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Long-term energy resources
The Science of the Total Environment,25 (1982) 93--96 © Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam -- Printed in The Netherlands
93
Book Reviews
Long-Term Energy Resources, J. Barnea, Scientific Secretary; edited by R.F. Meyer and J.C. Olson, Pitman, Boston, 1981. 3 volumes, 2111 pp. Price: £80. Energy has never been cheap and plentiful. The antique owners of muscle power, the medieval landlords with some good creek for a mill, even the capitalists of the age of steam and coal reckoned heavily with the cost of energy. The anomaly (let us not analyse here the reason) that the world price of oil has been, inflation notwithstanding, a constant figure for twenty years between the early 1950's and 1973, distorted the perspective. As the oil price began to be more realistic from 1973 on {here also the full set of reasons shall be beyond the present analysis), formerly unsuspecting laymen and politicians (some economists and technocrats knew better) began to worry whether the available resources are sufficient to meet the growing demand? The future availability of energy became apparently the most pressing and urgent questions which face mankind today. The papers included in these three volumes are those which were presented to the Conference on Long-Term Energy Resources held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 26 November to 7 December 1979. The Conference was sponsored jointly by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and Petro-Canada, on behalf of the Government of Canada. Over 400 delegates from approximately 90 countries were in attendance. They heard and discussed 120 technical presentations reprinted in these three volumes. Four chapters are in the nature of an overview of the world energy situation and deal with sources of future energy supply. Thirteen subsequent chapters consider the area of energy policy and planning. Five more chapters deal with coal; nine others with conventional oil and natural gas with respect to resources, exploration and transportation. A section is concerned with the topic of oil from shale and tar sands, heavy oil and enhanced oil recovery. A series of papers are devoted to naturally occurring gas from other than conventional reservoirs. Eleven chapters deal with the applications of solar energy. Energy derived from biomass is detailed in 22 chapters. Eleven other chapters describe various applications of water to power generation. Seven chapters investigate the use of wind energy for power generation. Fourteen chapters address the subject of geothermal energy. Four chapters consider the principal factors necessary to evaluate nuclear power as a future energy resource. Five chapters analyse the growing importance of electricity to developing countries. The agenda carefully excluded energy dreams such as building a dam across the Red Sea so that 0048-9697/82/0000--0000/$02.75
© 1982 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company
94
the drop in the water level would allow hydro-power generation. A final Section of 28 chapters represents the national energy reviews, from Afghanistan to Zambia. The level of information is, with very few exceptions, pseudo-technical. Under the coat of a rather heavy prose and many tables, there is nothing new for the specialist. Perhaps the wind energy expert has learnt during the conference something about the status of oil~shale projects, and so on, but besides some interdisciplinary exchange of intelligence, the conclusion is: "there is nothing new under the Sun" -- not even solar energy. Will all this palaver be useful for the attending politicians and administrators? Scarcely so. If they did not learn from history (as they never did) and did not prepare predictions (could they?), contingency plans, etc. during the twenty years before 1973 hit, why should we believe that after reading these 2111 pages they will now? Not that the conference was devoid of wittiness. The naivety of some figures and the use thereof (the paper by Barry Commoner, pp. 23--47 is but one example) is sometimes piquant. In the national energy reviews from Afghanistan to Zambia, there are examples of inconsistencies, but I cite here only one, that of an advanced industrial power, the U.S.S.R. The data are expressed in "standard fuel equivalent". The Editor's touching footnote: (p. 2037) "No definition of a standard fuel equivalent is given". But this unit can easily be computed from Table 152-1 (p. 2038) and Table 152-3 (p. 2043) of the paper in question, with the following results: Value of the "standard fuel equivalent" in the U.S.S.R. as a function of time
Hydroelectric kWh Coal Oil Gas
1960
1970
1975
1978
0.14 0.73 1.43 1.20
0.10 0.83 1.24 0.96
0.14 0.67 1.43 1.19
0.15 0.67 1.43 1.91
Perhaps the composition of the production lumped under the term "coal" did really vary throughout the years (more or less lignite, peat, etc.) but what did happen to the caloric equivalent of the kWh in 1970? Bretigny (France) Michel Benarie
Aerosol Microphysics. I. Particle Interaction (Vol. 16 of Topics in Current Physics), edited by W.H. Marlow, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1980, 160 pp. Price: cloth DM 54.00 (approx. US$31.90). This is a little gem -- for the select club of aerosol physicists. Aerosol physics is relevant, among other fields, to various industrial techniques including combustion technology, medicine and health, occupational hygiene and safety, planetary atmospheres, astrophysics and biophysics.
