ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the methodologies used to address five major areas of substantive inquiry: definition of decentralized energy systems, selection of technologies appropriate for such systems, techniques employed to match supply and demand; methods for estimating the costs; and procedures for examining the impacts of implementing such systems. A major alternative to the continuation of post World War II energy usage and supply patterns is the “soft path” approach which has been promoted by Amory Lovins and others. The California study attempts to examine the feasibility of relying on local renewable energy resources through a decentralized, or distributed system. Adopting a working definition of “decentralized energy” is by no means a trivial task; on the contrary, there is no commonly agreed upon terminology. The office of technology assessment report provided cost comparisons between several hundred on-site solar technologies and conventional energy systems, based on itemized cost estimates of components and computed for both 1976 and 1985 start-up dates.
