Sustainable Energy: Choosing Among Options

Front Cover
MIT Press, 2005 - 846 pages
Human survival depends on a continuing energy supply, but the need for ever-increasing amounts of energy poses a dilemma: How can we provide the benefits of energy to the population of the globe without damaging the environment, negatively affecting social stability, or threatening the well-being of future generations? The solution will lie in finding sustainable energy sources and more efficient means of converting and utilizing energy. This textbook is designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students as well as others who have an interest in exploring energy resource options and technologies with a view toward achieving sustainability. It clearly presents the trade-offs and uncertainties inherent in evaluating and choosing different energy options and provides a framework for assessing policy solutions. Sustainable Energy includes illustrative examples, problems, references for further reading, and links to relevant Web sites and can be used outside the classroom as a resource for government, industry, and nonprofit organizations. The first six chapters provide the tools for making informed energy choices. estimation, environmental effects, and economic evaluations. Chapters 7-15 review the main energy sources of today and tomorrow, including fossil fuels, nuclear power, biomass, geothermal energy, hydropower, wind energy, and solar energy, examining their technologies, environmental impacts, and economics. The remaining chapters treat energy storage, transmission, and distribution; the electric power sector; transportation; industrial energy usage; commercial and residential buildings; and synergistic complex systems. The book addresses the challenges of integrating diverse factors and the importance for future generations of the energy choices we make today.

From inside the book

Contents

Renewable Energy in Context
9
References
48
Allowability Efficiency Production Rates
87
Local Regional and Global Environmental Effects of Energy
137
Problems
199
Appendix A
245
Energy Systems and Sustainability Metrics
259
References
289
References
585
References
607
454
611
Wind Energy
613
References
640
Storage Transportation and Distribution of Energy
647
Electric Power Sector
693
References
724

Fossil Fuels and Fossil Energy
295
References
355
Nuclear Power
361
References
405
References
446
References
453
Geothermal Energy
454
References
519
References
757
References
774
References
794
References
819
Conversion Factors
827
Index
837
Copyright

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About the author (2005)

Jefferson W. Tester is Croll Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems at Cornell University.

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