This book traces the history of the nuclear power industry in the United States from the 1950s when electricity from nuclear power was expected to be too cheap to meter, to the 1990s when the nuclear power industry lies in shambles and the landscape is dotted with the billion dollar carcasses of unfinished or inoperable nuclear power plants. Using the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant on Long Island as a case study, and reviewing the civil racketeering trial relating to that plant, McCallion details how a fatal combination of fraud, incompetence, and naivete has driven utility companies to the brink (and in some cases, beyond the brink) of bankruptcy in the vain quest for the nuclear power fix.

This multivolume handbook is the most comprehensive and updated reference of advanced geospatial techniques for water resource and watershed management. It addresses complex solutions that appear in individual articles but require an exhaustive search for assimilation. By assembling these tremendous advances in an expertly curated resource and making it available in depth to professionals and the water research community worldwide, this successful vehicle will help readers in elevating the quality and variety of water research and solutions. A broad range of authors, specialties, sources, institutions, countries, and continents showcase exemplary approaches and capabilities for the 21st century.

Two decades ago, British Petroleum, a venerable and storied corporation, was running out of oil reserves. Along came a new CEO of vision and vast ambition, John Browne, who pulled off one of the greatest corporate turnarounds in history. BP bought one company after another and then relentlessly fired employees and cut costs. It skipped safety procedures, pumped toxic chemicals back into the ground, and let equipment languish, even while Browne claimed a new era of environmentally sustainable business as his own. For a while the strategy worked, making BP one of the most profitable corporations in the world. Then it all began to unravel, in felony convictions for environmental crimes and in one deadly accident after another. Employees and regulators warned that BP's problems, unfixed, were spinning out of control, that another disaster--bigger and deadlier--was inevitable. Nobody was listening. Having reported on business and the energy industry for nearly a decade, Abrahm Lustgarten uses interviews with key executives, former government investigators, and whistle-blowers along with his exclusive access to BP's internal documents and emails to weave a spellbinding investigative narrative of hubris and greed well before the gulf oil spill.

This book provides energy efficiency quantitative analysis and optimal methods for discrete manufacturing systems from the perspective of global optimization. In order to analyze and optimize energy efficiency for discrete manufacturing systems, it uses real-time access to energy consumption information and models of the energy consumption, and constructs an energy efficiency quantitative index system. Based on the rough set and analytic hierarchy process, it also proposes a principal component quantitative analysis and a combined energy efficiency quantitative analysis. In turn, the book addresses the design and development of quantitative analysis systems. To save energy consumption on the basis of energy efficiency analysis, it presents several optimal control strategies, including one for single-machine equipment, an integrated approach based on RWA-MOPSO, and one for production energy efficiency based on a teaching and learning optimal algorithm. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable guide for students, teachers, engineers and researchers in the field of discrete manufacturing systems.

Processes of change, stagnation and development in the countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council are analyzed in this book. The contributors show impact of oil revenues on population change and social development and on redefining the socio-economic role of the state. Oil could open venues for industrialization and development. However, lack of population policies, problems of human resources development, the rather slow change in gender relations and in political systems and heavy spending on militarization, it is argued, could impede development endeavour.

Oil and Nation places petroleum at the center of Bolivia's contentious twentieth-century history. Bolivia's oil, Cote argues, instigated the largest war in Latin America in the 1900s, provoked the first nationalization of a major foreign company by a Latin American state, and shaped both the course and the consequences of Bolivia's transformative National Revolution of 1952. Oil and natural gas continue to steer the country under the government of Evo Morales, who renationalized hydrocarbons in 2006 and has used revenues from the sector to reduce poverty and increase infrastructure development in South America's poorest country. The book advances chronologically from Bolivia's earliest petroleum pioneers in the nineteenth century until the present, inserting oil into historical debates about Bolivian ethnic, racial, and environmental issues, and within development strategies by different administrations. While Bolivia is best known for its tin mining, Oil and Nation makes the case that nationalist reformers viewed hydrocarbons and the state oil company as a way to modernize the country away from the tin monoculture and its powerful backers and toward an oil-powered future.

