Shannon Entropy and Information Theory for Energy Technology ex-ante evaluation

Most of the international literature has used Shannon entropy to measure the information gap. In this paper we propose a method that uses Shannon entropy to evaluate ex-ante energy technologies in a decision making process. It was called ITEM, i.e., Information Theory Energy technology ex-ante evaluation Method. The aim was to have a suitable tool for characterising the most critical project during energy planning. The ITEM method was used to evaluate ex-ante two renewable energy scenarios: biomass energy production vs. bio fuel gasoline production. Analysis results highlight bio fuel low entropy, promoting this technology scenario from every point of view.