Energy, the Environment, and Sustainability

Efstathios E. Michaelides

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351710138
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Scienze fisiche
• Subtopic: Energia

Energy and the Environment explains in simple terms what the energy demand is at the present, what the environmental effects of energy use are, and what can be accomplished to alleviate the environmental effects of energy use and ensure adequate energy supply. Though technical in approach, the text uses simple explanations of engineering processes and systems and algebra-based math to be comprehensible to students in a range of disciplines. Schematic diagrams, quantitative examples, and numerous problems will help students make quantitative calculations. This will assist them in comprehending the complexity of the energy-environment balance, and to analyze and evaluate proposed solutions.

1Fundamental Concepts

The beginnings of human civilization are defined by the discovery and utilization of energy for space heating and lighting. When prehistoric humans mastered the use of fire for domestic comfort and cooking, human civilization began. Later, the use of animal power (horses and oxen) significantly contributed to the development of ancient and medieval agricultural societies and helped nourish an increasing human population. More recently, the industrial revolution and the invention of energy-voracious engines enabled the development of today’s knowledge-based society, where citizens live in greater comfort, increasingly use fast modes of transportation, and are continuously in contact with modern electronics. Throughout the centuries, the human society has evolved by using energy in increasingly larger quantities. Today, the consumption of vast amounts of energy—in thermal, chemical, mechanical, and electrical forms—is absolutely necessary for the functioning of the contemporary society, the prosperity of the nations, and the survival of our civilization.

While we commonly use the word energy for several related concepts, we use energy per se in different forms as source of lighting, heating, communications, and motive power. Airplanes and automobiles use liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Computers and wireless network systems use electricity; the latter is produced from power plants that convert other primary resources (coal, natural gas, nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, etc.). Contemporary households use natural gas for cooking, and heating and electricity for lighting and entertainment. Elaborate and technologically very advanced networks for the transportation and supply of energy to the final consumer have been developed in the last three centuries. Electricity is fed into communities by the transmission lines of the electric grid at very high voltage. Natural gas, by a complex system of pipelines, which often transcend national boundaries. Tanker ships crisscross the oceans daily to transport crude oil to refineries, which then supply us with gasoline and diesel via an intricate system of pipelines, train cars, and trucks. In today’s world, energy enters all aspects of human life, economics, and politics. Actually, the use of energy defines the lives of contemporary humans.

The impact of energy supply and the energy trade is of paramount importance to all nations. The geopolitical activities of modern nations have been significantly influenced by their need for a reliable, uninterrupted, and secure energy supply. Several wars, after 1950, have been fought for the control and security of energy supplies—primarily petroleum—and many treaties and international agreements have been cemented with energy resources as the primary issue.

This first chapter is a quantitative introduction to the broad concept of energy: It explains the fundamental concepts related to energy transformations and establishes the analytical basis for the rest of the book. Relevant elementary concepts of the discipline of thermodynamics are presented to explain the fundamental principles for the conversion of energy from one form into another. Because a great deal of confusion to the nonexpert stems from the use of a myriad of units for energy, an extensive section is devoted to the explanation and relation of the different units that are still used. The definitions and relationships of common figures of merit we use daily, such as the efficiency, the coefficient of performance, and seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER), are given in a simple and comprehensible way. F...