This book provides details on the innovations made to achieve sustainability in manufacturing. It highlights the trends of current progress in research and development being done to achieve overall sustainability in manufacturing technology. Green-EDM, Hybrid machining, MQL assisted machining, sustainable casting, welding, finishing and casting, energy- and resource-efficient manufacturing are some of the important topics discussed in this book.

This important book lays bare the dangers of global warming caused by carbon dioxide emissions stemming from fossil fuel use, and proposes pathways toward mitigation. A discussion of the current main uses of fossil fuels acts as a basis for presenting viable, economically sound alternatives. The author outlines a clear, practical strategy for establishing a carbon-free future by deploying proven policy structures and technologies that are already commercially available.

'Clear-eyed and illuminating.' Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor 'A rich, superbly researched, balanced history of the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.' General David Petraeus, former Commander U.S. Central Command and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency 'Destined to be the best single volume on the Kingdom.' Ambassador Chas Freeman, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Assistant Secretary of Defense 'Should be prescribed reading for a new generation of political leaders.' Sir Richard Dearlove, former Chief of H.M. Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Something extraordinary is happening in Saudi Arabia. A traditional, tribal society once known for its lack of tolerance is rapidly implementing significant economic and social reforms. An army of foreign consultants is rewriting the social contract, King Salman has cracked down hard on corruption, and his dynamic though inexperienced son, the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, is promoting a more tolerant Islam. But is all this a new vision for Saudi Arabia or merely a mirage likely to dissolve into Iranian-style revolution? David Rundell - one of America's foremost experts on Saudi Arabia - explains how the country has been stable for so long, why it is less so today, and what is most likely to happen in the future. The book is based on the author's close contacts and intimate knowledge of the country where he spent 15 years living and working as a diplomat. Vision or Mirage demystifies one of the most powerful, but least understood, states in the Middle East and is essential reading for anyone interested in the power dynamics and politics of the Arab World.

The Nigerian state has been oil-rich for decades, and yet perennially incapable of converting its oil resources into wealth for ordinary Nigerians. Adeoye O. Akinola tackles this "vexed" oil question by examining the political economy of efforts to deregulate the Nigerian downstream oil industry. Focusing on themes of globalization and democratization, this book considers how a resource-rich developing country like Nigeria can exploit the opportunities of globalization and navigate the pressures of democratization and the challenges of liberalization. Pairing sophisticated theoretical frameworks with firsthand accounts from actors in the oil industry, this book identifies the root causes of Nigeria's development struggles and offers practical policy solutions for successfully deregulating the oil sector. For public officials and policymakers as well as researchers, this book offers a critical new lens on the future of natural resource management in Nigeria and the Global South.

This book examines the implications for public law of the regulation of privatized utilities, asking how these institutions fit into our constitutional understanding regarding accountability, individual rights and territorial government. It argues that new approaches are needed if constitutional and regulatory principles are to accommodate one another. This is of particular interest in the context of recent constitutional reforms and the growing influence of European integration. After describing the institutions, their powers and duties, particular attention is paid to the position of consumers, the role of the European Community, territorial government and the place of individual rights. The book concludes by looking at price control, the coming of competitive markets for utility services and the future of the regulatory system in the light of convergence, multi-utilities and the government's planned reforms.

Competition in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity is of increasing interest to policy makers as well as to buyers and sellers of power. The use of competition as a social policy tool to benefit consumers carries the necessity of preserving competition when it is threatened by mergers or other structural changes. The work explains central principles of antitrust economics and applies them to mergers in the electric power industry. This work focuses on mergers, but the economic principles explained here will be useful in analyzing many important issues flowing from growth of competition in electric power. For example, proper definition of markets and analysis of market power will be useful in decisions on whether to continue regulation.

Before the energy crisis of the 1970s, electricity provision was a non-issue the world over, but the crisis of 1973 induced policymakers worldwide to consider private and restructured electricity provision as an alternative to unified, publicly and privately owned systems. Czamanski examines arguments and experiences concerning the divestitute of state-owned enterprises in a variety of political and technological contexts. He also considers restructuring under the Thatcher government in Great Britian, the reforms drafted by Czamanski in Israel, and restructuring in the United States as well as events in Norway, the Pacific Rim, Canada, and the developing countries. In addition, he considers the advantages and disadvantages of privatizing through theoretical discussion and by exploring experiences in various countries.

