ABSTRACT
This chapter presents useful analysis tools that engineers should be familiar with. These include a basic process for economic assessment, energy ow analysis, and resource accounting methods for complex energy systems. The objective of economic assessment is to provide useful nancial insight and enable a comparison between various energy options. No familiarity with microeconomics is presumed, and given the uncertainty in predicting a future economic environment, one could argue that added complexity may not be warranted. The standard methods presented here are equally applicable to renewable and nonrenewable energy systems, as well as to energy conservation projects. The objectives of energy ow analysis and resource accounting are to conceptualize and compare different energy system investments, to account for resource and external costs, and to identify sustainability issues.
