Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Energy and Sustainability, held in Bucharest, Romania, 2013.

As members of the American Physical Society’s Forum on Physics and Society, we are concerned with the need to produce and use energy more wisely. One contribution we feel we can make is to educate fellow physicists, especially those who teach in our colleges and universities, about the technical details of some of the more promising techniques for efficient and renewable energy. To that end, we have organized a short course on the Physics of Sustainable Energy: Using Energy Efficiently and Producing It Renewably. The short course was intended to give physicists in-depth technical background needed to evaluate these issues for teaching and research. The year after the 1973-74 oil embargo, the APS leaped into action with a study on enhanced end-use efficiency, realizing that it is easier to save a kilowatt-hour than it is to produce a kilowatt-hour. The results of the APS study appeared in the 1975 AIP Conference Proceedings 25, titled Efficient Use of Energy. It launched the energy-careers of Art Rosenfeld, Rob Socolow, Marc Ross, Dave Claridge and others. The energy programs at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and at Princeton are a direct result of AIP25. The LBNL energy program for buildings and appliances has had far more effect than any action on energy supply. Savings of 75% for refrigerators, 50% for lighting and 50% for buildings can be directly traceable to Building 90 at LBNL. Twenty years ago, the Forum organized a short course, Energy Sources: Conservation and Renewables, at the former Office of Technology Assessment in Washington, DC. The 700-page proceedings of that short course, AIP135, served as a useful textbook for such professors as Art Rosenfeld, then at the University California at Berkeley. The book also became a valuable reference in the libraries of many physics departments, where such applied topics are often scarce.

The proceedings of the Fourth International Conference convened on the title subject, contained in this book, were contributed by experts from around the world. Their papers cover an area that is vital to our development, since industrial processes can proceed without an adequate energy supply, and without industrial production, society lacks the commodities on which it depends. Yet supplies of traditional energy fuels are finite. We need to look beyond simple fuel combustion as a source of energy and consider both greater efficiency in the use of energy and new ways of producing it.

Buildings have a long lifetime, and so they are a major target for any structural changes in consumption patterns. Conversely, long lifetimes come with associated strong inertia. This book examines the opportunities to influence energy consumption in housing and buildings, and provides options for implementation at a macro, meso and micro level.

Research Paper on Energy and environmental sustainability Vol- IV: published in Springer,Wiley,Taylor Francis

The EU-funded project Sustainable Consumption Research Exchanges (SCORE ) consists of around 200 experts in the field of sustainable innovation and sustainable consumption. The SCORE philosophy is that innovation in SCP policy can be achieved only if experts that understand business development, (sustainable) solution design, consumer behaviour and system innovation policy work together in shaping it. Sustainable technology design can be effective only if business can profitably make the products and consumers are attracted to them. To understand how this might effectively happen, the expertise of systems thinkers must be added to the mix.

Despite a 2016-18 glut in fossil fuel markets and decade-low fuel prices, the global transformation to sustainable energy is happening. Our ongoing energy challenges and solutions are complex and multidimensional, involving science, technology, design, economics, finance, planning, policy, politics, and social movements. The most comprehensive book on this topic, Energy for Sustainability has been the go-to resource for courses. This new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to inform and guide students and practitioners who will steer this transformation. Drawing on a combined 80 years of teaching experience, John Randolph and Gilbert Masters take a holistic and interdisciplinary approach. Energy for Sustainability can help techies and policymakers alike understand the mechanisms required to enable conversion to energy that is clean, affordable, and secure. Major revisions to this edition reflect the current changes in technology and energy use and focus on new analyses, data, and methods necessary to understand and actively participate in the transition to sustainable energy. The book begins with energy literacy, including patterns and trends, before covering the fundamentals of energy related to physics, engineering, and economics. The next parts explore energy technologies and opportunities in three important energy sectors: buildings, electricity, and transportation. The final section focuses on policy and planning, presenting the critical role of public policy and consumer and investor choice in transforming energy markets to greater sustainability. Throughout the book, methods for energy and economic analysis and design give readers a quantitative appreciation for and understanding of energy systems. The book uses case studies extensively to demonstrate current experience and illustrate possibilities.