Overview

Beginning with a survey of basic energy concepts, the book describes the magnitude and patterns of human energy needs at various levels. Focus then turns to an overview of the fossil and nuclear-fuelled energy that, together with hydroelectric power and traditional biofuels, supply most of the world's commercial energy needs. Sections on economics describes the basic methods by which the monetary costs of energy are calculated, and discuss the issue of 'external' costs of energy production. The concluding chapters consider the sustainabliity problems associated with both fossil and nuclear fuel use, and ways in which they might be ameliorated by various technological and social developments. This is done in the context of a rising use of renewable energy, which is dealt with in more detail in the companion volume Renewable Energy..

Full Product Details

9780199593743

Table of Contents

Reviews

Review from previous edition ...a valid work set in its own context as an educational device The Journal of Energy Literature 2003. Review from other book by this author It is high time that good textbooks on the subject become available on the market. Renewable Energy: Power for a Sustainable Future, is thus a timely and welcome addition to the existing literature on the subject...Godfrey Boyle and his team of authors have, in my view, managed to produce an outstanding textbook in which a wealth of information, including an extensive amount of data, is presented in a lucid and comprehensible form. The Journal of Energy Literature, March 1997 It is readily accessible to readers with a wide range of interests and abilities because the complex scientific explanations are presented separately from the main text ... the authors have presented the questions that must be considered. The book contains a wealth of information and is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in renewable energy technologies and their possible role in our future. Nicola Pearsall, Chemistry & Industry, October 1996 ... an excellent and timely primer... the book strikes an admirable balance between making the prinicples underlying the renewables as understandable as possible and endeavouring not to oversimplify important technological and economic aspects. Resurgence, April 1997 This book has been produced by a large, expert course team who have carefully researched the area and presented much up to date information ... The book is very user-friendly, having many valuable figures, tables and boxes. There are plentiful suggestions for further reading, and students are guided towards key papers in a range of journals. I will buy this book for my library. Paul Phillips, Education in Chemistry, May 1997 This is an excellent text, covering all the actual and potential sources of renewable energy. The writing is clear and the many excellent diagrams and illustrations complement the written word. Where the treatment is necessarily theoretical the level is appropriate and the argument laid out in separate text. This book will be highly relevant to any undergraduate studying this important field. Aslib Book Guide, October 1996 Energy Systems and Sustainability will make a very useful resource for any engineer interested in energy systems for the future, particularly as each chapter is augmented by a substantial list of references that can be used to follow up individual topics in greater depth. IEE Review. April 2004.

Energy Systems and Sustainability will make a very useful resource for any engineer interested in energy systems for the future, particularly as each chapter is augmented by a substantial list of references that can be used to follow up individual topics in greater depth. * IEE Review. April 2004. * This is an excellent text, covering all the actual and potential sources of renewable energy. The writing is clear and the many excellent diagrams and illustrations complement the written word. Where the treatment is necessarily theoretical the level is appropriate and the argument laid out in separate text. This book will be highly relevant to any undergraduate studying this important field. * Aslib Book Guide, October 1996 * This book has been produced by a large, expert course team who have carefully researched the area and presented much up to date information ... The book is very user-friendly, having many valuable figures, tables and boxes. There are plentiful suggestions for further reading, and students are guided towards key papers in a range of journals. I will buy this book for my library. * Paul Phillips, Education in Chemistry, May 1997 * ... an excellent and timely primer... the book strikes an admirable balance between making the prinicples underlying the renewables as understandable as possible and endeavouring not to oversimplify important technological and economic aspects. * Resurgence, April 1997 * It is readily accessible to readers with a wide range of interests and abilities because the complex scientific explanations are presented separately from the main text ... the authors have presented the questions that must be considered. The book contains a wealth of information and is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in renewable energy technologies and their possible role in our future. * Nicola Pearsall, Chemistry & Industry, October 1996 * Review from other book by this author It is high time that good textbooks on the subject become available on the market. Renewable Energy: Power for a Sustainable Future, is thus a timely and welcome addition to the existing literature on the subject...Godfrey Boyle and his team of authors have, in my view, managed to produce an outstanding textbook in which a wealth of information, including an extensive amount of data, is presented in a lucid and comprehensible form. * The Journal of Energy Literature, March 1997 * Review from previous edition ...a valid work set in its own context as an educational device * The Journal of Energy Literature 2003. *

