Backstop technology

Under backstop technology (also back stop technology ) production which, in the use of exhaustible resources dispense by exhaustible through unlimited available resources ( backstop resources to be replaced). Research into these technologies plays an important role in energy supply . With backstop technology, the finiteness of exhaustible resources can be overcome.

In the energy sector, the main focus is on replacing fossil fuels . Among other things, this should be possible through the use of the following energy sources as backstop resources:

• Solar energy in its various forms (solar energy)
• Wind energy
• Geothermal energy
• Hydropower including tidal power
• Nuclear fission systems based on breeder reactors or light water reactors with uranium extraction from seawater
• Nuclear fusion

It is mostly assumed that the performance of the backstop technology is available at constant marginal costs . In other words, the production costs remain the same if more of a resource has to be extracted or produced. The transition from an exhaustible resource to a backstop technology will occur when its marginal cost is below the resource price. The market price of a resource will therefore never be above the marginal costs of the backstop technology.

literature

• Springer Gabler Verlag (editor): Keyword: backstop technology. In: Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon. wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de, accessed on December 28, 2016 . 
• Backstop technology. In: Lexicon of Economics. deacademic.com, accessed December 28, 2016 .