2 ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK 2.1 OVERVIEW This section describes a framework for comparing the SPS with various projected alternative energy sources on the basis of technical possibility, economic viability, and social and environmental acceptability. A more detailed description of the approach and method used in the assessment is contained in the methodology report for the comparative assessment.3 The analysis in the comparative methodology is composed of the following steps (Fig. 2.1): 1. Comparative issues selection and organization. Key issues from the deployment of the SPS and the alternative systems are selected and organized into an appropriate taxonomy. 2. Energy alternatives selection. Alternatives similar in utility to SPS are selected. Many possible issues and alternatives are examined, and these selections provide an initial focus for the remaining steps in the comparative assessment. 3. Energy system characterization. The energy system characterization provides reference data on technology costs and performance, resource use, and environmental residuals. 4. Side-by-side analysis of energy systems. Side-by-side analysis normalizes the energy output from each system to allow comparison of alternative technology impacts. 5. Alternative futures analysis. The alternative futures analysis incorporates the results of the side-by-side impact analysis into future energy supply/demand and state-of-the world scenarios that are not forecasts but are designed to examine specific issues and potential problems over a range of possible futures. 6. Development and application of integration/aggregation techniques. The development of formal techniques for integrating and aggregating the large amounts of data and information provided by the analysis will aid the decision maker in formulating SPS program recommenda- t ions. Only the first five steps have been carried out in this comparative assessment. The following sections describe each of these six steps of the comparative assessment framework in more detail. 2.2 COMPARATIVE ISSUES The selection of issues for the comparative assessment must be guided by the idea that not only should the issues structure be general enough to
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