`Review from previous edition ...a valid work set in its own context as an educational device' The Journal of Energy Literature 2003. `Review from other book by this author It is high time that good textbooks on the subject become available on the market. Renewable Energy: Power for a Sustainable Future, is thus a timely and welcome addition to the existing literature on the subject...Godfrey Boyle and his team of authors have, in my view, managed to produce an outstanding textbook in which a wealth of information, including an extensive amount of data, is presented in a lucid and comprehensible form.' The Journal of Energy Literature, March 1997 `It is readily accessible to readers with a wide range of interests and abilities because the complex scientific explanations are presented separately from the main text ... the authors have presented the questions that must be considered. The book contains a wealth of information and is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in renewable energy technologies and their possible role in our future.' Nicola Pearsall, Chemistry & Industry, October 1996 `... an excellent and timely primer... the book strikes an admirable balance between making the prinicples underlying the renewables as understandable as possible and endeavouring not to oversimplify important technological and economic aspects.' Resurgence, April 1997 `This book has been produced by a large, expert course team who have carefully researched the area and presented much up to date information ... The book is very user-friendly, having many valuable figures, tables and boxes. There are plentiful suggestions for further reading, and students are guided towards key papers in a range of journals. I will buy this book for my library.' Paul Phillips, Education in Chemistry, May 1997 `This is an excellent text, covering all the actual and potential sources of renewable energy. The writing is clear and the many excellent diagrams and illustrations complement the written word. Where the treatment is necessarily theoretical the level is appropriate and the argument laid out in separate text. This book will be highly relevant to any undergraduate studying this important field.' Aslib Book Guide, October 1996 `Energy Systems and Sustainability will make a very useful resource for any engineer interested in energy systems for the future, particularly as each chapter is augmented by a substantial list of references that can be used to follow up individual topics in greater depth.' IEE Review. April 2004.

Author Information

Godfrey Boyle is professor of renewable energy and director of the Energy and Environment Research Unit in The Open University's Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology. He has chaired the Open University teams that have produced various Open University courses and study packs on renewable and sustainable energy, most recently 'Energy for a Sustainable Future'. His main research interests are in renewable energy, particularly wind and solar power, energy systems modelling and energy policy. He is also a visiting professor at The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) University in New Delhi, India, Trustee of the National Energy Foundation in the UK and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK (formerly the Institution of Electrical Engineers). Dr Bob Everett is lecturer in renewable technology in The Open University's Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology. His background is in electronics, working in the 1970s on computer phototypesetting and a patent for using random dots of ink to print pictures (as used in modern ink jet printers). He has worked on energy issues since 1977, initially on computer modelling of active and passive solar heating, later on the monitoring of large scale housing field trials, leading to an Open University PhD in 1989. Since then Bob has continued research work on combined heat and power systems and office energy use at The Open University, the Martin Centre at Cambridge University, the Building Research Establishment and University College London. Bob has been involved in the development and teaching of Open University courses on energy and environment issues since 1993. He was contributing author to the first and second editions of Renewable Energy (Oxford University Press, 1996 and 2004) in addition, he was author and editor of the first edition of Energy Systems and Sustainability (Oxford University Press, 2003). He has also contributed chapters to a number of other energy publications Dr Stephen Peake is senior lecturer in environmental technology at The Open University and fellow at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, where he leads courses on sustainability and climate leadership. Over the last 19 years, Stephen has worked on climate change in various interesting guises: as a researcher at the University of Cambridge, as a fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London (including a stint at the Shell International Petroleum Company), as a Fonctionnaire at the International Energy Agency within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, and as a diplomat with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany. Over the years, he has been called on to give evidence to various national governments and international organisations including: the Fuel Economy Panel of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association in Detroit, USA; the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment; and the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. He is author of seven authored books and numerous articles on energy, transport and climate change. Dr Janet Ramage is a visiting lecturer at The Open University, and was an editor and contributing author to the first edition of Energy Systems and Sustainability (Oxford University Press, 2003). Her academic background is in physics, and her first post after completing her studies in London was as a lecturer at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Returning to London, she was attracted by the growing interest in energy studies in the late 1970s, and began to develop short courses in this field, including multi-disciplinary 'modules' within a degree program and courses for physics teachers. A sabbatical year spent at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Harvard led to the publication of Energy, A Guidebook (Oxford University Press, 1983). Intended as an introduction for the general reader, this became popular for sixth form and even undergraduate studies, and a second edition appeared in 1997. Janet had by then joined the Open University as a member of the team developing teaching materials on renewable energy, which lead to an Open University undergraduate course with the associated text Renewable Energy (Oxford University Press,1996, 2004). Having written a number of the study guides that form part of the course materials for Open University students, she continued in this role when the renewables course was succeeded in 2003 by the present broader course, with the associated publication of the first edition of Energy Systems and Sustainability.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available