Renewable Energy: Sustainable Energy Concepts for the Energy Change

In the years since the publication of the first edition of this book, the world has undergone drastic changes in terms of energy sources. This is reflected in the expansion of this second edition from 20 to 26 chapters. The most dramatic occurrence was the Tsunami which struck Japan in March of 2011 and set off a reactor catastrophe at the nuclear power plants in Fukushima. On the other hand fossil fuel technology drives the climate change to a threatening level. So, renewable energy sources are essential for the 21st century. The increasing number of wind power plants, solar collectors and photovoltaic installations demonstrates perceptibly that many innovations for tapping renewable energy sources have matured: very few other technologies have developed so dynamically in the past years. Nearly all the chapters were written by professionals in the respective fields. That makes this book an especially valuable and reliable source of information. The second edition is extended by several new chapters such as tidal power stations, the Desertec project, thermography of buildings and more. Furthermore, the critical debate about current first generation bio–fuels is carefully reflected, and the book presents promising solutions that do not trade in food for fuel. .

Foreword Eicke R. Weber Preface Kael W Böer Foreword First–hand Information 1 Thomas Bührke and Roland Wengenmayr The Development Renewable Energy Sources – a Survey 4 Herald Kohl and Wolfhart Dürrschmidt Wind Energy A Tailwind for Sustainable Technology 14 Martin Kühn and Tobias Klaus Hydroelectric Power Plants Flowing Energy 24 Roland Wengenmayr Solar Thermal Power Plants How the sun gets into the Power Plant 28 Robert Pitz–Paal Photovoltaic Energy Conversion Solar Cells – an Overview 36 Roland Wengenmayr New Materials for Photovoltaics Solar Cells from Ribbon Silicon 44 Giso Hahn CIS Thin–film Solar Cells Low–priced Modules for Solar Construction 52 Nikolaus Meyer CdTe Thin–Film Solar Cells On the Path towards Power–Grid Parity 56 Michael Harr, Dieter Bonnet and Karl–Heinz Fischer Geothermal Power Generation Energy from the Depths 60 Ernst Huenges Biofuels Green Opportunity or Danger? 69 Roland Wengenmayr Biofuels are Not Necessarily Sustainable Twist and Turns around Biofuels 72 Gerhard Kreysa Biofuels from Algae Concentrated Green Energy 79 Carola Griehl, Simone Bieler and Clemens Posten The Karlsruhe bioliq® Process Synthetic Fuels from the Biomass 83 Nicolaus Dahmen, Eckard Dinjus and Edmund Henrich Solar Updraft Tower Power Plant Electric Power from Hot Air 88 Jörg Schlaich, Rudolf Bergermann and Gerhard Weinrebe Tidal–stream Power Plants Sun, Moon and Earth as Power Source 95 Albert Ruprecht and Jochen Weilepp Wave Power Plants Energy Reserves from the Oceans 100 Kai–Uwe Graw Osmosis Power Plants Salty vs. Fresh Water 107 Klaus–Viktor Peinemann DLR Studies on the Desertec Project Power from the Desert 110 Franz Trieb Hydrogen for Energy Storage Hydrogen: An Alternative to Fossil Fuels? 118 Detlef Stolten Seasonal Storage of Thermal Energy Heat on Call 123 Silke Köhler, Frank Kabus and Ernst Huenges Fuel Cells Taming the Flame 130 Joachim Hoffman Mobility and Sustainable Energy Electric Automobiles 138 Andrea Vezzini Solar Air Conditioning Cooling with the Heat of the Sun 146 Roland Wengenmayr Climate Engineering A Super Climate in the Greenhouse 148 Roland Wengemayr A Low–energy Residence An Exceptional Sustainability Concept 151 Christian Matt and Matthias Schuler Building Thermography Examined Closely The Allure of Multicolored Images 154 Michael Vollner and Klaus–Peter Möllmann Subject Index 158

Roland Wengenmayr is science journalist and editor of the journal "Physik in unserer Zeit". He studied physics in Darmstadt, with a temporary stay at the European research laboratory CERN in Geneva. After the diploma he worked as an engineer in the chemical plant construction then he moved on to the publishing house Wiley–VCH, where he worked as commissioning editor for physics and physical chemistry. Today he writes for prominent newspapers on topics like e.g. renewable energy. Thomas Bührke is science journalist, editor of the journal "Physik in unserer Zeit", and author of several popular science books within the ranges of physics and astrophysics. He studied Physics at the universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg and attained there a doctorate at the Max–Planck Institute for Astronomy. Subsequently, he changed to the publishing house Wiley VCH, where he started as an editor of the journal "Physikalischen Blätter" (now: "Physik Journal") and later changed to "Physik in unserer Zeit".

“Summing Up:  Highly recommended.  Students of all levels, researchers/faculty, and general readers.”  ( Choice , 1 September 2013)