OIL / ENERGY END-USE EFFICIENCY

We have provided research assistance to the book, “Winning the Oil Endgame”. This book is an independent, peer-reviewed synthesis for American business to chart a roadmap for getting the United States completely, attractively, and profitably off oil. The strategy integrates four technological ways to displace oil: using oil twice as efficiently, then substituting biofuels, saved natural gas, and, optionally, hydrogen. Fully applying today’s best efficiency technologies in a doubled-GDP 2025 economy would save half the projected U.S. oil use at half its forecast cost per barrel. Non-oil substitutes for the remaining consumption would also cost less than oil. These comparisons conservatively assign zero value to avoiding oil’s many “externalized” costs, including the costs incurred by military insecurity, rivalry with developing countries, pollution, and depletion. The vehicle improvements and other savings required needn’t be as fast as those achieved after the 1979 oil shock.

*Work contributed in affiliation with Rocky Mountain Institute

ALGAE BIOFUELS

Biofuels derived from algae have generated growing interest as a possible source of sustainable energy. Researchers hope to convert algae-based lipids and hydrocarbons into a variety of fuels at a more efficient rate per acre than conventional biofuel sources. However, a consensus has not yet been reached on the scope of impact algae-to-biofuel production may have on the environment. Decision makers need to better understand the effects of production processes, inputs, and outputs on the environment, especially land and water resources, if biofuels are to become a truly sustainable fuel source.

WATER DESALINATION

We have provided project management on a research paper entitled, “Assessment of Seawater Desalination as a Water Supply Strategy for San Diego.” The paper used rigorous economic and statistical/scientific techniques to understand and predict how seawater desalination affects water quality and supply.