Valuing Energy for Global Needs A Systems Approach

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: Uses the tools of Systems Analysis to plan for the eventual transition to Sustainable Energy Explains how to Optimize Energy Sources and allocation using MERIT: Multi-layered Energy Resource and Infrastructure Tools Covers Energy Planning for both Developed and Underdeveloped nations, using LEAP, the Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning Tool As a companion to the authors' first book, The Path to Sustainable Energy, this book will provide the quantitative tools to assess energy demand and supply scenarios in an integrated, 'systems analysis' approach. Using quantitative models, metrics, and narrative case stories, the book will be the first to address energy planning from the perspective of the new field of 'Earth Systems Engineering and Management (ESEM).' This new ESEM discipline is based on the integration of earth sciences with human economics and development needs. The book will take a particularly close look at the underdeveloped world that currently lacks access to modern energy, and which is crippled by its dependence on dirty, inefficient biomass fuels to meet bare subsistence needs. That focus will benefit from the work being done now with projects in Africa through the AHEAD Energy Corporation, a non-profit founded by the authors.