The fuel cell is a potential candidate for energy storage and conversion in our future energy mix. It is able to directly convert the chemical energy stored in fuel (e.g. hydrogen) into electricity, without undergoing different intermediary conversion steps. In the field of mobile and stationary applications, it is considered to be one of the future energy solutions.Among the different fuel cell types, the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell has shown great potential in mobile ...

Thorium is a better, safer, cheaper and more prolific replacement for uranium. It deserves to be given the title ‘The Eighth Element’, following Lord Browne’s book ‘Seven Elements That Have Changed the World’. He lists iron, carbon, gold, silver, uranium, titanium and silicon. This report explains why thorium should be added to the list.It sets out the case for thorium as a nuclear fuel, explaining why it is safer, cheaper, and should be more acceptable to the public than uranium. ...

Modern power electronic converters are involved in a very broad spectrum of applications: switched-mode power supplies, electrical-machine-motion-control, active power filters, distributed power generation, flexible AC transmission systems, renewable energy conversion systems and vehicular technology, among them.Power Electronics Converters Modeling and Control teaches the reader how to analyze and model the behavior of converters and so to improve their design and control...

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...

Shale oil and gas have altered the energy landscape, possibly permanently. They burst upon the fossil energy scene with a suddenness that initially defied prediction. Even the political balance of the world has changed. But, with the methods employed, the vast majority of the oil and gas remains in the ground. At the same time, serious environmental impact issues have been raised. A new volume in the Emerging Issues in Analytical Chemistry series, Sustainable Shale Oil and Gas: Analytical ...

This book is an easy to use instructional aide. Explore sustainability issues in contemporary society through a transdisciplinary approach. Chapters include ethics, public resources, public policy, combustion, heat exchangers, nuclear, solar, water, and wind energy. A short summary is presented for each topic, followed by additional topics for research, assignments, and references. The complex assignments require students to grow in their professional judgment.

This book focuses on the topology theory of mechanisms developed by the authors and provides a systematic method for the topology design of robot mechanisms.The main original theoretical contributions of this book include:A. Three basic concepts· The “geometrical constraint type of axes” is introduced as the third element of the topological structure of a mechanism. When it is combined with the other two elements, the kinematic pair and the connection of links, the ...

This fully updated textbook provides complete coverage of electrical circuits and introduces students to the field of energy conversion technologies, analysis and design. Chapters are designed to equip students with necessary background material in such topics as devices, switching circuit analysis techniques, converter types, and methods of conversion. The book contains a large number of examples, exercises, and problems to help enforce the material presented in each chapter. A detailed d...

This monograph presents results of the analytical and numerical modeling of convective heat and mass transfer in different rotating flows caused by (i) system rotation, (ii) swirl flows due to swirl generators, and (iii) surface curvature in turns and bends. Volume forces (i.e. centrifugal and Coriolis forces), which influence the flow pattern, emerge in all of these rotating flows. The main part of this work deals with rotating flows caused by system rotation, which includes several rotat...

The construction industry is the largest single waste producing industry in the UK. Ensuring a supply chain of recycled materials affords many potential gains, achieved through: reducing the material volume transported to already over-burdened landfill sites, possible cost reductions to the contractor/clientwhen considering the landfill tax saved and the potential for lower cost material replacements,areduction in the environmental impact of quarrying and the saving of depleting natural ma...

This book explores sustainability within manufacturing enterprises and examines the concepts and principles of this field. It also reviews the quantitative and qualitative tools available for analytic assessment. It presents a new framework for sustainable manufacturing requirements and discusses the implementation of sustainable manufacturing in terms of practices, indicators, and sustainability level assessments. The book also details the important conditions necessary for the conversion...

This collection highlights materials research and innovations for a wide breadth of energy systems and technologies. The volume includes papers organized into the following sections:Energy and Environmental Issues in Materials Manufacturing and ProcessingMaterials in Clean PowerMaterials for Coal-Based PowerMaterials for Energy Conversion with Emphasis on SOFCMaterials for Gas TurbinesMaterials for Nuclear EnergyMaterials for Oil and ...