Energy for the 21st Century A Comprehensive Guide to Conventional and Alternative Sources

List of Tables and Figures; Preface; 1 Are We on Easter Island?; Easter Island; The Mathematics of Extinction; Progress Is Our Most Important Product; The Unremitting Rise in Population; The Case of Double Exponential Growth; A Lesson in Fish; From Hunting to Farming; Energy Depletion. 2 Electricity and the Utility Industry; It Takes Energy to Make Energy; Energy for Electricity Generation; Enhancing Efficiency in Electricity Generation; Early History of Electricity; Generating Electricity; Generating Electricity Commercially; System Operation; Methods of Rate Regulation; Operating Models in an Era of Deregulation/Liberalization: Smart Meters/Smart Grids; Utility Pools; When Demand Exceeds Supply; The Real Lesson of California; Notes; 3 Biomass; Yesterday's Fuel; Today's Fuel: China; India; Indonesia; Brazil; Biomass for Electricity Generation; Biogas; Biofuels: Brazil-The Great Leap Forward for Biofuels; The Great Sugar-Corn Debate; U.S. Following Brazil's Footsteps in a More Complex Way; Cellulosic Ethanol; Biodiesel; Biodiesel Feedstocks; Biofuel Risks; Notes; 4 Coal; The First Energy Crisis; The Origin and History of Coal: Coal and the Industrial Revolution; Coal and Railroads; Coal and Steel; Rise and Fall of King Coal; Types of Coal; Coal Mining; Coal in the Twenty-first Century; Role of Coal Among the Major Consumers; Case Against Coal; Clean-Coal Technologies; Eliminating Coal Not So Easy; Notes; 5 The Story of Big Oil; History of Lighting; History of Oil: Enter John D. Rockefeller; Enter Marcus Samuel; Spindletop; Spindletop and Shell; Emergence of Oil as a Strategically Vital Commodity; Era of the Seven Sisters; Opening Up the Middle East; Early Attempts at Oil Price Controls; Enter Saudi Arabia and Kuwait; Exit the Key Players; Shareholders and Stakeholders; Development of Saudi Arabia's Oil Fields: Shoes Begin to Fall; Next Shoe to Fall; Birth of OPEC; 1973 Oil Crisis; First Time of High Oil Prices; End of High Oil Prices; Era of Moderate Oil Prices; Second Time of High Oil Prices; It's Not Oil Prices Anymore, It's Oil Security; Oil and Diplomacy; Oil and Environmentalists; Role of Oil Companies After the Oil Crisis: A Changing World; Are Oil Companies' Margins All That Great?; Future Role of Oil Companies; Notes; 6 Oil; The Earth as an Oil Manufacturer; Formation of Oil; Oil Exploration: Drilling Rights; Drilling Equipment; Directional Drilling; Offshore Drilling Rigs; Evaluating a Well; Completing a Well; Moving the Oil to the Well; Maintaining Reservoir Pressure; Getting the Oil to a Refinery: Tankers and Barges; Oil Spills; Refining; Oil Reserves: Are We on the Downward Slippery Slope?; Was 2004 a Watershed Year?; Synthetic Crude; Challenge of Oil: The Automobile: Vehicles That Use Alternative Fuels; Enhancing Engine Efficiency; Internalizing an Externality: Is This Politically Acceptable?; Notes; 7 Natural Gas; Background; Early History of Coal Gas; History of Natural Gas: The Battle Over Lighting; Long-Distance Transmission;. Federal Regulation; The War Years; Opening Up the Northeast; Last Stop Before Total Regulation; Unraveling Natural Gas Regulation; The Road to Deregulation; From Source to Consumer; Natural Gas as a Fuel; The European Version of Deregulation; LPG: Prelude to LNG; Liquefied Natural Gas: Organizing and Financing the LNG Supply Chain; LNG Carriers; LNG Pricing; The Future of LNG; Gas to Liquids (GTL) Technology; Nonconventional Gas: Methane from Coal; Methane from Tight Shale; Methane from Tight Sands; Methane Hydrates; Notes; 8 Nuclear and Hydropower; Background; Physics of a Nuclear Reactor; Nuclear Incidents and Accidents: Three Mile Island Incident; Chernobyl; Weapons Proliferation; Disposal of Spent Fuel; Commercial Reactors: European Pressurized (Evolutionary Power) Reactor; Pebble Bed Reactor; Fusion Power; Future of Nuclear Power; Hydropower: The Saga of the Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams; Aswan High Dam; Notes; 9 Sustainable Energy; The Meaning of Sustainability; Wind Energy: Historical Development; Government Involvement in Developing Wind Turbines; From Tiny Acorns to Mighty Oaks; Objections to Wind Power; Evaluating a Potential Site; Financial Incentives; Small Can Be Beautiful; Solar Energy: Historical Development; Thermal Solar Energy; Photovoltaic Energy; Economics of Solar Power; Geothermal Energy; Ocean Energy; Notes; 10 Looking Toward the Future; The Hydrogen Economy: Hydrogen Stores Electricity; Tomorrow's World of Hydrogen; Climate: Climatic Changes During Recorded History; Where Is Climate Headed?; Carbon Dioxide Conundrum; Projecting the Future; The Environment: The U.S. Clean Air Acts; The Montreal Protocol; The Kyoto Protocol; Copenhagen Climate Change Conference; Efficiency and Conservation: Energy Star Program; Light-Emitting Diodes and Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs; U.S. Green Building Council/LEED; CAF Standards; Notes; 11 An Energy Strategy; We Need to Identify the Relevant Goal; Motor Vehicle Fuels: Biofuels as a Substitute for Gasoline; Electricity as a Substitute for Gasoline; The Problem Is the Magnitude of the Problem; Are Energy Companies Endangered from Such a Transformation?; There Is Always an Alternative; Index; About the Author.

Biography

Roy Nersesian