Energy: The Basics

Harold Schobert has nearly a half-century of experience in energy, primarily research and development on coal science and technology. For the last ten years he has been an independent consultant and provider of expert witness services. Before partially retiring in 2013, he was Professor of Fuel Science at Penn State University where, among many other activities, he served as director of the Earth and Mineral Sciences Energy Institute and, for 25 years, taught an introductory course on energy intended for students not pursuing science or engineering degrees. The proposed second edition of Energy: The Basics is an outgrowth of that course. Previous to joining the Penn State faculty, Schobert was manager of the Coal Science Division in the University of North Dakota Energy Research Center. Schobert is the author of thirteen previous books, nearly 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals and several hundred additional papers published in conference preprints or proceedings.

List of figures

Preface

1 Energy and us

2 Human energy and the energy balance

3 Water, wind, and kinetic energy

4 Heat, steam, and thermal efficiency

5 Petroleum fuels and their engines

6 Electricity

7 Electricity from steam

8 Nuclear energy

9 Energy from the sun

10 Biomass energy

11 Electricity from falling water

12 Electricity from wind

13 Energy storage

14 Energy and climate

15 The 18-terawatt challenge

Appendix

Suggestions for further reading

Index