Photovoltaics ProjectSeveral federal energy programs aim to "commercialize" new energy tech-
nologies, i.e., to bring them from research to the market. Product standards
and warranties are sometimes a part of these programs. Yet the benefits
which the standards and warranties are to achieve are rarely articulated, and
how these benefits will be achieved is often even less clear.
This article takes the view that the substantive goals of standards and
warranties can be articulated. It examines the functions of standards and
warranties and the processes which produce them, and casts their effects
in terms of impacts upon the new technology's demand, supply and industrial
market structure. The relevance of these impacts upon commercialization
programs is then discussed, covering the role of standards in the new in-
dustry's development, the need for standards and warranties in demonstration
projects and in the private financing of new energy systems, and mechanisms
for development of standards and warranties. The need for basic research
on standards and warranties is then addressed