It is now almost twenty years since liberalisation and the introduction of competition was proposed for electricity utilities. Some form of restructuring has been widely adopted around the world to suit local objectives. The industry now faces new challenges associated with global warming, rising prices and escalating energy demand from developing countries like China and India. The industry will have to cope with; managing emissions; managing variable energy sources like wind, dev eloping clean coal technology; accommodating distributed generation and new nuclear stations and managing the impact of these developments on the distribution and transmission networks. It is now necessary to consider how the various market structures that were adopted have performed and how they will address some of these new issues and what further changes might be necessary.

This volume presents an all-inclusive analysis of the electricity market structures that have been adopted around the world and how they are performing. It provides an up-to-date analysis of the cost of competing technologies, the operation of energy and ancillary service markets and the impact of renewable sources and emission restrictions. It takes a forward look at likely future developments necessary to cope with the new emerging issues.

Part One introduces industry infrastructure, analysing state utilities, the motives behind liberalisation and the resulting structures.

Part Two considers generation costs, including renewable generation costs, and investigates the cost of restricting emissions as well as transmission and distribution costs.

Part Three discusses market operation, describing how costs affect the organisation of power generation. It covers trading arrangements, ancillary services, international trading and investment.

Part Four looks to future markets and technological developments that will shape the industry through the next twenty years. This includes the appraisal of investment opportunities for global power companies and implications for market performance.

Written by an internationally renowned consultant engineer, this book is full of expert insight and balances fundamental methodology and academic theory with practical information and diverse worked examples.

This is an excellent reference on the topic for power system engineers, regulators, banks, investors, and government energy agencies. With its many worked examples, it is also a brilliant tutorial accessible for postgraduates and senior undergraduates in electrical and power engineering.

This book provides a holistic, interdisciplinary overview of offshore wind energy, and is a must-read for advanced researchers. Topics, from the design and analysis of future turbines, to the decommissioning of wind farms, are covered. The scope of the work ranges from analytical, numerical and experimental advancements in structural and fluid mechanics, to novel developments in risk, safety & reliability engineering for offshore wind.The core objective of the current work is to make offshore wind energy more competitive, by improving the reliability, and operations and maintenance (O&M) strategies of wind turbines. The research was carried out under the auspices of the EU-funded project, MARE-WINT. The project provided a unique opportunity for a group of researchers to work closely together, undergo multidisciplinary doctoral training, and conduct research in the area of offshore wind energy generation. Contributions from expert, external authors are also included, and the complete work seeks to bridge the gap between research and a rapidly-evolving industry.

Providing critical insights that will interest readers ranging from economists to environmentalists, policymakers, and politicians, this book analyzes the economics and technology trends involved in the dilemma of decarbonization and addresses why aggressive policy is required in a capitalist political economy to create a sea change away from fossil fuels. The environmental damage across the globe is a result of the success of capitalist industrialism-250 years of carbon pollution resulting from consumption of fossil fuels to drive the economy and the worldwide aspiration to ever-increasing levels of economic development. But capitalism has also produced the tools to solve the problems it has created in the form of a technological revolution in low-carbon renewables, distributed resources, and intelligent systems to integrate supply and demand. This book comprehensively examines the political economy of electricity and analyzes the challenge of transforming today's electricity sector to meet the dual goals of decarbonization and development expressed in the Paris Agreement. Author Mark Cooper defines the dilemma of development and decarbonization as the great challenge facing the electricity industry and documents how the economic resources costs of a 100 percent-renewable portfolio has declined to the point that decarbonization can pay for itself, making the low-carbon renewable technologies that enable desired environmental and public-health benefits an easy sell. He identifies the substantial benefit of increasing use of information, communications, and advanced control technologies; shows how targeted innovation could speed the transition by a decade or two and lower the overall cost of the transition by as much as half; and explains why the flexible, multi-stakeholder approach of the Paris Agreement is the correct approach. Presents comprehensive and understandable reviews of more than 200 recent empirical studies of market imperfections in the energy efficiency and climate change literature, providing a basis for targeting policies at the most important causes of poor market performance Argues that aggressive action to induce change and overcome resistance, using targeted policies rather than broad-based taxes, is the strategy that will create movement towards a decarbonized economy and world Provides a logical decision-making framework and portfolio analysis that enables policymakers and regulators to choose, explain, and defend their decisions, objectively and transparently

