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.

Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States

Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
Author: U.S. Global Change Research Program
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2009-08-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0521144078

Summarizes the science of climate change and impacts on the United States, for the public and policymakers.

Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples in the United States

Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples in the United States
Author: Julie Koppel Maldonado
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2014-04-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319052667

With a long history and deep connection to the Earth’s resources, indigenous peoples have an intimate understanding and ability to observe the impacts linked to climate change. Traditional ecological knowledge and tribal experience play a key role in developing future scientific solutions for adaptation to the impacts. The book explores climate-related issues for indigenous communities in the United States, including loss of traditional knowledge, forests and ecosystems, food security and traditional foods, as well as water, Arctic sea ice loss, permafrost thaw and relocation. The book also highlights how tribal communities and programs are responding to the changing environments. Fifty authors from tribal communities, academia, government agencies and NGOs contributed to the book. Previously published in Climatic Change, Volume 120, Issue 3, 2013.

Hydrogen and Fuel Cells

Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
Author: International Energy Agency
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2004
Genre: Electronic books
ISBN: 9264108831

Hydrogen and fuel cells are vital technologies to ensure a secure and CO2-free energy future. Their development will take decades of extensive public and private effort to achieve technology breakthroughs and commercial maturity. Government research programs are indispensable for catalyzing the development process. This report maps the IEA countries' current efforts to research, develop and deploy the interlocking elements that constitute a "hydrogen economy", including CO2 capture and storage when hydrogen is produced out of fossil fuels. It provides an overview of what is being done, and by whom, covering an extensive complexity of national government R & D programs. The survey highlights the potential for exploiting the benefits of the international cooperation. This book draws primarily upon information contributed by IEA governments. In virtually all the IEA countries, important R & D and policy efforts on hydrogen and fuel cells are in place and expanding. Some are fully-integrated, government-funded programs, some are a key element in an overall strategy spread among multiple public and private efforts. The large amount of information provided in this publication reflects the vast array of technologies and logistics required to build the "hydrogen economy."--Publisher description.

Rural Wealth Creation

Rural Wealth Creation
Author: John L. Pender
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2014-06-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1135121966

This book investigates the role of wealth in achieving sustainable rural economic development. The authors define wealth as all assets net of liabilities that can contribute to well-being, and they provide examples of many forms of capital – physical, financial, human, natural, social, and others. They propose a conceptual framework for rural wealth creation that considers how multiple forms of wealth provide opportunities for rural development, and how development strategies affect the dynamics of wealth. They also provide a new accounting framework for measuring wealth stocks and flows. These conceptual frameworks are employed in case study chapters on measuring rural wealth and on rural wealth creation strategies. Rural Wealth Creation makes numerous contributions to research on sustainable rural development. Important distinctions are drawn to help guide wealth measurement, such as the difference between the wealth located within a region and the wealth owned by residents of a region, and privately owned versus publicly owned wealth. Case study chapters illustrate these distinctions and demonstrate how different forms of wealth can be measured. Several key hypotheses are proposed about the process of rural wealth creation, and these are investigated by case study chapters assessing common rural development strategies, such as promoting rural energy industries and amenity-based development. Based on these case studies, a typology of rural wealth creation strategies is proposed and an approach to mapping the potential of such strategies in different contexts is demonstrated. This book will be relevant to students, researchers, and policy makers looking at rural community development, sustainable economic development, and wealth measurement.

Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic

Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 483
Release: 2017-09-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309459575

Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.

Wildlife Watching and Tourism

Wildlife Watching and Tourism
Author: Richard Tapper
Publisher: UNEP/Earthprint
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2006
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9783937429076

Wildlife watching tourist activities can make an important contribution to community development and conservation, especially in developing countries, but it needs to be carefully planned and managed in order to ensure its long-term sustainability and to avoid potential adverse effects on wildlife and local communities. This report, published by UNEP and the Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), considers the socio-economic and environmental benefits that can be derived from watching wildlife tourism, including case studies from Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, the United States, Australia, Indonesia and Tanzania.

Transparent Governance in an Age of Abundance

Transparent Governance in an Age of Abundance
Author: Juan Cruz Vieyra
Publisher: Inter-American Development Bank
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2014-10-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 159782187X

During the last decade, the Latin American and Caribbean region has experienced unprecedented natural resources abundance. This book highlights how transparency can help realize the benefits and reduce negative externalities associated with the extractive industries in the region. A central message is that high-quality and well-managed information is critical to ensure the transparent and effective governance of the sector. The insights from experiences in the region can help policymakers design and implement effective regulatory reforms and adopt international standards that contribute to this goal. This is particularly important at a time when the recent boom experienced by extractives in the region may be coming to an end.