Energy and the Environment : Scientific and Technological Principles

Energy and the Environment Energy addresses a central problem of urban-industrial society: the interconnectedness of energy usage and environmental degradation. Intended for upper level undergraduate and first year graduate students, as well as professionals in the fields of energy and environmental sciences and technology, the text develops the scientific and technological background for understanding how the rapidly growing use of energy threatens the degradation of the natural environment at local, regional, and global scales. Fossil, nuclear and renewable energy technologies are described, and their efficiencies for transforming the source energy to useful mechanical or electrical power are explained. Special emphasis is given to the generation of electric power and the use of transportation vehicles, and their technological improvements that increase energy efficiency and reduce air pollutant emissions. The source of toxic emissions to air, water, and land that arise from energy uses, and their effects on environmental quality for urban and regional scale regions is analyzed. Special attention is given to global climate change, the contribution made to it by energy uses, and the salient technologies that are being developed to mitigate this effect. This book aims to equip engineering and science majors and professionals with the basic factual knowledge needed to develop solutions to these environmental problems.

James A. Fay is Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dan S. Golomb is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.