Energy Resources and Systems Volume 2: Renewable Resources
This second volume of Energy Resources and Systems is focused on renewable energy resources. Renewable energy mainly comes from wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, ocean, bioenergy, ethanol and hydrogen. Each of these energy resources is important and gr
- PDF / 33,138,970 Bytes
- 736 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 104 Downloads / 423 Views
Tushar K. Ghosh
Mark A. Prelas
Energy Resources and Systems Volume 2: Renewable Resources
123
Tushar K. Ghosh Nuclear Science & Engineering Institute University of Missouri, Columbia Lafferre Hall E 2434 65211 Columbia Missouri USA [email protected]
Mark A. Prelas Nuclear Science & Engineering Institute University of Missouri, Columbia Lafferre Hall E 2434 65211 Columbia Missouri USA [email protected]
ISBN 978-94-007-1401-4 e-ISBN 978-94-007-1402-1 DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1402-1 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2009928307 c Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Cover design: eStudio Calamar S.L. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
Energy is the lifeblood of civilization. Access to relatively inexpensive and plentiful energy has been and will continue to be its driving force. In the past few years, the reality of the fragile nature of an oil dominated energy infrastructure has become apparent. Civilization is engaged in a life and death struggle to redefine its primary energy resources and to find transitional solutions without invoking chaos. Time is relatively short and it will be in the hands of the current generation of students to solve. The authors began working on Energy Resources and Systems in 1996. The goal of the authors was to provide a comprehensive series of texts on the interlinking of the nature of energy resources, the systems that utilize them, the environmental effects, the socioeconomic impact, the political aspects and governing policies. Volume 1 on Fundamentals and Non Renewable Resources was published in 2009. It blends fundamental concepts with an understanding of the non-renewable resources that dominate today’s society. The second volume of Energy Resources and Systems is focused on renewable energy resources. Renewable energy mainly comes from wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, ocean, bioenergy, ethanol and hydrogen. Each of these energy resources is important and growing. For example, high-head hydroelectric energy is a well established energy resource and already contributes about 20% of the world’s electricity. Some countries have significant high-head resources and produce the bulk of their electrical power by this method (e.g., Norway-over 98%, Paraguay100% and Brazil-85%). However, the bulk of the world’s high-head hydroelectric resources have not been exploited, particularly by the underdeveloped countries. Low-head hydroelectric is unexploited and has the potential to be a growth area. Wind energy is the fastest growing of the renewable
