Energy for the 21st Century : A Comprehensive Guide to Conventional and Alternative Sources.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of Tables and Figures -- Preface -- 1 Are We on Easter Island? -- Easter Island -- The Mathematics of Extinction -- Progress Is Our Most Important Product -- The Unremitting Rise in Population -- The Case of Double Exponential Growth -- A Lesson in Fish -- From Hunting to Farming -- Energy Depletion -- Notes -- 2 Electricity and the Utility Industry -- It Takes Energy to Make Energy -- Energy for Electricity Generation -- Enhancing Efficiency in Electricity Generation -- Early History of Electricity -- Generating Electricity -- Generating Electricity Commercially -- System Operation -- Methods of Rate Regulation -- Operating Models in an Era of Deregulation/Liberalization -- Smart Meters/Smart Grids -- Utility Pools -- When Demand Exceeds Supply -- The Real Lesson of California -- Notes -- 3 Biomass -- Yesterday's Fuel -- Today's Fuel -- China -- India -- Indonesia -- Brazil -- Biomass for Electricity Generation -- Biogas -- Biofuels -- Brazil-The Great Leap Forward for Biofuels -- The Great Sugar-Corn Debate -- The United States is Following Brazil's Footsteps in a More Complex Way -- Cellulosic Ethanol -- Biodiesel -- Biodiesel Feedstocks -- Biofuel Risks -- Notes -- 4 Coal -- The First Energy Crisis -- The Origin and History of Coal -- Coal and the Industrial Revolution -- Coal and Railroads -- Coal and Steel -- Rise and Fall of King Coal -- Types of Coal -- Coal Mining -- Coal in the Twenty-first Century -- Role of Coal Among the Major Consumers -- Case Against Coal -- Clean-Coal Technologies -- Eliminating Coal Not So Easy -- Notes -- 5 The Story of Big Oil -- History of Lighting -- History of Oil -- Enter John D. Rockefeller -- Enter Marcus Samuel -- Spindletop -- Spindletop and Shell -- Emergence of Oil as a Strategically Vital Commodity.

Era of the Seven Sisters -- Opening Up the Middle East -- Early Attempts at Oil Price Controls -- Enter Saudi Arabia and Kuwait -- Exit the Key Players -- Shareholders and Stakeholders -- Development of Saudi Arabia's Oil Fields -- Shoes Begin to Fall -- Next Shoe to Fall -- Birth of OPEC -- 1973 Oil Crisis -- First Time of High Oil Prices -- End of High Oil Prices -- Era of Moderate Oil Prices -- Second Time of High Oil Prices -- It's Not Oil Prices Anymore, It's Oil Security -- Oil and Diplomacy -- Oil and Environmentalists -- Role of Oil Companies After the Oil Crisis -- A Changing World -- Are Oil Companies' Margins All That Great? -- Future Role of Oil Companies -- Notes -- 6 Oil -- The Earth as an Oil Manufacturer -- Formation of Oil -- Oil Exploration and Production -- Drilling Rights -- Drilling Equipment -- Directional Drilling -- Offshore Drilling Rigs -- Evaluating a Well -- Completing a Well -- Moving the Oil to the Well -- Maintaining Reservoir Pressure -- Getting the Oil to a Refinery -- Tankers and Barges -- Oil Spills -- Refining -- Oil Reserves -- Are We on a Slippery Slope? -- Was 2004 a Watershed Year? -- Synthetic Crude -- Challenge of Oil: The Automobile -- Vehicles That Use Alternative Fuels -- Enhancing Engine Efficiency -- Internalizing an Externality -- Is This Politically Acceptable? -- Notes -- 7 Natural Gas -- Background -- Early History of Coal Gas -- History of Natural Gas -- The Battle Over Lighting -- Long-Distance Trans mission -- Federal Regulation -- The War Years -- Opening Up the Northeast -- Last Stop Before Total Regulation -- Unraveling Natural Gas Regulation -- The Road to Deregulation -- From Source to Consumer -- Natural Gas as a Fuel -- The European Version of Deregulation -- LPG: Prelude to LNG -- Liquefied Natural Gas -- Organizing and Financing the LNG Supply Chain -- LNG Carriers -- LNG Pricing.

The Future of LNG -- Gas to Liquids (GTL) Technology -- Nonconventional Gas -- Methane from Coal -- Methane from Tight Shale -- Methane from Tight Sands -- Methane Hydrates -- Notes -- 8 Nuclear and Hydropower -- Background -- Physics of a Nuclear Reactor -- Nuclear Incidents and Accidents -- Three Mile Island Incident -- Chernobyl -- Weapons Proliferation -- Disposal of Spent Fuel -- Commercial Reactors -- European Pressurized (Evolutionary Power) Reactor -- Pebble Bed Reactor -- Fusion Power -- Future of Nuclear Power -- Hydropower -- The Saga of the Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams -- Aswan High Dam -- Hydropower: Today and Tomorrow -- Notes -- 9 Sustainable Energy -- The Meaning of Sustainability -- Wind Energy -- Historical Development -- Government Involvement in Developing Wind Turbines -- From Tiny Acorns to Mighty Oaks -- Objections to Wind Power -- Evaluating a Potential Site -- Financial Incentives -- Small Can Be Beautiful -- Solar Energy -- Historical Development -- Thermal Solar Energy -- Photovoltaic Energy -- Economics of Solar Power -- Geothermal Energy -- Ocean Energy -- Notes -- 10 Looking Toward the Future -- The Hydrogen Economy -- Hydrogen Stores Electricity -- Tomorrow's World of Hydrogen -- Climate -- Climate Changes During Recorded History -- Where Is Climate Headed? -- Carbon Dioxide Conundrum -- Projecting the Future -- Environment -- U.S. Clean Air Acts -- Montreal Protocol -- Kyoto Protocol -- Copenhagen Climate Change Conference -- Efficiency and Conservation -- Energy Star Program -- Light-Emitting Diodes and Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs -- U.S. Green Building Council/LEED -- CAFE Standards -- Notes -- 11 An Energy Strategy -- We Need to Identify the Relevant Goal -- Motor Vehicle Fuels -- Biofuels as a Substitute for Gasoline -- Electricity as a Substitute for Gasoline -- The Problem Is the Magnitude of the Problem.

Are Energy Companies Endangered from Such a Transformation? -- There Is Always an Alternative -- Index -- About the Author.

Focuses on conventional and alternative sources of energy. This handbook includes: the material on biofuels; a section on sustainability and sustainable energy; and, the various figures and tables.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.