The increasing importance of biomass as a renewable energy source has led to an acute need for reliable and detailed information on its assessment, consumption and supply. Responding to this need, and overcoming the lack of standardised measurement and accounting procedures, this best-selling handbook provides the reader with the skills to understand the biomass resource base, the tools to assess the resource, and explores the pros and cons of exploitation. This new edition has been fully updated and revised with new chapters on sustainability methodologies. Topics covered include assessment methods for woody and herbaceous biomass, biomass supply and consumption, land use change, remote sensing techniques, food security, sustainability and certification as well as vital policy issues. The book includes international case studies on techniques from measuring tree volume to transporting biomass, which help to illustrate step-by-step methods. Technical appendices offer a glossary of terms, energy units and other valuable resource data.

This book provides an updated and expanded overview of basic concepts of energy economics and explains how simple economic tools can be used to analyse contemporary energy issues in the light of recent developments, such as the Paris Agreement, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and new technological developments in the production and use of energy. The new edition is divided into four parts covering concepts, issues, markets, and governance. Although the content has been thoroughly revised and rationalised to reflect the current state of knowledge, it retains the main features of the first edition, namely accessibility, research-informed presentation, and extensive use of charts, tables and worked examples. This easily accessible reference book allows readers to gain the skills required to understand and analyse complex energy issues from an economic perspective. It is a valuable resource for students and researchers in the field of energy economics, as well as interested readers with an interdisciplinary background.

Of late, farming community in India has been facing new challenges of food and nutrition security, human health and structural adjustment to comply with WTO stipulations on the one hand and sustainable environment on the other. The overuse of fertilizers and chemicals, and depleting water resources are essentially threatening the sustainability of Indian agriculture. The slow growth of agriculture sector mainly due to stagnation in productivity growth is a grave concern for policy-makers and development planners. The key challenge to India's agriculture in the 21st century in the wake of open global economy lies in designing, developing and managing agricultural systems that enable farmers to be efficient, equitable and sustainable in the bio-physical and socio-cultural environments. This book has deliberated on the key issues of sustainable agriculture in the context of emerging technologies, policies and institutions by promoting efficiency, equity and better management of natural resources. In the process, thoughts and experience of world-class leaders in agricultural education, research, extension, policy, agri-business and development in addressing the challenges confronting farmers have been documented