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Energy problems of a technical society
Resources
and Conservation,
12 (1985)
63-72
63
Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands
Book
Energy
Reviews
Problems
of a Technical
Society,
A. Ristinen. Published by John xii + 513 pp., cloth. Price $24.95.
Wiley
by Jack J. Kraushaar and Robert & Sons, Inc. New York, 1984.
A broad spectrum of energy and technology topics is developed nicely in this elementary text designed for non-science majors. Although this book grew out of a two-semester physics course at the University of Colorado, it is not intended as a vehicle for teaching introductory physics. The reader is only given enough physics and mathematics to do back-of-the-envelope calculations to gain a quantitative understanding of the material. The level of presentation and sophistication is ideally suited to a general education course or one designed for students interested in environmental policy without having a strong science or engineering background. This book could be a useful primer for policy-oriented professionals who do not want to get bogged-down in technical details, but who might want to develop a better quantitative sense of these topics than is available in the typically qualitative treatment found in books intended for the non-scientist (or non-engineer). The authors only assume a knowledge of algebra, but without some accompanying lecture or previous knowledge of physics it may be difficult for the student to follow some of the example problems. The simple calculations offer the reader a foundation for assessing the relative importance, impact, and viability of different technologies. For example, the authors demonstrate that the total global arable land is sufficient to support food production for double the current world population Another example is their calculation which shows that the maximum traffic flow on a lane of highway is 1900 automobiles/hour. The authors are usually careful to explain that the real world is more complicated than represented by these simple calculations. There is some danger in such an approach, though. Since the only calculations are back-of-the-envelope, there could be a tendency for the student to generalize the solution beyond that intended by the authors. Topics in energy are essentially complete and include: resources; a description of conservation of energy and the role of entropy; fission, fusion, and nuclear safety; solar, hydro, wind, geothermal, and OTEC energy sources; energy storage and transmission; conservation of energy use; energy related aspects of food production and distribution, and transportation. Additional technical issues are not as complete and include: radiation and its biological effects, air pollution and its atmospheric effects; water resources and pollution; sound and noise pollution, and nuclear weapons and their control. Technical topics conspicuously absent are: waste reclamation; disposal of hazardous wastes, and toxic effects of trace metals and
64
insecticides. The authors note these omissions and point out that there is more material in the book than can be handled in a two-semester course. The authors suggest that they have consciously stopped short of thoroughly addressing political, social and economic aspects of these topics (although they do briefly discuss some social and political issues). As a reader, I found this omission troublesome and, at times, the discussion lacked focus for this reason. The instructor using this as a primary text may find it useful to assign readings that deal with policy in more depth. The book is essentially well written, though occasionally concepts or jargon are beyond the intended audience. For example, before discussing entropy in the introductory chapter, the statement “one main overall effect of taking fossil fuels (235U) out of the ground and burning them will be to fill the Universe with a little more long-wavelength radiation”, will make little sense to the reader at that point. Furthermore, at times the authors make large leaps in logic. In discussing the gasoline consumption of automobiles for example, the authors warn the reader of “myths” related to revolutionary carburetors that result in 100 to 200 mpg for a standard car. They go on to say that there is a limit to available energy per gallon, and to prove their point they calculate maximum mpg assuming a 15% efficiency (which is never justified). On the positive side, the other calculations related to resistance as the limiting factor in gas mileage are very convincing. In the vast majority of the cases, where professionals disagree, or where there is insufficient information available to be able to draw a conclusion, the authors clearly point this out to the reader. The notable exception is related to nuclear fission reactor safety and disposal of wastes. Certainly there would be disagreement, for example, with the statement “one can only expect that reactor safety will improve with experience and we know the record is good now”. Since there tends to be a technology bias to this book, conservation is given less space than represented by its short-term importance. The concept of energy conservation as a resource is never developed. Less than two pages are devoted to shell-tightening of buildings and indoor air quality. Considering that in terms of an “energy resource” conservation in the short- and probably intermediate-term is more important than most of the new technologies, including nuclear and solar, this topic could be discussed in greater depth. On the positive side, the authors really accomplish their goal of presenting technical material, in a semi-quantitative fashion, to the non-quantitative students in an understandable way. The material is also embellished with some social and political concerns to a degree, which undoubtedly motivates the non-technical reader. In spite of its bias, the section on nuclear fission and fusion is very well done. The section on transportation and vehicular safety gives the reader a fairly sophisticated sense of the problems related to a major aspect of our technical lives. In general, the student will come
away with a basic understanding of all the relevant topics in energy as selected technical topics currently of importance in his/her life.
