Energy... beyond oil

by Blundell, Katherine; Armstrong, Fraser

• ISBN13: 9780199209965
• ISBN10: 0199209960
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-12-20
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

As the Earth's oil supply runs out, and the effects of climate change threaten nations and their populations, the search for carbon-neutral sources of energy becomes more important and increasingly urgent. This book focuses on solutions to the energy problem, and not just the problem itself. It describes the major energy-generation technologies currently under development, and provides an authoritative summary of the current status of each one. It stresses the need for a balanced portfolio of alternative energy technologies. Certain solutions will be more appropriate than others in particular locations, due to the differences in availability of natural resources such as solar, wind, wave, tidal and geothermal. In addition, nuclear options (both fission and fusion), as well as technologies such as fuel cells, photovoltaics, artificial photosynthesis and hydrogen (as an energy carrier), all have a potential role to play. A state-of-the-art critique of energy efficiency in building design is also included. Each chapter is written by an acknowledged international expert and provides a non-technical overview of the competing and complementary approaches to energy generation. Broad in scope and comprehensive in treatment, Energy..beyond Oil provides an authoritative synthesis of the scientific and technological issues which are essential to the survival of the human race in the near future. The book will be of interest and use to graduate students and researchers in all areas of energy studies, and will also be highly useful for policy-makers and professionals in the environmental sector as well as a more general readership who wish to learn more about this extremely topical subject.

Author Biography

Dr Katherine Blundell is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Reader in Physics at Oxford University and a Science Research Fellow at St John's College, Oxford. Her interests include extreme energy phenomena in the Universe, for example around black holes. She is frequently invited to speak at conferences and different institutes around the world and has published extensively on astrophysical jets, relativistic plasma and distant galaxies. She has co-authored the book "Concepts in Thermal Physics" (OUP, 2006) and was recently awarded a Leverhulme Prize in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Professor Fraser Armstrong is Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry, Oxford and a Fellow of St John's College. His interests are in biological chemistry, bioenergetics and in the mechanisms and exploitation of enzymes related to energy production. He has received a number of awards including the European Award for Biological Inorganic Chemistry, the Carbon Trust Innovation Award, the Max Planck Award for Frontiers in Biological Chemistry and the Royal Society of Chemistry Award for Interdisciplinary Chemistry. He travels widely giving invited lectures on topics including catalysis, bioenergetics and renewable energy.

Table of Contents

Energy ... beyond oil: a global perspective	p. 1
The problems to be solved	p. 1
What are the actual needs?	p. 2
What are the true costs of the different energy solutions in terms of human fatalities?	p. 3
Energy from the Sun	p. 5
The nature of the solutions	p. 6
The way forward	p. 7
Arresting carbon dioxide emissions: why and how?	p. 9
Introduction	p. 9
Principles	p. 10
How climate change will affect our lives	p. 22
Taking action	p. 25
Technological and policy innovation	p. 28
Summary and conclusions	p. 31
Postscript	p. 32
Resources and further information	p. 33
Some further UK focused reading and sources	p. 34
Geothermal energy	p. 35
Introduction	p. 35
High-temperature resources	p. 38
Hot dry rock or enhanced geothermal systems	p. 39
Medium-temperature resources	p. 41
Geothermal energy as a sideline of oil and gas industries	p. 43
Low-temperature systems with heat pumps	p. 43
Potential for future growth	p. 45
Conclusions	p. 46
Acknowledgements	p. 46
Resources and further information	p. 46
Web Resources	p. 48
Wave and tidal power	p. 49
Introduction	p. 50
Wave energy resources	p. 50
Comparing wave energy converters-'Wave Hub'	p. 55
Tidal energy resources	p. 56
Tidal barrage schemes	p. 57
Tidal current turbines	p. 59
Ranking of marine renewable energy technologies	p. 64
Assessment of wave and tidal current resources (UK)	p. 64
Summary and conclusions	p. 67
Resources and further information	p. 69
Wind energy	p. 71
Introduction	p. 71
Wind energy resource	p. 72
Public acceptance	p. 77
Technical development	p. 78
Concluding remarks	p. 82
Acknowledgement	p. 83
Further Reading	p. 83
Nuclear fission	p. 84
Introduction	p. 84
The physics of fission	p. 84
Cutting carbon emissions	p. 87
Economics	p. 88
Reliability of electricity supplies	p. 90
Potential new reactor technology	p. 93
Investor considerations-regulation	p. 97
Investor considerations-delivery and operational performance	p. 97
Investor considerations-waste	p. 99
Investor considerations-the electricity market	p. 101
Public attitudes	p. 101
The longer term future	p. 102
Fusion energy	p. 105
Introduction	p. 105
Principles of fusion	p. 106
Attributes of fusion	p. 108
The current status of fusion research	p. 109
The next steps-ITER and IFMIF	p. 113
Fast track studies	p. 117
Conclusions	p. 118
Acknowledgement	p. 119
Resources and further information	p. 119
Photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical conversion of solar energy	p. 120
Introduction	p. 120
Principles	p. 120
Conversion efficiencies	p. 122
Cost and supplies of raw materials	p. 124
How PV cells are developing	p. 125
Summary	p. 133
Acknowledgements	p. 134
Resources and further information	p. 134
Biological solar energy	p. 137
Introduction	p. 137
Principles of photosynthesis	p. 138
Biomass	p. 141
The photosynthetic water splitting apparatus	p. 143
Artificial photosynthesis: a new technology	p. 149
Policies and implementation	p. 150
Acknowledgements	p. 153
Resources and further information	p. 153
Sustainable hydrogen energy	p. 156
Introduction	p. 156
Hydrogen and electricity: energy carriers	p. 157
Hydrogen production	p. 160
Hydrogen storage	p. 162
A sustainable energy future	p. 165
Conclusions	p. 166
Resources and further information	p. 166
Fuel cells	p. 169
Introduction	p. 169
The principles	p. 170
Applications of fuel cells	p. 171
Market developments and regulation	p. 172
Technological developments	p. 174
From today to tomorrow: changing the game	p. 176
Concluding remarks	p. 179
Resources and further information	p. 179
Energy efficiency in the design of buildings	p. 181
Introduction	p. 181
Low-energy buildings	p. 183
The new directive on the energy performance of buildings	p. 192
The future of building and living	p. 194
Summary and conclusions	p. 194
References	p. 195
Governing the transition to a new energy economy	p. 197
Energy politics	p. 199
Sustainable energy policy	p. 200
Socio-technological transitions	p. 202
Critical policy considerations	p. 205
Transforming energy/environmental governance	p. 209
References	p. 211
Summary	p. 215
Index	p. 221
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