Clean Energy presents a broad survey of the energy
problems facing society over the coming decades and the prospects for their
solution.
The book emphasizes the importance of developing a strategy for the world's
future energy supply. The strategy must take into account: the finite supplies
of natural gas and petroleum; the increased consumption of fuel by developing
economies; the concern over greenhouse gas emissions; the pollution caused by
burning coal (especially coal with a high sulphur content); the difficulties and
costs of extracting unconventional fossil fuels; and the technical, sociological
and cost barriers that restrict the use of renewable forms of energy.
Clean Energy sets the various renewable energies (wind, waves, solar
etc) in the context of present and projected world production of energy and its
use in the time-frame until 2020 and looks speculatively beyond that. It looks
at the possibilities for reducing pollution from fossil fuels and tackles the
serious problem of how to store energy, in order to smooth out fluctuations in
supply and demand.
Clean Energy is well illustrated with diagrams and photographs and is
accessible to anyone who has studied science to A-level and will appeal to
anyone with a serious interest in environmental matters and in the interaction
between energy usage and the environment.