The Office of Science and Technology is currently supporting the development of approximately 170 technology systems. Of these, approximately 120 have cost savings as a primary objective. Thirty-seven of these 120 technology systems serve as the basis for estimating cost savings in the analysis of the 1996 Base Case. Table F.1 displays the 37 technologies by focus and crosscutting program area. No savings estimates were made for later decades.
Cost savings are proportional to the scope of the program.
Thus, technology development cost savings for the highest land-use case in the sensitivity analysis will be greater than that for the Base Case. Therefore, selecting the most promising 37 out of 120 technology systems to estimate the aggregate potential cost savings should be a reasonable assumption. Indirect and support costs are not affected. In addition, full-scale demonstration will provide updated cost and performance data that will affect the individual technology system cost studies. The process is necessarily predictive in nature because the 37 technologies have not had sufficient production application to build detailed historical cost and performance data bases.