93
Book Reviews
Long-Term Energy Resources, J. Barnea, Scientific Secretary; edited by R.F. Meyer and J.C. Olson, Pitman, Boston, 1981. 3 volumes, 2111 pp. Price: £80. Energy has never been cheap and plentiful. The antique owners of muscle power, the medieval landlords with some good creek for a mill, even the capitalists of the age of steam and coal reckoned heavily with the cost of energy. The anomaly (let us not analyse here the reason) that the world price of oil has been, inflation notwithstanding, a constant figure for twenty years between the early 1950's and 1973, distorted the perspective. As the oil price began to be more realistic from 1973 on {here also the full set of reasons shall be beyond the present analysis), formerly unsuspecting laymen and politicians (some economists and technocrats knew better) began to worry whether the available resources are sufficient to meet the growing demand? The future availability of energy became apparently the most pressing and urgent questions which face mankind today. The papers included in these three volumes are those which were presented to the Conference on Long-Term Energy Resources held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 26 November to 7 December 1979. The Conference was sponsored jointly by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and Petro-Canada, on behalf of the Government of Canada. Over 400 delegates from approximately 90 countries were in attendance. They heard and discussed 120 technical presentations reprinted in these three volumes. Four chapters are in the nature of an overview of the world energy situation and deal with sources of future energy supply. Thirteen subsequent chapters consider the area of energy policy and planning. Five more chapters deal with coal; nine others with conventional oil and natural gas with respect to resources, exploration and transportation. A section is concerned with the topic of oil from shale and tar sands, heavy oil and enhanced oil recovery. A series of papers are devoted to naturally occurring gas from other than conventional reservoirs. Eleven chapters deal with the applications of solar energy. Energy derived from biomass is detailed in 22 chapters. Eleven other chapters describe various applications of water to power generation. Seven chapters investigate the use of wind energy for power generation. Fourteen chapters address the subject of geothermal energy. Four chapters consider the principal factors necessary to evaluate nuclear power as a future energy resource. Five chapters analyse the growing importance of electricity to developing countries. The agenda carefully excluded energy dreams such as building a dam across the Red Sea so that 0048-9697/82/0000--0000/$02.75
© 1982 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company
94
the drop in the water level would allow hydro-power generation. A final Section of 28 chapters represents the national energy reviews, from Afghanistan to Zambia. The level of information is, with very few exceptions, pseudo-technical. Under the coat of a rather heavy prose and many tables, there is nothing new for the specialist. Perhaps the wind energy expert has learnt during the conference something about the status of oil~shale projects, and so on, but besides some interdisciplinary exchange of intelligence, the conclusion is: "there is nothing new under the Sun" -- not even solar energy. Will all this palaver be useful for the attending politicians and administrators? Scarcely so. If they did not learn from history (as they never did) and did not prepare predictions (could they?), contingency plans, etc. during the twenty years before 1973 hit, why should we believe that after reading these 2111 pages they will now? Not that the conference was devoid of wittiness. The naivety of some figures and the use thereof (the paper by Barry Commoner, pp. 23--47 is but one example) is sometimes piquant. In the national energy reviews from Afghanistan to Zambia, there are examples of inconsistencies, but I cite here only one, that of an advanced industrial power, the U.S.S.R. The data are expressed in "standard fuel equivalent". The Editor's touching footnote: (p. 2037) "No definition of a standard fuel equivalent is given". But this unit can easily be computed from Table 152-1 (p. 2038) and Table 152-3 (p. 2043) of the paper in question, with the following results: Value of the "standard fuel equivalent" in the U.S.S.R. as a function of time
Hydroelectric kWh Coal Oil Gas
1960
1970
1975
1978
0.14 0.73 1.43 1.20
0.10 0.83 1.24 0.96
0.14 0.67 1.43 1.19
0.15 0.67 1.43 1.91
Perhaps the composition of the production lumped under the term "coal" did really vary throughout the years (more or less lignite, peat, etc.) but what did happen to the caloric equivalent of the kWh in 1970? Bretigny (France) Michel Benarie
Aerosol Microphysics. I. Particle Interaction (Vol. 16 of Topics in Current Physics), edited by W.H. Marlow, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1980, 160 pp. Price: cloth DM 54.00 (approx. US$31.90). This is a little gem -- for the select club of aerosol physicists. Aerosol physics is relevant, among other fields, to various industrial techniques including combustion technology, medicine and health, occupational hygiene and safety, planetary atmospheres, astrophysics and biophysics.