Energy for a Warming World: A Plan to Hasten the Demise of Fossil Fuels / Edition 1

by Alan John Sangster

Overview

"Energy for a Warming World" challenges the commonplace notion that the amount of power which mankind can potentially harness from renewable resources is more than large enough to assuage future demand levels.

By examining the renewable issue from an electrical engineering perspective, and exercising due regard for the limited capability of current and future electrical generation and transmission systems, this book attempts to provide more realistic statistics for the levels of power which could be extracted from sustainable resources in the critical time frame of 30 to 40 years. The engineering logic leads inexorably to the importance of taking a global outlook on the switch to renewable power supply and transmission – an outlook which has some surprising and uncomfortable ramifications for mankind.

"Energy for a Warming World" provides a new perspective on renewable resources for academics and researchers in environmental or electrical power engineering, as well as to students in related areas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848828339
Publisher:	Springer London
Publication date:	01/12/2010
Series:	Green Energy and Technology
Edition description:	2010
Pages:	178
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Alan J. Sangster is an electrical engineer and professor at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK.

Table of Contents

1 The Context and Corollaries 1

1.1 Weather Warnings 1

1.2 Unstoppable 'Growth' 4

1.3 Eye of the Beholder 8

1.4 Techno-fix Junkies 13

1.5 Dearth of Engineers 18

2 Energy Conversion and Power Transmission 23

2.1 Energy Conservation 23

2.2 Power and Entropy 24

2.3 Gravity 25

2.4 Electricity 27

2.5 Generators 33

2.6 The Grid 37

2.7 The Power Leakage Dilemma 42

3 Limits to Renewability 45

3.1 Power from the Sun 45

3.2 Hydro-power 48

3.3 Wind Power 53

3.4 Wave Power 57

3.5 Tidal Power 62

3.6 Solar Power 65

3.7 Geo-thermal Power 74

3.8 The End of an Illusion 77

4 Intermittency Buffers 81

4.1 Energy Storage 81

4.2 Pump Storage 82

4.3 Compressed Air 85

4.4 Flywheels 88

4.5 Thermal Storage 93

4.6 Batteries 96

4.7 Hydrogen 102

4.8 Capacitors 107

4.9 Superconducting Magnets 111

4.10 Nuclear Back-up 115

4.11 The Ecogrid 118

5 Known Knowns and the Unknown 125

5.1 Diverging Supply and Demand 125

5.2 The Transport Crunch 130

5.3 Towards a Wired World 138

5.4 The Unknowable 144

Glossary 147

References and Notes 151

Chapter 1 151

Chapter 2 153

Chapter 3 156

Chapter 4 158

Chapter 5 163

Index 165

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

“Sangster (emer., Electromagnetic Engineering, Heriot-Watt Univ., Scotland) uses nontechnical language and easy-to-follow logic to assess the limitations of different renewable energy resources and to address one of the main unsolved issues of the renewable energy industry: the intermittency of renewables and the storage problem. … concludes with suggestions to policy makers and researchers in the renewable energy field. … The book can serve as a complementary resource for upper-level undergraduate and graduate-level energy courses. … Summing Up: Recommended. … general readers.” (M. Alam, Choice, Vol. 47 (11), August, 2010)

From the Publisher