Landscape Analysis Framework for Low Carbon Energy

As the era of “cheap” oil comes to a close in the early 21 st century and the negative environmental impacts of fossil fuels are better understood, key stakeholders of the aerospace industry are investing billions to develop low carbon alternative jet fuels. The aviation industry spans political, industrial, economical, and cultural boundaries like few other industries. As such, the number of stakeholders involved in the development, selection, and transition to alternative aviation energy sources is expansive and diverse. Therefore, a comprehensive framework is needed to consider the various drivers of the low carbon energy landscape. This research developed a landscape analysis framework that initially considers 31 short and long-term low carbon energy technologies. The framework enables a user to rapidly explore and compare how well these alternatives are predicted to meet the hypothetical needs of 19 key industry stakeholders and perform in 26 market adoption metrics. Visualization techniques are applied to enable the identification of trends and energy alternative characteristics. The framework may be expanded by users to consider further stakeholders and energy alternatives. Additionally, dynamic functionality supports studies by users from diverse backgrounds and industries. The framework was used to conduct an example analysis from the perspective of NASA strategic decision makers. The case study illustrates the types of results, insights, and tradeoffs the framework may support.