Ben W. Ebenhack

Energy Efficiency: Concepts and Calculations is the first book of its kind to provide an applied, systems oriented description of energy intensity and efficiency in modern economies across the entire energy chain. With an emphasis on analysis, specifically energy flow analysis, lifecycle energy accounting, economic analysis, technology evaluation, and policies/strategies for adopting high energy efficiency standards, the book provides a comprehensive understanding of the concepts, tools and methodologies for studying and modeling macro-level energy flows through, and within, key economic sectors (electric power, industrial, commercial, residential and transportation). Providing a technical discussion of the application of common methodologies (e.g. cost-benefit analysis and lifecycle assessment), each chapter contains figures, charts and examples from each sector, including the policies that have been put in place to promote and incentivize the adoption of energy efficient technologies.

Energy engineers, technology managers, and political leaders all need a solid, holistic understanding of where the world finds its energy--the limits of that energy--and what we will need to do in the future if we are to have a cleaner and environmentally sustainable world, all without sacrificing our modern technological-based civilization. This book will shed some much needed light on that conundrum. It * Provides a broad overview of our current energy sources, their uses and limitations and political and economic constraints * Clarifies the urgency behind the sweeping changes in the world's energy needs and available supplies * Offers a rational paradigm for how we can go about selecting the optimal mix of fossil, renewable and sustainable energy sources and how we can then aggressively move toward those more sustainable sources Drawing from a combined 40 years of teaching about energy and its applications, the authors offer a broad, balanced analysis of our current energy circumstances and how we can intelligently transition from our reliance on fossil fuels to more sustainable and renewable energy sources--solar, wind, nuclear, and bio-mass. With their grounding in the traditional petroleum industries, the authors embed their arguments for cleaner and more sustainable energy sources in the hard realities of energy economics. Those hard realities include the enormous ""energy density"" advantage that oil and gas currently provide over other alternative energies and how that must always enter into any rationale economic plan for future energy growth.