Our Energy Future

Our Energy Future
Author: Christian Ngo
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 530
Release: 2016-03-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1119213363

Presents an overview on the different aspects of the energy value chain and discusses the issues that future energy is facing This book covers energy and the energy policy choices which face society. The book presents easy-to-grasp information and analysis, and includes statistical data for energy production, consumption and simple formulas. Among the aspects considered are: science, technology, economics and the impact on health and the environment. In this new edition two new chapters have been added: The first new chapter deals with unconventional fossil fuels, a resource which has become very important from the economical point of view, especially in the United States. The second new chapter presents the applications of nanotechnology in the energy domain. Provides a global vision of available and potential energy sources Discusses advantages and drawbacks to help prepare current and future generations to use energy differently Includes new chapters covering unconventional fossil fuels and nanotechnology as new energy Our Energy Future: Resources, Alternatives and the Environment, Second Edition, is written for professionals, students, teachers, decision-makers and politicians involved in the energy domain and interested in environmental issues.

Our Energy Future

Our Energy Future
Author: Carla S. Jones
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2016-02-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0520964284

Our Energy Future is an introductory textbook for the study of energy production, alternative and renewable fuels, and ways to build a sustainable energy future. Jones and Mayfield explore the creation and history of fossil fuels, their impact on the environment, and how they have become critical to our society. The authors also outline how adopting sustainable biofuels will be key to the future of energy stability and discuss a number of renewable energy options and biofuel feedstocks that are replacements for petroleum-based products. Our society is consuming energy at an alarming rate, and the authors warn that continuing fuel-usage patterns could permanently damage the environment. This book emphasizes the importance of continued scientific, agricultural, and engineering development while it outlines the political and environmental challenges that will accompany a complete shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy and biomass. Our Energy Future is an accessible resource for undergraduate students studying biofuels and bioenergy.

Electrify

Electrify
Author: Saul Griffith
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2021-10-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0262367270

An optimistic--but realistic and feasible--action plan for fighting climate change while creating new jobs and a healthier environment: electrify everything. Climate change is a planetary emergency. We have to do something now—but what? Saul Griffith has a plan. In Electrify, Griffith lays out a detailed blueprint—optimistic but feasible—for fighting climate change while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. Griffith’s plan can be summed up simply: electrify everything. He explains exactly what it would take to transform our infrastructure, update our grid, and adapt our households to make this possible. Billionaires may contemplate escaping our worn-out planet on a private rocket ship to Mars, but the rest of us, Griffith says, will stay and fight for the future. Griffith, an engineer and inventor, calls for grid neutrality, ensuring that households, businesses, and utilities operate as equals; we will have to rewrite regulations that were created for a fossil-fueled world, mobilize industry as we did in World War II, and offer low-interest “climate loans.” Griffith’s plan doesn’t rely on big, not-yet-invented innovations, but on thousands of little inventions and cost reductions. We can still have our cars and our houses—but the cars will be electric and solar panels will cover our roofs. For a world trying to bounce back from a pandemic and economic crisis, there is no other project that would create as many jobs—up to twenty-five million, according to one economic analysis. Is this politically possible? We can change politics along with everything else.

Our Renewable Future

Our Renewable Future
Author: Richard Heinberg
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2016-06-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1610917790

"Over the next few decades, we will see a profound energy transformation as society shifts from fossil fuels to renewable resources like solar, wind, biomass. But what might a one hundred percent renewable future actually look like, and what obstacles will we face in this transition? Authors explore the practical challenges and opportunities presented by the shift to renewable energy."--Page 4 of cover.

Our Energy Future

Our Energy Future
Author: Carla S. Jones
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2016-02-16
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0520278771

"Our Energy Future is an introductory textbook for a college course in energy production, alternative and renewable fuels, and related issues involved in building a sustainable energy future. Our society is consuming energy at an alarming rate as trends in energy consumption continue to rise. Jones and Mayfield explore the creation and history of fossil fuels, their impact on the environment, and how they have become critical to our society. They warn that continuing fuel-usage patterns could permanently damage our environment. Jones and Mayfield also outline how the adoption of sustainable biofuels will be key to our future energy stability. They discuss a number of renewable energy options, and then discuss different biofuel feedstocks and their potential as replacements for petroleum-based products. This book emphasizes the importance of continued scientific, agricultural, and engineering development, while outlining the political and environmental challenges that are coupled with a complete shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy and biomass. Our Energy Future is an excellent, accessible resource for undergraduate students studying biofuels and bioenergy."--Provided by publisher.

