Sustainable Energy: Choosing Among Options

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This book states that a better future might depend on how individuals and institutions choose amongst diverse and potentially contradictory technical, sociological, geopolitical, and environmental options, and how we set priorities for changing our present courses. It clearly presents the trade-offs and uncertainties inherent in evaluating and choosing different energy options and provides a framework for assessing policy solutions. The text reviews 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. It also discusses about energy storage, transmission, and distribution; about the electric power sector; transportation, industrialenergy usage, commercial and residential buildings, and synergistic complex systems. It considers sustainable energy as a complex system that, in the broader context, is subservient to the "super system" of sustainable development then it provides the prospects for sustainable energy having practical global impacts. The book is a valuable resource for all postgraduate courses concerned with energy and its many ramifications-as in engineering, public policy, and environmental science. Table Of Contents Preface. Acknowledgments. 1. Sustainable Energy-The Engine of Sustainable Development. 2. Estimation and Evaluation of Energy Resources. 3. Technical Performance: Allowability, Efficiency, Production Rates. 4. Local, Regional, and Global Environmental Effects of Energy. 5. Project Economic Evaluation. 6. Energy Systems and Sustainability Metrics. 7. Fossil Fuels and Fossil Energy. 8. Nuclear Power. 9. Renewable Energy in Context. 10. Biomass Energy. 11. Geothermal Energy. 12. Hydropower. 13. Solar Energy. 14. Ocean Waves, Tide, and Thermal Energy Conversion. 15. Wind Energy. 16. Storage, Transportation, and Distribution of Energy. 17. Electric Power Sector. 18. Transportation Services. 19. Industrial Energy Usage. 20. Commercial and Residential Buildings. 21. Synergistic Complex Systems. 22. Choosing Among Options. Conversion Factors. List of Acronyms. Index.