Upper level textbook on the science and technologies needed for renewable energy. It looks at energy transmitted from the sun as radiation through the Earth's atmosphere. The book covers turbine technology, hydroelectric power and pumped-hydro energy storage.

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.

This thoroughly revised and updated third edition focuses on the utilization of sustainable energy and mitigating climate change, serving as an introduction to physics in the context of societal problems. A distinguishing feature of the text is the discussion of spectroscopy and spectroscopic methods as a crucial means to quantitatively analyze and monitor the condition of the environment, the factors determining climate change, and all aspects of energy conversion. This textbook will be invaluable to students in physics and related subjects, and supplementary materials are available on a companion website http://www.nat.vu.nl/environmentalphysics Instructor support material is available at http://booksupport.wiley.com

A comprehensive and unified introduction to the science of energy sources, uses, and systems for students, scientists, engineers, and professionals.

Publisher Description

Reactor Process Design in Sustainable Energy Technology compiles and explains current developments in reactor and process design in sustainable energy technologies, including optimization and scale-up methodologies and numerical methods. Sustainable energy technologies that require more efficient means of converting and utilizing energy can help provide for burgeoning global energy demand while reducing anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions associated with energy production. The book, contributed by an international team of academic and industry experts in the field, brings numerous reactor design cases to readers based on their valuable experience from lab R&D scale to industry levels. It is the first to emphasize reactor engineering in sustainable energy technology discussing design. It provides comprehensive tools and information to help engineers and energy professionals learn, design, and specify chemical reactors and processes confidently. Emphasis on reactor engineering in sustainable energy technology Up-to-date overview of the latest reaction engineering techniques in sustainable energy topics Expert accounts of reactor types, processing, and optimization Figures and tables designed to comprehensively present concepts and proceduresHundreds of citations drawing on many most recent and previously published works on the subject

Obtaining a future based on sustainable energy requires using energy more efficiently in transportation, buildings and appliances. Even If consumption is reduced by one-half, there will always be a need to obtain new energy sources. If we are to reduce considerably our dependence on fossil fuels, it will be necessary to develop renewable energy sources. The five sessions of the conference brought together experts (1) on energy policy, (2) on environmental effects of fossil fuels, (3) on transportation, (4) on buildings and appliances and (5) on renewable energy sources.