Renewable Energy Resources

Every country in the world is seeking new energy sources as alternatives to fossil fuels. For the best use of such resources, we need to know how much is available, what the limitations are and how to make efficient devices which will harness the energy in a practical, cost effective way. This book gives quantitative answers to these questions, using basic physical principles. It fills the gap between descriptive surveys of energy alternatives and specialized engineering treatises and will be useful as a text for students of physics, engineering and chemistry and as a reference for practising engineers and scientists wanting a rigorous, applications-based overview of renewable energy resources. The introductory chapters cover principles of energy supply, fluid mechanics and heat transfer. Each type of energy resource is then covered in an individual chapter considering the potential, analysing its characteristics and presenting examples. The resources covered are: solar radiation (thermal and photoelectric application), hydropower, wind, wave, tidal, biomass and photosynthesis, OTEC, geothermal, energy storage and distribution.