The Yearbook presents a comprehensive range of international energy statistics prepared by the United Nations Statistics Division. Its principal objective is to provide a global framework of comparable data for long-term trends in the supply of primary and secondary forms of energy. It contains data for the period 1995-98, and covers each type of fuel and aggregate data for the commercial mix of all types of fuel. Data is given for individual countries and areas, and is summarised into regional and world totals. The basic tables show data for production, trade, stock changes, bunkers, and consumption. In addition, information is included on topics such as: main importers and exporters of coal, crude petroleum and natural gas for 1997-98; the ratio of crude petroleum reserves to petroleum production; and the renewable forms of energy, including electricity generated from hydro, solar, wind, tide, wave and geothermal sources.

Today's electricity industry - large power stations feeding a nationwide grid - will soon be a thing of the past. This book explains why and what will replace it - decentralized and distributed electrical resources which can be up to 10 times as economically valuable. The authors - all leading experts in the field - explain very clearly and thoroughly all the benefits, so the engineers will understand the economic advantages and the investors will understand the engineering efficiencies. Here's what industry experts are saying about Small is Profitable... 'A tour-de-force and a goldmine of good ideas. It is going to have a stunning impact on thinking about electricity.' Walter C. Patterson, Senior Research Fellow, Royal Institute of International Affairs, London. 'An amazing undertaking - incredibly ambitious yet magnificently researched and executed.' Dr. Shimon Awerbuch, Senior Advisor, International Energy Agency, Paris. 'Outstanding...You have thought of some [benefits] I never considered...A great resource for the innovation in energy services that will have to take place for us to have a sustainable future.' Dr. Carl Weinberg, Weinberg Associates, former Research Director, PG&E. 'This is a brilliant synthesis and overview with a lot of original analytics and insights and a very important overall theme. I think it is going to have a big impact.' Greg Kats, Principal, Capital E LLC, former Finance Director for Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. 'E. F. Schumacher would be proud of this rigorous extension of his thesis in Small is Beautiful. It shows how making systems the right size can make them work better and cost less. Here are critical lessons for the new century: technologies tailored to the needs of people, not the reverse, can improve the economy and the environment.' Dr. Daniel Kammen, Professor of Energy and Society and of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley. 'Small is Profitable creates an unconventional but impeccably reasoned foundation to correctly assign the costs and true benefits of distributed energy systems. It has become an indispensable tool for modelling distributed energy systems benefits for us.' Tom Dinwoodie, CEO and Chairman, PowerLight Corporation. 'A Unique and valuable contribution to the distributed energy industry...Small Is Profitable highlights the societal benefits of distributed resources, and will be a helpful guide to policymakers who wish to properly account for these benefits in the marketplace.' Nicholas Lenssen, Senior Director, Primen. 'This book will shift the electric industry from the hazards of overcentralization toward the new era where distributed generation will rule.' Steven J. Strong, President, Solar Design Associates, Inc. 'Readers will understand why distributed resources are poised to fundamentally alter the electric power system. Its comprehensive review of the benefits of distributed resources [is] an important part of my library.' Dr. Thomas E. Hoff, President, Clean Power Research. 'The most comprehensive treatise on distributed generation.... Great job and congratulations.' Howard Wenger, Principal, Pacific Energy Group '..[D]ensely packed with information and insights...goes a long way to demonstrate that the former paradigm of electric power supply no longer makes sense.' Prof. Richard Hirsh, University of Vermont, Leading historian of the electric power sector. 'Amory Lovins was already the world's most original and influential thinker on the future of energy services in general and electricity systems in particular. This remarkable book is a very worthy addition to an extraordinary legacy.' Ralph Cavanagh, Energy Co-Director, Natural Resources Defense Council. 'This is a book every utility professional should have on the bookshelf.' Dr Peter S. Fox-Penner, Principal and Chairman of the Board, the Brattle Group, former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy.

With the Framework Convention on Climate Change, action to prevent possible global warming is on the agenda. But the obtacles appear daunting. Peter Read argues that the problem can be tackled, however, at a much more affordable cost than commonly realized, and in ways likely both to provide incentives to energy corporations and to improve the development prospects of many countries in the South. The key lies in a multi-disciplinary policy perspective that integrates engineering, economics and decision theory. The author's highly innovative argument proposes a novel Tradeable Absorption Obligation to wean energy corporations onto sustainable fuel coupled with deploying recent biomass energy technology advances - notable new methods of intensive fuelwood production, gas turbine power generation and ethanol fermentation. This strategy opens up the prospect of controlling the level of the main global warming gas not simply by lowering CO2 emissions but by radically increasing CO2 absorption.