Introduction to Renewable Energy

Introduction to Renewable Energy, Third Edition covers the fundamentals of renewable energy and serves as a resource to undergraduates in renewable energy courses, nonspecialists within the energy industries, or anyone working to support the successful implementation of renewable energy. This revised edition discusses developments that have occurred since the publication of the previous edition and considers the growing environmental impact of human activity on planet Earth. Dedicated to converging science and technology in a way that ensures a sustainable future, this book outlines the basics of renewable energy and focuses on current and developing policies that support the shift to renewable energy. New in the third edition, the book addresses bioenergy, energy balance, biodiesel, and photovoltaic applications, and includes an all-new chapter addressing climate change.

• ·Revised throughout and includes an all-new chapter on climate change.

• Includes color images throughout for this new edition.

• Adds revised end-of-chapter problems, and a solutions manual and PowerPoint slides for instructors.

• Includes several appendices: mathematics, exponential growth, lifetime of finite resource, order of magnitude estimates, and conversions.

Vaughn C. Nelson, PhD, has been involved with renewable energy since the early 1970s. Dr. Nelson has published numerous papers and is the author of three books, including Wind Energy (2009, 2nd Ed 2013) and Introduction to Renewable Energy (2011) from CRC Press. His primary work has been on wind resource assessment, education and training, applied R&D, and rural applications of wind energy. He has received three awards from the American Wind Energy Association. His degrees include a PhD in physics from the University of Kansas; an EdM from Harvard University; and a BSE from Kansas State Teachers College.

Kenneth Starcher has a BS in physics/computer science at West Texas State University (1980). He received an MS in engineering technology at WTAMU (1995). Starcher has been a field worker at the Alternative Energy Institute (AEI) Wind Test Center since 1980. He has been the educational funnel for onsite training and public information for students and public workshops for AEI, and has served as a trainer at wind and solar training workshops locally, nationally, and internationally. He has also served as a research technician, research associate, assistant director, director, and associate director for AEI over the past 35 years.