Pyrolysis and Gasification of Biomass and Waste provides an authoritative review of thermal biomass conversion technologies and their implementation now and in the future. These proceedings include over 70 papers and case studies presented by leading experts from Europe and North America in Strasbourg in October 2002. Covering both technical issues and commercial opportunities, the papers include numerous diagrams, tables and figures presenting up-to-date details of how the latest pyrolysis and gasification technology is being put into practice. The meeting covered a wide range of raw materials and processes, addressing topics such as: small and large scale gasification; fast pyrolysis of biomass; liquefied wood fuel; full-scale application of sewage sludge pyrolysis; ammonia production and reduction; gasification of sorted MSW; green diesel; gas engines; gas cleaning and process design; technical and non-technical barriers to commercial exploitation. A key aim of the Strasbourg meeting was to create recommendations for strategies and policies in these areas, which the European Commission can use in its forward planning, especially with regard to sustainable energy supply, greenhouse gas mitigation and associated environmental issues. This book is an invaluable reference source for anyone concerned with these issues, and essential reading for researchers, engineers, waste managers and other professionals involved with the utilisation of green fuels and feedstocks, gasification and the contemporary biomass industry.

A thoroughly updated introduction to the current issues and challenges facing managers and administrators in the investor and publicly owned utility industry, this engaging volume addresses management concerns in five sectors of the utility industry: electric power, natural gas, water, wastewater systems and public transit. Beginning with a brief overview of the historical development of the industry, the author examines policy issues including the consequences of dealing with deteriorating infrastructure, an aging workforce, climate warming, funding for repair and replacement of facilities, and the demands for meeting the needs of a growing population. In addition to reviewing issues related to various management tasks, he includes chapters on physical and cyber threats and management ethics, liberally laced with real-life examples of utilities' dealings with these challenges. Many tables, figures and boxes expand on key points from the text. Accessible and comprehensive, this thoughtful exploration of the various issues facing administrators and operators in public utilities in the new century will prove a useful overview for students of business and economics, utility staff, and directors of local utility governing boards.

This book describes the concept and design of the capacitively-coupled chopper technique, which can be used in precision analog amplifiers. Readers will learn to design power-efficient amplifiers employing this technique, which can be powered by regular low supply voltage such as 2V and possibly having a +/-100V input common-mode voltage input. The authors provide both basic design concepts and detailed design examples, which cover the area of both operational and instrumentation amplifiers for multiple applications, particularly in power management and biomedical circuit designs.

Over the past six decades federal regulatory agencies have attempted different strategies to regulate the natural gas industry in the United States. All have been unsuccessful, resulting in nationwide gas shortages or massive gas surpluses and costing the nation scores of billions of dollars. In addition, partial deregulation has led the regulatory agency to become more involved in controlling individual transactions among gas producers, distributors, and consumers. In this important book, Paul MacAvoy demonstrates that no affected group has gained from these experiments in public control and that all participants would gain from complete deregulation. Although losses have declined with partial deregulation in recent years, current regulatory practices still limit the growth of supply through the transmission system. MacAvoy's history of the regulation of natural gas is a cautionary tale for other natural resource or network industries that are regulated or are about to be regulated.

While oil price fluctuations in the past can be explained by pure supply factors, this book argues that it is monetary policy that plays a significant role in setting global oil prices. It is a key factor often neglected in much of the earlier literature on the determinants of asset prices, including oil prices. However, this book presents a framework for modeling oil prices while incorporating monetary policy. It also provides a complete theoretical basis of the determinants of crude oil prices and the transmission channels of oil shocks to the economy. Moreover, using several up-to-date surveys and examples from the real world, this book gives insight into the empirical side of energy economics. The empirical studies offer explanations for the impact of monetary policy on crude oil prices in different periods including during the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008-2009, the impact of oil price variations on developed and emerging economies, the effectiveness of monetary policy in the Japanese economy incorporating energy prices, and the macroeconomic impacts of oil price movements in trade-linked cases. This must-know information on energy economics is presented in a reader-friendly format without being overloaded with excessive and complicated calculations. enUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>