Finding. The Advanced Combustion Technologies Program is an important component of the Office of Fossil Energy R&D program and should be vigorously pursued, but outside the Vision 21 Program. The advanced combustion technologies have the potential to significantly improve efficiency and environmental performance over today’s electric generating technologies and can enable the upgrading of the existing fleet of power plants or the construction of new plants. The advanced combustion technologies can also serve as a fallback alternative if the Vision 21 goals prove unobtainable technically or economically.
Recommendation. The Advanced Coal Combustion Technologies Program should be vigorously pursued outside the Vision 21 Program in order to meet any commercial needs for coal-fired generating capacity with much better performance and emission levels than current combustion technologies before Vision 21 technologies are commercially available.