Renewable Energy Power for a Sustainable Future

The provision of sustainable energy supplies for an expanding and increasingly productive world is one of the major issues facing civilisation today. Renewable Energy examines both the practical and economic potential of the renewable energy sources to meet this challenge. The underlying physical and technological principles behind deriving power from direct solar (solar thermal and photovoltaics), indirect solar (biomass, hydro, wind and wave) and non-solar (tidal and geothermal) energy sources are explained, within the context of their environmental impacts, their economics and their future prospects.

Renewable Energy provides both perspective and detail on the relative merits and state of progress of technologies for utilizing the various 'renewables'. The analysis considers emissions, sustainability, cost implications and energy security, as political and economic pressures move society towards a low-carbon future. From an overview of basic energy conversion processes, through a discussion of the individual renewable sources, to a concluding examination of the prospects for their integration into national and international networks and the outlook for renewable energy, this book provides a valuable insight into prospects for the renewables.

Online Resource Centre

Renewable Energy is accompanied by an Online Resource Centre which features:

For students:
DT Auto- marked multiple choice questions to accompany each chapter
DT Curated links to further information and up-to-date energy statistics.

For registered adopters of the book:
DT Figures from the book: available to download for use in lectures

Stephen Peake is Lecturer in Environmental Technology at The Open University.

Dr Stephen Peake is senior lecturer in environmental technology at The Open University and fellow at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, where he leads courses on sustainability and climate leadership. Over the last 23 years, Stephen has worked on climate change in various interesting guises: as a researcher at the University of Cambridge, as a fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London (including a stint at the Shell International Petroleum Company), as a Fonctionnaire at the International Energy Agency within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, and as a diplomat with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany.

1: Introducing Renewable Energy
2: Thermodynamics and Heat Pumps
3: Solar Thermal Energy
4: Solar Photovoltaics
5: Bioenergy
6: Hydroelectricity
7: Tidal Power
8: Wind Energy
9: Wave Energy
10: Geothermal Energy
11: Integrating Renewable Energy
12: Renewable Energy Futures
A1: Appendix: Investing in renewable energy
A2: Appendix: Units
1. Introducing Renewable Energy
2. Thermodynamics and Heat Pumps
3. Solar Thermal Energy
4. Solar Photovoltaics
5. Bioenergy
6. Hydroelectricity
7. Tidal Power
8. Wind Energy
9. Wave Energy
10. Geothermal Energy
11. Integrating Renewable Energy
12. Renewable Energy Futures
A1. Appendix: Investing in renewable energy
A2. Appendix: Units