LYNN
as well
F. STILES
Stockton State College, Pomona, NJ 08240, U.S.A.
Limits to Solar and Biomass Energy Growth, by Y.M. Schiffman and G.J. D’Alessio, Lexington Books, D.C. Heath & Co., Lexington, MA, 1983. xxx + 286 pp., cloth, $41.50. This book is a synthesis of published technical reports derived from the Technology Assessment of Solar Energy (TASE), of which one author (GJD) was director. These reports come from some 20 different sources with many papers being in-house publications of the MITRE Corporation, Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and other sources not readily available to many potential readers. This alone makes the book worthwhile. All but one of the sources are dated between 1979 and 1982. The book contains 32 tables and 80 figures, all of which are readable, although a magnifying glass would be useful for reading the ordinates of Fig. 12-l. Helpful lists of figures and tables appear after the table of contents. Immediately following these is a list of all the acronyms used in the book and this also makes a handy reference. The authors present the results of TASE in a clear and readable style, although a chapter giving more detail on some of the particular systems (say, one of each type) used for assessment should have been included. The material is organized in four parts. Part I is a two-chapter general description of solar and biomass technology and the scenarios used. This includes a comparison of TASE to other solar energy studies. Part II is a four-chapter description of the financial, labor, materials, land and water requirements necessary for the scenarios. Part III examines, in four chapters, the environmental (air pollution and water quality), health-and-safety, socio-economic and community-design impacts of deploying solar and biomass systems. Part IV contains a partial analysis of several alternative deployment scenarios and the consequences of each change in deployment. The TASE studies were conducted under the assumption of moderate-tohigh overall U.S. energy growth. They used the FOSSIL 2 model that the U.S. Department of Energy used to generate future energy estimates. A low case of solar and biomass development of 6 quads (6.4 EJ) of primary-fuel displacement and a high case of 14.2 quads (15 EJ) of primary-fuel displacement by the year 2000 were assessed. Also assumed was a GNP growth of 3.5% annually from 1978 to 1985, and 3.1% annually from 1985 to 2000, and that the federal policy of the National Energy Act of 1978 and the
and Conservation,
12 (1985)
63-72
63
Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands
Book
Energy
Reviews
Problems
of a Technical
Society,
A. Ristinen. Published by John xii + 513 pp., cloth. Price $24.95.
Wiley
by Jack J. Kraushaar and Robert & Sons, Inc. New York, 1984.
A broad spectrum of energy and technology topics is developed nicely in this elementary text designed for non-science majors. Although this book grew out of a two-semester physics course at the University of Colorado, it is not intended as a vehicle for teaching introductory physics. The reader is only given enough physics and mathematics to do back-of-the-envelope calculations to gain a quantitative understanding of the material. The level of presentation and sophistication is ideally suited to a general education course or one designed for students interested in environmental policy without having a strong science or engineering background. This book could be a useful primer for policy-oriented professionals who do not want to get bogged-down in technical details, but who might want to develop a better quantitative sense of these topics than is available in the typically qualitative treatment found in books intended for the non-scientist (or non-engineer). The authors only assume a knowledge of algebra, but without some accompanying lecture or previous knowledge of physics it may be difficult for the student to follow some of the example problems. The simple calculations offer the reader a foundation for assessing the relative importance, impact, and viability of different technologies. For example, the authors demonstrate that the total global arable land is sufficient to support food production for double the current world population Another example is their calculation which shows that the maximum traffic flow on a lane of highway is 1900 automobiles/hour. The authors are usually careful to explain that the real world is more complicated than represented by these simple calculations. There is some danger in such an approach, though. Since the only calculations are back-of-the-envelope, there could be a tendency for the student to generalize the solution beyond that intended by the authors. Topics in energy are essentially complete and include: resources; a description of conservation of energy and the role of entropy; fission, fusion, and nuclear safety; solar, hydro, wind, geothermal, and OTEC energy sources; energy storage and transmission; conservation of energy use; energy related aspects of food production and distribution, and transportation. Additional technical issues are not as complete and include: radiation and its biological effects, air pollution and its atmospheric effects; water resources and pollution; sound and noise pollution, and nuclear weapons and their control. Technical topics conspicuously absent are: waste reclamation; disposal of hazardous wastes, and toxic effects of trace metals and
64
