The Power Makers' Challenge: And The Need For Fission Energy (green Energy And Technology)

The Power Makers - the producers of our electricity - must meet the demands of their customers while also addressing the threat of climate change. There are widely differing views about solutions to electricity generation in an emission constrained world. Some see the problem as relatively straight forward, requiring deep cuts in emissions now by improving energy efficiency, energy conservation and using only renewable resources. Many electricity industry engineers and scientists see the problem as being much more involved. __The Power Makers ’ Challenge: and the need for Fission Energy__ looks at why using only conventional renewable energy sources is not quite as simple as it seems. Following a general introduction to electricity and its distribution, the author quantifies the reductions needed in greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector in the face of ever increasing world demands for electricity. It provides some much needed background on the many energy sources available for producing electricity and discusses their advantages and limitations to meet both the emission reduction challenge and electricity demand. By analyzing the three main groups of energy sources: renewable energy, fossil fuels and fission energy (nuclear power), readers can assess the ability of each group to meet the challenge of both reducing emissions and maintaining reliable supply at least cost. It is written for both non-technical and technical readers. "The Power Makers - the producers of our electricity - must meet the demands of their customers while also addressing the threat of climate change. There are widely differing views about solutions to electricity generation in an emission constrained world. Some see the problem as relatively straight forward, requiring deep cuts in emissions now by improving energy efficiency, energy conservation and using only renewable resources. Many electricity industry engineers and scientists see the problem as being much more involved. The Power Makers ' Challenge: and the need for Fission Energy looks at why using only conventional renewable energy sources is not quite as simple as it seems. Following a general introduction to electricity and its distribution, the author quantifies the reductions needed in greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector in the face of ever increasing world demands for electricity. It provides some much needed background on the many energy sources available for producing electricity and discusses their advantages and limitations to meet both the emission reduction challenge and electricity demand. By analyzing the three main groups of energy sources: renewable energy, fossil fuels and fission energy (nuclear power), readers can assess the ability of each group to meet the challenge of both reducing emissions and maintaining reliable supply at least cost. It is written for both non-technical and technical readers"--SpringerLink Annotation The Power Makers - the producers of our electricity - must meet the demands of their customers while also addressing the threat of climate change. There are widely differing views about solutions to electricity generation in an emission constrained world. Some see the problem as relatively straight forward, requiring deep cuts in emissions now by improving energy efficiency, energy conservation and using only renewable resources. Many electricity industry engineers and scientists see the problem as being much more involved. The Power Makers Challenge: and the need for Fission Energy looks at why using only conventional renewable energy sources is not quite as simple as it seems. Following a general introduction to electricity and its distribution, the author quantifies the reductions needed in greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector in the face of ever increasing world demands for electricity. It provides some much needed background on the many energy sources available for producing electricity and discusses their advantages and limitations to meet both the emission reduction challenge and electricity demand. By analyzing the three main groups of energy sources: renewable energy, fossil fuels and fission energy (nuclear power), readers can assess the ability of each group to meet the challenge of both reducing emissions and maintaining reliable supply at least cost. It is written for both non-technical and technical readers Front Matter....Pages i-xxiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 What is Electricity?....Pages 3-7 Faraday’s Miracle....Pages 9-14 Poles and Wires....Pages 15-18 The Balancing Act....Pages 19-22 Dollars and Cents....Pages 23-28 The Carbon Challenge....Pages 29-32 Front Matter....Pages 33-34 Many Options....Pages 35-40 Nature’s Curse....Pages 41-45 Nature’s Saviors....Pages 47-52 Storing Electricity....Pages 53-59 Smoke and Mirrors....Pages 61-70 Front Matter....Pages 71-71 Why Clean Coal?....Pages 73-75 Baseload Alternatives....Pages 77-79 Front Matter....Pages 81-81 Fission, Not Combustion....Pages 83-85 Safety First....Pages 87-92 More Smoke and Mirrors....Pages 93-96 Is Fission Really Necessary?....Pages 97-99 The Next Generation of Fission....Pages 101-104 Front Matter....Pages 105-105 Variable Loads are Here to Stay....Pages 107-109 Cost Matters....Pages 111-113 Front Matter....Pages 105-105 Distributed Generation and Storage....Pages 115-118 Smart Grids....Pages 119-121 Electric Transport....Pages 123-126 Summing It All Up....Pages 127-132 Back Matter....Pages 133-199 This book provides quantitative analysis of the advantages and limitations of the three main modes of electricity generation-nuclear, fossil and renewable-to enable an assessment of their potential for reducing emissions and maintaining electricity supply.