Choice Review

This is a comprehensive treatment of all non-fossil-fuel-based "renewable" energy sources. Solar thermal energy includes situations where the heat generated by the sun is used more or less directly to heat houses or water, or to generate steam to produce electricity. Solar voltaics energy uses the sun's energy, focused on a semiconductor cell, to produce electrical power directly. Biomass includes wood, hay, or animal wastes burned or processed to produce thermal energy. Hydroelectricity is produced from flowing water used to turn turbines to generate electricity; tidal power also uses flowing water to turn turbines. Wind energy uses flowing air currents to turn turbines, and wave energy uses the wave motion of the sea to power generators. In geothermal energy, the heat from the earth's interior is used to produce power. Each of these technologies has its own chapter; two final chapters discuss the possible integration of these systems into the present power grid and the economics of the energy equation. The authors write primarily for college students, but the material is well illustrated and would be useful for anyone investigating this field. Extensive chapter bibliographies. General readers; undergraduate, graduate, and two-year technical program students. J. C. Comer; emeritus, Northern Illinois University