Introduction to Energy and Sustainability

Offers a comprehensive review of the currently existing energy production and consumption technologies

Offering unique perspectives from one social and one natural scientist and combining them with the view of an industry expert, this book covers definitions and ways of quantifying energy and sustainability, and examines today?s energy production and consumption technologies?paying particular attention to the environmental, historic, and regulatory aspects of each introduced energy technology. It also deals with alternative and future energy technologies, as well as examples of sustainable approaches to everyday issues of transportation, urban planning, and home construction.

Introduction to Energy and Sustainability starts with a section on introductory concepts and covers such things as the history of our relationship with energy; defining and quantifying both energy and sustainability; flows and conversions of energy and matter; and the laws of thermodynamics energy production today. It examines how energy is produced and consumed in our modern world?and looks at what types of energy exist and how we use it. The book also discusses the future of energy and how we will provide and utilize our current and forthcoming sources of power as our world changes.

-Balances the treatment of hard science and engineering concepts of energy and sustainability with a thorough discussion of their socioeconomic and geopolitical implications
-Offers a unique perspective of one social and one natural scientist, combined with the view of an industry expert
-Filled with chapters that feature practice questions and solutions
-Relevant to students in energy fields and environmentalists

Introduction to Energy and Sustainability is an ideal text for post-graduate level students of energy fields. It will also greatly benefit environmentalists, engineers, power engineers, and chemists in industry.

Prof. Ognjen Miljanic is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Houston. He
holds a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley (2005) and a Diploma from the University of
Belgrade (2000). For the past seven years, he has been teaching energy and sustainability to diverse
student audiences. Prof. Miljanic authored more than 70 research papers. His research focuses on the use of porous materials to capture greenhouse gases.
Joseph Pratt earned a PhD in economic history from Johns Hopkins University (1976). He taught at UC Berkeley, the Harvard Business School (as a visitor), and Texas A&M University before accepting a chaired position in history and business at the University of Houston, where he retired as an emeritus professor in 2016. His research has focused on energy and environmental issues, and he is the author or coauthor of twelve books. With Professor Ognjen Miljanic, he helped create a minor in energy & sustainability at the University of Houston.
Jami Summey-Rice is in the Downstream Commercial Graduate Programme at Shell. She holds a
BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston (2017) with minors in Petroleum Engineering and Energy and Sustainabililty. During her time at the University of Houston she served as the teaching assistant for Introduction to Energy and Sustainability. She also published a federal policy recommendation for High Speed Rail in 2015 in conjunction with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE). Jami currently serves on the Public Affairs and Information Committee (PAIC) at AIChE supporting the WISE program and the Climate Change Task Force.

Section A: Introductory Concepts
1. History of Human Relationship to Energy
2. Defining and Quantifying Energy
3. Defining and Quantifying Sustainability
4. Energy Flows
5. Laws of Thermodynamics
Section B: Energy Production Today
6. Fossil Fuels
7. Coal
8. Oil
9. Natural Gas
10. Nuclear Energy
11. Hydroelectric Power
12. Production and Storage of Electricity
Section C: Energy Consumption Today
13. Energy Use in Transportation
14. Agricultural Energy Use
15. Household and Commercial Energy Consumption
16. Industrial Energy Consumption
Section D: Energy Transitions
17. Is There a Need for an Energy Transition?
18. Climate Change
19. Other Reasons for Energy Transition
Section E: Energy Production Tomorrow
20. Biomass as a Source of Energy
21. Wind Energy
22. Solar Energy
23. Hydrogen Economy and Nuclear Fusion
24. Geothermal Energy
25. All of the Above?
Section F: Energy Consumption Tomorrow
26. Global Perspective
27. Energy Efficiency
28. Energy Conservation in Cars
29. Energy Conservation in Architectural Design
30. Energy Conservation in Households