Estimating Economic & Employment Impacts of Energy Technology Investments
Highlights
- DOE wanted to estimate the effects of energy technology investments
- Abt built an input-output calculator to help DOE estimate impacts
- The web-based tool is available to analysts at other agencies
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The Department of Energy (DOE) and state and local governments are pouring significant sums into energy technology. They have multiple goals: reduce emissions, improve efficiency, and diversify energy sources. Unsurprisingly, DOE wants a way to estimate the economic and employment effects of these investments. |
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Abt built an input-output (I-O) calculator to help DOE make those estimates. The calculator contains a framework for converting a schedule of energy-related investments and subsequent operating, maintenance, and market effects into consistent direct economic effects. The calculator feeds the effects through an import-adjusted I-O framework to estimate total domestic economic effects on economic activity, employment, and earnings. |
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Abt built the framework in a web environment so that analysts from DOE, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and other organizations can use a rigorous and consistent analytic system to perform economic impact analyses. |