Climate Change

Climate Change
Author: Jason Smerdon
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2009-04-25
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0231518188

Climate Change is geared toward a variety of students and general readers who seek the real science behind global warming. Exquisitely illustrated, the text introduces the basic science underlying both the natural progress of climate change and the effect of human activity on the deteriorating health of our planet. Noted expert and author Edmond A. Mathez synthesizes the work of leading scholars in climatology and related fields, and he concludes with an extensive chapter on energy production, anchoring this volume in economic and technological realities and suggesting ways to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Climate Change opens with the climate system fundamentals: the workings of the atmosphere and ocean, their chemical interactions via the carbon cycle, and the scientific framework for understanding climate change. Mathez then brings the climate of the past to bear on our present predicament, highlighting the importance of paleoclimatology in understanding the current climate system. Subsequent chapters explore the changes already occurring around us and their implications for the future. In a special feature, Jason E. Smerdon, associate research scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, provides an innovative appendix for students.

Climate Change

Climate Change
Author: Edmond A. Mathez
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2009-05-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0231146426

Climate Change is geared toward a variety of students and general readers who seek the real science behind global warming. Exquisitely illustrated, the text introduces the basic science underlying both the natural progress of climate change and the effect of human activity on the deteriorating health of our planet. Noted expert and author Edmond A. Mathez synthesizes the work of leading scholars in climatology and related fields, and he concludes with an extensive chapter on energy production, anchoring this volume in economic and technological realities and suggesting ways to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Climate Change opens with the climate system fundamentals: the workings of the atmosphere and ocean, their chemical interactions via the carbon cycle, and the scientific framework for understanding climate change. Mathez then brings the climate of the past to bear on our present predicament, highlighting the importance of paleoclimatology in understanding the current climate system. Subsequent chapters explore the changes already occurring around us and their implications for the future. In a special feature, Jason E. Smerdon, associate research scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, provides an innovative appendix for students.

America's Energy Future

America's Energy Future
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 737
Release: 2009-12-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309149096

For multi-user PDF licensing, please contact customer service. Energy touches our lives in countless ways and its costs are felt when we fill up at the gas pump, pay our home heating bills, and keep businesses both large and small running. There are long-term costs as well: to the environment, as natural resources are depleted and pollution contributes to global climate change, and to national security and independence, as many of the world's current energy sources are increasingly concentrated in geopolitically unstable regions. The country's challenge is to develop an energy portfolio that addresses these concerns while still providing sufficient, affordable energy reserves for the nation. The United States has enormous resources to put behind solutions to this energy challenge; the dilemma is to identify which solutions are the right ones. Before deciding which energy technologies to develop, and on what timeline, we need to understand them better. America's Energy Future analyzes the potential of a wide range of technologies for generation, distribution, and conservation of energy. This book considers technologies to increase energy efficiency, coal-fired power generation, nuclear power, renewable energy, oil and natural gas, and alternative transportation fuels. It offers a detailed assessment of the associated impacts and projected costs of implementing each technology and categorizes them into three time frames for implementation.

Green Illusions

Green Illusions
Author: Ozzie Zehner
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 462
Release: 2012
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0803243367

We don’t have an energy crisis. We have a consumption crisis. And this book, which takes aim at cherished assumptions regarding energy, offers refreshingly straight talk about what’s wrong with the way we think and talk about the problem. Though we generally believe we can solve environmental problems with more energy—more solar cells, wind turbines, and biofuels—alternative technologies come with their own side effects and limitations. How, for instance, do solar cells cause harm? Why can’t engineers solve wind power’s biggest obstacle? Why won’t contraception solve the problem of overpopulation lying at the heart of our concerns about energy, and what will? This practical, environmentally informed, and lucid book persuasively argues for a change of perspective. If consumption is the problem, as Ozzie Zehner suggests, then we need to shift our focus from suspect alternative energies to improving social and political fundamentals: walkable communities, improved consumption, enlightened governance, and, most notably, women’s rights. The dozens of first steps he offers are surprisingly straightforward. For instance, he introduces a simple sticker that promises a greater impact than all of the nation’s solar cells. He uncovers why carbon taxes won’t solve our energy challenges (and presents two taxes that could). Finally, he explores how future environmentalists will focus on similarly fresh alternatives that are affordable, clean, and can actually improve our well-being. Watch a book trailer.