Sustainable Energy, second edition: Choosing Among Options (Mit Press) - Hardcover

Tester, Jefferson W.; Drake, Elisabeth M.; Driscoll, Michael J.; Golay, Michael W.; Peters, William A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262017474 ISBN 13: 9780262017473

Publisher: The MIT Press, 2012

Synopsis

The second edition of a widely used textbook that explores energy resource options and technologies with a view toward achieving sustainability on local, national, and global scales.

Human survival depends on a continuing supply of energy, but the need for ever-increasing amounts of it poses a dilemma: How can we find energy sources that are sustainable and ways to convert and utilize energy that are more efficient? This widely used textbook is designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students as well as others who have an interest in exploring energy resource options and technologies with a view toward achieving sustainability on local, national, and global scales. It clearly presents the tradeoffs and uncertainties inherent in evaluating and choosing sound energy portfolios and provides a framework for assessing policy solutions.

The second edition examines the broader aspects of energy use, including resource estimation, environmental effects, and economic evaluations; reviews the main energy sources of today and tomorrow, from fossil fuels and nuclear power to biomass, hydropower, and solar energy; treats energy carriers and energy storage, transmission, and distribution; addresses end-use patterns in the transportation, industrial, and building sectors; and considers synergistic complex systems. This new edition also offers updated statistical data and references; a new chapter on the complex interactions among energy, water, and land use; expanded coverage of renewable energy; and new color illustrations. Sustainable Energy addresses the challenges of making responsible energy choices for a more sustainable future.

About this title

About the Author:

Jefferson W. Tester is Croll Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems at Cornell University.

Review:

"For some time I have searched for a comprehensive text on sustainable energy, and I have found it here. This book by Jefferson Tester and his colleagues will be the field's benchmark in the future. It is wonderfully broad in scope, yet detailed in its presentation of the material."--Fred K. Browand, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California

"At last, sustainable energy can be taught from a single textbook one that is balanced, worldly, comprehensive, and challenging. Watch out, teachers! Science and engineering students are going to demand courses that use this book." Robert Socolow, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University

" Sustainable Energy provides the intellectual tools and perspectives needed to devise a sound strategy for ensuring sustainability." Jack Gibbons, former Presidential Science Advisor and former Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy

"This book with its references and links is an excellent source text for anyone considering a course on energy options for the future and for anyone else interested in understanding the science and argument which underlie the debate on energy options for a sustainable future." R. John Sandeman International Journal of Environmental Studies

"At last, sustainable energy can be taught from a single textbook -- one that is balanced, worldly, comprehensive, and challenging. Watch out, teachers! Science and engineering students are going to demand courses that use this book."--Robert Socolow, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University

About this edition

• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0262017474
• ISBN 13: 9780262017473
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 1019