Washington, D.C, Monday, September 18, 2023 — The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) released a new white paper, Pathways to Decarbonizing Heat, which seeks to build a holistic framework for evaluating and ranking decarbonization strategies for industrial process heat in light of economic efficiency, public policy, timing readiness, and infrastructure realities.
This report provides a framework factoring in cost, environmental impact, and broader legal realities like permitting, construction timelines, and legal challenges. It also presents an argument for a cumulative cost-benefit analysis, which includes assessing a given decarbonization strategy using the six-factor framework, then applying the entire framework to each contingent factor (e.g., new transmission lines needed). This demonstrates an unseen ballooning affect that policymakers should note when subsidizing or regulating decarbonization strategies.
These six factors include:
- Cost
- Environmental Impact
- Regulatory and Permitting Compliance
- Timing Readiness
- Logistical Feasibility
- Power Potential
The factors presented in this paper are critical to the viability and success of any infrastructure strategy, especially one focused on decarbonization. While factors some are commonly discussed, others are lesser known, and some are entirely ignored in popular debate. Only by evaluating each of these factors and combining them can we know the feasibility of decarbonizing with each option.
Click here to read the white paper.
To learn more about the Aii and our infrastructure work, visit Aii.org.
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About the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure
The Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) is an independent, national research and educational organization dedicated to identifying our nation’s infrastructure needs, creating awareness of those needs, and finding solutions to critical public policy challenges. Aii strives to promote proven, innovative technology and higher safety standards in a non-partisan manner to achieve excellence nationwide.
The Alliance is a think tank consisting of two non-profits: the National Infrastructure Safety Foundation (NISF) 501(c)(4) and the Public Institute for Facility Safety (PIFS) 501(c)(3). (Aii.org)