BOOK REVIEW - ALTERNATIVE ENERGY AND SHALE GAS ENCYCLOPEDIA
in steps of 2.5 minute intervals. Other aspects to the design of wind energy discussed in this section include visual impacts, spatial relationships, and offshore wind farms.
GEOTHERMAL
The geothermal energy section has eleven articles and starts with the history and development of geothermal resources. Geothermal energy has been enjoyed by humans for mil- lennia. Early humans used geothermal water from natural pools and hot springs for cooking, bathing, for heat and for performing some religious activities. A variety of people used geothermal energy in early recorded history, including the Romans, Japanese, Turks, Icelanders, Central Europeans, New Zealanders, as well as the Chinese. As the authors Mathew Aneke and Matthew Menkiti noted, “like many areas in life, the practical application of geothermal energy precedes scientific research.” Geothermal topics which are covered include thermodynamic analysis of geothermal power plants, dry cooling towers for geothermal power plants and thermal energy storage.
HYDROPOWER
Hydropower, which was quite popular in the 1950s and 1960s, has been a viable energy source for hundreds of years. The state of California, as well as other states in the west- ern U.S., has been revisiting hydropower over the past few decades. The result has been the removal of selected dams to allow for environmental restoration. Nationwide, more than 1,300 dams have been removed as of 2015. Four hydroelectric dams will be removed on the Klamath River, which flows from Oregon through northern California. These facts prove that the primary constraints to hydropower as an energy source are not technical or even economic, but rather environmental and social. The section on hydropower includes twelve articles on topics of safety in hydropower development and operations, pumped hydroelectric storage systems, and large cavern design for underground powerhouses.
Energy regulators require and customers also demand a high degree of reliability in the energy grid. Geothermal and hydroelectric power systems do not require backup systems because the power is renewable as well as continuous as long as the power plant and distribution system are working prop- erly. Solar thermal, photovoltaic solar, wind and tidal energy output, all are highly intermittent and variable and are not necessarily in synch with the demands of the energy consumer. Due to these constraints, energy storage using batteries and fuel cells are an important part of renewable energy systems. The energy storage options are presented in a section contain- ing six articles. An article on treatment, recycling and disposal of spent batteries contains lists of over a dozen compounds used to create the battery components.
TIDAL
The topic of renewable energy concepts includes the inter- esting concept of tidal energy power harnessing. An article by Roger H. Charlier starts with tide mills and the history of tidal energy power. Two forms of tidal energy power have been used for centuries; both the current power as the tide moves laterally, as well as the rise and fall in the elevation of the water bodies which occurs between low and high tides.
OTHER
Biomass, municipal solid wastes, and ethanol production are described in this section which features twelve articles, including one on bottled gas as household energy. And in stark contrast to the use of alternate energies in developed countries, nearly three billion people in the developing world rely on the energy predating the Renaissance, solid fuels; these include firewood, charcoal, agricultural residues, dung, and coal. These solid fuels are handled extensively to the extent that children are taken out of school in some areas for fam- ily fuel collection. There is a large economic, environmental and social cost of using solid fuels, including the destruction of forestlands. The fuels also produce fine particulate matter and harmful emissions. An article by Masami Kojima describes solid fuel use and the improvements in the quality of life which are enjoyed as a result of switching to natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking and heating.
SHALE OIL/GAS
The United States has made significant carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions reductions over the past few decades by replacing coal-fired power generation with natural gas-fired electricity generation. The changes at power generating sta- tions relate to a shift in energy source from coal to a feedstock provided by the natural gas produced from the energy revolu- tion derived from the production of unconventional petroleum hydrocarbon resources such as shale gas from the Marcellus Formation in Pennsylvania and tight oil from the Bakken Formation in North Dakota. The section on shale gas includes ten articles describing directional and horizontal drilling of oil and gas wells, hydraulic fracturing, and topics like shale gas versus ethanol, and shale oil.
As a reliable and current reference book, the 912-page Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy and Shale Gas contains a total of 76 articles covers multiple important alternate energy and renewable energy sources and shale gas topics. Absent from the presentation is Nuclear Energy, which is not dis- cussed in the book. Articles range in length from a few pages to about twenty pages. Engineering calculations are provided for some energy system evaluations and other practical informa- tion is included. All articles are accompanied by figures, charts and graphs, and are fully notated with scientific references for further reading and research. The book was published by Wiley in 2016, and has great value as a current energy refer- ence book in public and university libraries, as well as on the bookshelves of those interested in getting a quick overview of alternate energy sources and shale gas.
Dr. Jay H. Lehr is the Editor-in-Chief and is an author of more than 1,000 magazine and journal articles and more than 30 books. Jack Keeley, Senior Editor, is the former Chief of Groundwater Research at the USEPA Kerr Water Resource Research Laboratory in Ada, Oklahoma.
Reviewer: James Jacobs CPG #7760 is a consulting geologist with Clearwater Group.
www.aipg.org
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