Synopses & Reviews
Energy issues such as pollution, resource depletion, global warming, nuclear power and waste are problems demanding timely solutions. This book provides a critical examination of the resources, market forces, and social impacts of modern energy production. The book addresses the dilemmas that have arisen due to society's crucial dependence on energy, particularly fossil fuels, and explores the available alternative energy producing technologies. The second edition has increased emphasis on those issues at the forefront of the current energy debate: energy sustainability, climate change, and the radical restructuring of the power industry due to deregulation. Assuming no prior technical expertise and avoiding complex mathematical formulation. The second edition, like the first, will be especially useful as a textbook for undergraduate programs in Science, Technology and Society (STS), and as a supplementary text in a variety of courses that touch on energy studies, including environmental and technology policy, environmental, mineral and business law, energy and resource economics.
Review
"...an extremely useful book for virtually anyone who wishes to develop a working knowledge of energy, from the various ways it is produced, to the social, environmental, and economic implications associated with its production and consumption." Palaios
Review
"This book serves as an excellent introduction to energy...[it] is well written and directed at a broad readership. It provides valuable assessments of a variety of energy-related issues. Above all, the book is readable by the technical and nontechnical person." Energy Sources
Synopsis
This book provides a critical examination of all aspects of modern energy production. The second edition has increased emphasis on those issues at the forefront of the current energy debate: energy sustainability, climate change, de-regulation of the power industry. It is especially useful as a textbook for undergraduate programs in Science, Technology and Society, and as a supplementary text in all courses which touch upon energy studies.
Synopsis
This book providesa critical examination of the resources, market forces, and social impacts of modern energy production. The book addresses the dilemmas that have arisen from society's crucial dependence on energy and particularly fossil fuels, and explores the available alternative electricity producing technologies. The second edition has increased emphasis on those issues at the forefront of the current energy debate: energy sustainability, climate change, de-regulation of the power industry. The first edition proved especially useful as a textbook for undergraduate programs in Science, Technology and Society (STS), and as a supplementary text in a variety of courses which touch upon energy studies, including environmental and technology policy, law and economics.
Table of Contents
Preface; 1. Introduction; Part I. Energy Resources and Technology: 2. Energy resources; 3. Conventional conversion of energy; 4. The demand for energy; 5. Global perspectives; Part II. Power Generation: The Technology and its Effects: 6. Fossil fuels - impacts and technology; 7. Nuclear fission technology; 8. The nuclear fuel cycle; 9. Power plant economics; Part III. Energy Technology in the Future: 10. Alternative technologies; 11. Paradigms of new technologies; Epilogue; Appendix A: Scientific principles; Appendix B: Establishing criteria for safety and health standards; Appendix C: Synopses of new technologies; Index.