Power to the People examines the varied but interconnected relationships between energy consumption and economic development in Europe over the last five centuries. It describes how the traditional energy economy of medieval and early modern Europe was marked by stable or falling per capita energy consumption, and how the First Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century--fueled by coal and steam engines--redrew the economic, social, and geopolitical map of Europe and the worl...

This book is a comprehensive discussion and economic analysis of large-scale solar power systems, specifically referencing critical issues related to design construction and financing. The book provides practical design, installation, and financing guidelines for large-scale commercial and industrial solar power projects. Engineering design and construction methodologies as well as economic analysis provide a step-by-step walk-through of all aspects of solar power systems. Design methodolo...

“The Limits to Growth” (Meadows, 1972) generated unprecedented controversy with its predictions of the eventual collapse of the world's economies. First hailed as a great advance in science, “The Limits to Growth” was subsequently rejected and demonized. However, with many national economies now at risk and global peak oil apparently a reality, the methods, scenarios, and predictions of “The Limits to Growth” are in great need of reappraisal. In The Li...

Rising fuel prices during recent years and the threat of global warming have reinforced public and scientific interest in the issue of sustainable energy, with the term sustainability understood as having economic, environmental and social dimensions.Renewable energy is seen as an effective means to address several problems simultaneously, including climate change, exploitation of non-renewable resources, the high volatility of energy prices on the global markets, dependency on fue...

For the past 150 years, economics has been treated as a social science in which economies are modeled as a circular flow of income between producers and consumers. In this “perpetual motion” of interactions between firms that produce and households that consume, little or no accounting is given of the flow of energy and materials from the environment and back again. In the standard economic model, energy and matter are completely recycled in these transactions, and economic activity is see...

Given the rapid spread of ETSs in an increasing number of countries and the important role that they are likely to play for the success or failure of the environmental policy in the years to come, this book provides an interdisciplinary analysis of the EU ETS from both the legal and economic perspectives comparing it with the other main ETSs existing worldwide, in order to assess whether the EU ETS has truly represented a prototype for the other ETSs established around the world and to inv...

Oil is the lifeblood of modern industrial economies. Petroleum powers virtually all motorized transport, which in turn enables most economic activities and provides mobility for citizens. But oil is a finite resource that is steadily depleting. In the past decade, the phenomenon of global peak oil – the fact that annual world oil production must at some point reach a maximum and then decline – has emerged as one of the twenty-first century’s greatest challenges. South Africa imports over t...

Out of sight, out of mind. That's the general reaction to the crucial movement of oil around the world's oceans. Yet this vital supply chain that allows the world to function is constantly under enormous, largely unreported pressure. The uninterrupted flow of oil is essential to globalisation, and increasingly so as manufacturing and markets move Eastwards to Asia. However, it is threatened by conflicts between nation states, pirates and global warming.All too often the movement of...

This book investigates the current status and future prospects of energy relationships in the Euro-Mediterranean region. By adopting a political economy perspective, this book provides insight into regional cooperation in the fields of natural gas and renewable energy. The author posits that regional energy relations have yet to be examined through a comprehensive analytical framework in order to realistically assess the potential role of energy in acting as a catalyst for greater economic...

The future of modern societies depends on their ability to deal with the challenge of climate change in the coming decades. One essential component is a better understanding of innovation processes in the energy sector. This book focuses on sustainability innovations in renewable energies, combined heat and power, and energy service contracting, and analyses the institutions, actors and functions within the innovation system. Of particular interest is the question of whether the joint effe...

This is a practical book with clear descriptions of the most commonly used nonmarket methods. The first chapters of the book provide the context and theoretical foundation of nonmarket valuation along with a discussion of data collection procedures. The middle chapters describe the major stated- and revealed-preference valuation methods. For each method, the steps involved in implementation are laid out and carefully explained with supporting references from the published literature. The f...

Is nuclear power a thing of the past or a technology for the future? Has it become too expensive and dangerous, or is it still competitive and sufficiently safe? Should emerging countries invest in it? Can we trust calculations of the probability of a major nuclear accident? In the face of divergent claims and contradictory facts, this book provides an in-depth and balanced economic analysis of the main controversies surrounding nuclear power. Without taking sides, it helps readers gain a ...