insecticides. The authors note these omissions and point out that there is more material in the book than can be handled in a two-semester course. The authors suggest that they have consciously stopped short of thoroughly addressing political, social and economic aspects of these topics (although they do briefly discuss some social and political issues). As a reader, I found this omission troublesome and, at times, the discussion lacked focus for this reason. The instructor using this as a primary text may find it useful to assign readings that deal with policy in more depth. The book is essentially well written, though occasionally concepts or jargon are beyond the intended audience. For example, before discussing entropy in the introductory chapter, the statement “one main overall effect of taking fossil fuels (235U) out of the ground and burning them will be to fill the Universe with a little more long-wavelength radiation”, will make little sense to the reader at that point. Furthermore, at times the authors make large leaps in logic. In discussing the gasoline consumption of automobiles for example, the authors warn the reader of “myths” related to revolutionary carburetors that result in 100 to 200 mpg for a standard car. They go on to say that there is a limit to available energy per gallon, and to prove their point they calculate maximum mpg assuming a 15% efficiency (which is never justified). On the positive side, the other calculations related to resistance as the limiting factor in gas mileage are very convincing. In the vast majority of the cases, where professionals disagree, or where there is insufficient information available to be able to draw a conclusion, the authors clearly point this out to the reader. The notable exception is related to nuclear fission reactor safety and disposal of wastes. Certainly there would be disagreement, for example, with the statement “one can only expect that reactor safety will improve with experience and we know the record is good now”. Since there tends to be a technology bias to this book, conservation is given less space than represented by its short-term importance. The concept of energy conservation as a resource is never developed. Less than two pages are devoted to shell-tightening of buildings and indoor air quality. Considering that in terms of an “energy resource” conservation in the short- and probably intermediate-term is more important than most of the new technologies, including nuclear and solar, this topic could be discussed in greater depth. On the positive side, the authors really accomplish their goal of presenting technical material, in a semi-quantitative fashion, to the non-quantitative students in an understandable way. The material is also embellished with some social and political concerns to a degree, which undoubtedly motivates the non-technical reader. In spite of its bias, the section on nuclear fission and fusion is very well done. The section on transportation and vehicular safety gives the reader a fairly sophisticated sense of the problems related to a major aspect of our technical lives. In general, the student will come
away with a basic understanding of all the relevant topics in energy as selected technical topics currently of importance in his/her life.
LYNN
as well
F. STILES
Stockton State College, Pomona, NJ 08240, U.S.A.
Limits to Solar and Biomass Energy Growth, by Y.M. Schiffman and G.J. D’Alessio, Lexington Books, D.C. Heath & Co., Lexington, MA, 1983. xxx + 286 pp., cloth, $41.50. This book is a synthesis of published technical reports derived from the Technology Assessment of Solar Energy (TASE), of which one author (GJD) was director. These reports come from some 20 different sources with many papers being in-house publications of the MITRE Corporation, Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and other sources not readily available to many potential readers. This alone makes the book worthwhile. All but one of the sources are dated between 1979 and 1982. The book contains 32 tables and 80 figures, all of which are readable, although a magnifying glass would be useful for reading the ordinates of Fig. 12-l. Helpful lists of figures and tables appear after the table of contents. Immediately following these is a list of all the acronyms used in the book and this also makes a handy reference. The authors present the results of TASE in a clear and readable style, although a chapter giving more detail on some of the particular systems (say, one of each type) used for assessment should have been included. The material is organized in four parts. Part I is a two-chapter general description of solar and biomass technology and the scenarios used. This includes a comparison of TASE to other solar energy studies. Part II is a four-chapter description of the financial, labor, materials, land and water requirements necessary for the scenarios. Part III examines, in four chapters, the environmental (air pollution and water quality), health-and-safety, socio-economic and community-design impacts of deploying solar and biomass systems. Part IV contains a partial analysis of several alternative deployment scenarios and the consequences of each change in deployment. The TASE studies were conducted under the assumption of moderate-tohigh overall U.S. energy growth. They used the FOSSIL 2 model that the U.S. Department of Energy used to generate future energy estimates. A low case of solar and biomass development of 6 quads (6.4 EJ) of primary-fuel displacement and a high case of 14.2 quads (15 EJ) of primary-fuel displacement by the year 2000 were assessed. Also assumed was a GNP growth of 3.5% annually from 1978 to 1985, and 3.1% annually from 1985 to 2000, and that the federal policy of the National Energy Act of 1978 and the