Introduction to Energy, Environment, and Sustainability

New Second Edition Now Available! An accessible, comprehensive primer to critical and contemporary issues in science, Introduction to Energy, Environment and Sustainability published by Kendall Hunt, was developed for an entry-level, non-science college audience, and aims to facilitate both new and old courses covering these topics. Originally created to meet Paul Gannon's (Montana State University - Chemical Engineering) new core science course, ECHM 205CS: Energy and Sustainability, the updated edition is now easily adaptable to basic science and engineering courses, in addition to those in the social and political sciences, e.g., law, public administration, business, sociology or economics. Introduction to Energy, Environment and Sustainability is organized into ten sequential chapters and is designed for a single academic term: Chapters 1-3 present an overview of human society and its impacts, as well as energy and environmental sciences and Earth System dynamics. Chapter 4 reviews the basics of combustion (fire), its utility, and its globalized impacts since the Industrial Revolution, focusing on atmospheric greenhouse gas accumulation and anthropogenic global climate destabilization. Chapter 5 discusses non-renewable energy sources (fossil fuels) and related exploration, production and conversion technologies. Chapter 6 covers atomic energy basics and nuclear energy technologies. Chapters 7 and 8 overview renewable energy sources and conversion technologies, and introduce basic concepts of electricity and hydrogen. Chapter 9 considers the complexities and vulnerabilities of modern food and water systems. Chapter 10 concludes with reflections on science, sustainability and globalizing human society. The improved 2nd edition (available as eBook) includes updated information on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), climate change and energy use, as well as links to interactive learning opportunities