy strategy to cope with the challenges ahead: quenching the energy thirst of a growing planet; providing universal access to modern sources of energy; assuring energy security and availability at reasonable costs; facing the threat of climate change, which calls for […]
Tagging ‘green’ patents at the EPO
01/06/2011 by
The new tagging scheme developed by the EPO to identify “green” patents greatly facilitates identification of relevant climate-related inventions, and its careful application will no doubt enhance our understanding of environmental innovation.
Preliminary report: SOLAR PV and CSP technologies
24/03/2011 by
The present report provides a preliminary analysis of the outputs of the expert elicitation survey, carried out within the 3-year ERC-funded project on innovation in carbon-free technologies, ICARUS. You can browse the html version below or Download the pdf version of this report [408Kb]. The experts Technical potential of solar technologies RD&D effectiveness on future […]
Efficiency Improving Fossil Fuel Technologies for Electricity Generation: Data Selection and Trends
16/02/2011 by
This paper studies innovation dynamics in efficiency improving electricity generation technologies as an important means of mitigating climate change impacts. Relevant patents are identified and used as an indicator of innovation. We find that patenting in efficiency improving technologies has mostly been stable over time, with a recent decreasing trend. We also find that majority […]
Alternative Paths toward a Low Carbon World
06/01/2011 by
This paper analyzes the economic and investment implications of a series of climate mitigation scenarios, characterized by different levels of ambition in terms of long term stabilization goals and the transition to attain them. In particular, the implications of fairly ambitious scenarios are investigated for the first time by means of the model WITCH. Although […]
Workshop: R&D Portfolio Analysis Tools and Methodologies
03/12/2010 by
December 02-03, 2010 – JGCRI Portfolio Workshop Joint DOE Lab Offices, Suite 930, Large Conference Room 901 D Street S.W. – Washington, D.C. 20024 — “R&D Portfolio Analysis Tools and Methodologies” The primary objectives of this two-day workshop were: (1) to improve coordination between the disparate research on different elements of energy technology portfolio analysis […]
Environmental Policy and Technical Change: A Survey
22/11/2010 by
In this survey we review the literature that studies the relationship between environmental policy and technical change. We divide the literature in two broad areas of research. First, we look at the studies that evaluate the impact of environmental regulation on technological change after the implementation of environmental policy (ex-post). Second, we introduce the studies […]
At home and abroad: An empirical analysis of innovation and diffusion in energy technologies
19/10/2010 by
This paper contributes to the induced innovation literature by extending the analysis of supply and demand determinants of innovation in energy technologies to account for international knowledge flows and spillovers. We select a sample of 38 innovating countries and study how knowledge related to energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies flows across geographical and technological space.We […]
ICARUS, the journey begins
06/08/2010 by
The challenge for clean, secure energy with lower emissions will be won through innovation. But, contrary to popular belief, innovation is not the stroke of genius of a solitary inventor, and the best research is not necessarily carried out by brilliant minds segregated in a laboratory. The idea of a thoughtful Thomas Edison who imagines […]
The value of better information on technology R&D projects in response to climate change
06/08/2010 by
Expert elicitations are a promising method for determining how R&D investments are likely to have an impact on technological advance in climate change energy technologies. But, expert elicitations are time-consuming and resource intensive. Thus, we investigate the value of the information gained in expert elicitations. More specifically, given baseline elicitations from one study (Baker, Chon, […]
