Energy and Climate Change

Creating a Sustainable Future
1. Auflage 2008
ISBN: 978-0-470-85312-2
Verlag: Wiley

Buch, Englisch, 672 Seiten, Format (B × H): 174 mm x 252 mm, Gewicht: 1303 g

Over the past twenty years or so, interest in energy, both in the abstract and in humankind's use of it, has been brought to the fore, especially since concerns over climate change have become more widely reported.

Energy and climate change discusses what energy is, why it is important, our current energy systems and more sustainable alternatives, and why energy use is having a detrimental effect on the environment. Energy is placed at the front of a discussion of the global environment, technology and civilisation.

Problem solving is a central tool and is approached through the use of Fermi-like problems, where the reader is encouraged to explore relevant issues through simple numeric problem solving.

* Covers climate change, current energy technologies (e.g oil, gas, etc), renewable/alternative technologies, energy economics and the history of energy use
* Contains numerous student exercises and case-studies from around the world
* An invaluable text for those students taking courses in the physical sciences, engineering, earth and environmental sciences, geography and related subjects.
* Reflects on the international community and its attempts to solve the problem of climate change
* Additional teaching resources and weblinks available on the book's website www.wileyeurope.com/college/coley

Autoren/Hrsg.

Coley, David

Fachgebiete

• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Klimawandel, Globale Erwärmung
• Technische Wissenschaften Energietechnik | Elektrotechnik Energietechnik & Elektrotechnik
• Geowissenschaften Geologie Meteorologie, Klimatologie
• Technische Wissenschaften Energietechnik | Elektrotechnik Alternative und erneuerbare Energien
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Angewandte Physik Umweltphysik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface.

1 Introduction.

PART I ENERGY: CONCEPTS, HISTORY AND PROBLEMS.

2 Energy.

3 The planet's energy balance.

4 A history of humankind's use of energy.

5 Sustainability, climate change and the global environment.

6 Economics and the environment.

7 Combustion, inescapable inefficiencies and the generation of electricity.

PART II UNSUSTAINABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES.

8 Coal.

9 Oil.

10 Gas.

11 Non-conventional hydrocarbons.

12 Nuclear power.

13 Hydropower.

14 Transport and air quality.

15 Figures and philosophy: an analysis of a nation's energy supply.

PART III CLIMATE CHANGE: PREDICTIONS AND POLICIES.

16 Future world energy use and carbon emissions.

17 The impact of a warmer world.

18 Politics in the greenhouse: contracting and converging.

PART IV SUSTAINABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES.

IV.1 Current world sustainable energy provision.

19 Energy efficiency.

20 Solar power.

21 Photovoltaics.

22 Wind power.

23 Wave power.

24 Tidal and small-scale hydropower.

25 Biomass.

26 Geothermal.

27 Fast breeders and fusion.

28 Alternative transport futures and the hydrogen economy.

29 Carbon sequestration and climate engineering.

30 A sustainable, low carbon future?

References.

Appendix 1 National energy data.

Appendix 2 Answers to in-text problems.

Appendix 3 Bibliography and suggested reading.

Appendix 4 Useful data.

Index.