Cunningham et al. Environmental Science: A Global Concern 11e
Further readings for Chapter 19 (conventional energy)
Aldhous, Peter. 2005. “Energy: China’s burning ambition.” Nature 435: 1152-1154. The economic miracle that is transforming the world's most populous nation is threatened by energy shortages and rising pollution.
Aleklett, Kjell. 2006. “Oil: A Bumpy Road Ahead.” Worldwatch 19 (1): 10-12. Growing demands and declining oil discoveries tell us that we need to be serious about our energy policy.
Amin, Massoud and Phillip Schewe. 2007. “Preventing Blackouts.” Scientific American 296 (5): 60-67. Smart power grids could automatically respond to problems and reduce the rising number of blackouts.
Ashley, Steven. 2001. “A low-Pollution Engine.” Scientific American 285 (6): 90-95. The homogeneous-charge compression-ignition engine (essentially a sophisticated diesel) may offer the best option for meeting exhaust emission standards.
Ballis, R., et al. 2005. ““Mortality and Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Biomass and Petroleum Energy Futures in Africa.” Science 308: 98-103. Burning charcoal rather than firewood could save millions of deaths in Africa, but kerosene would give off even less air pollution, given the primitive stoves now in use.
Banerjee, Subhankar. 2003. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land. Mountaineers Books. A book of beautiful photographs suppressed by powerful interests intent on drilling for oil in this remote wilderness area.
Bent, Robert, et al. 2002. Energy: Science, Policy, and the Pursuit of Sustainability. Island Press. A primer on energy, environment and society.
Bosmann, A. et al. 2001. Deep desulfurization of diesel fuel by extraction with ionic liquids. Chemical Communications 2001: 2494 – 1495. 'Ionic liquids' - salts that melt at temperatures below about 100 oC – can be used to clean sulfur compounds from diesel fuel without giving off noxious fumes.
Bourne, J. K. 2007. “Green Dreams: Making fuel from crops could be god for the planet—after a breakthrough or two.” National Geographic 12 (4): 38-59 A good summary of the options for biofuels.
Bradsher, Keith 2002. High and Mighty: SUVs: The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way. Public Affairs Pub. Claims that “SUVs represent the biggest menace to public safety and the environment that the auto industry has produced since the bad old days of the 1960s.”
Burwell, Hope. 2004. “Jeremiad for Belarus.” Orion 23 (2): 26-35. Belarus was much more heavily contaminated than Ukraine by the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Thousands of hectares of Belarus remain closed to human habitation, but people live there anyway.
Byrne, John and Steve Hoffman, eds. 1995. Governing the Atom: The Politics of Risk Energy Policy Studies, Volume 7. Transaction Publishers.
Campbell, C. J. 1997. The Coming Oil Crisis. Petroconsultants SA. An interdisciplinary look at crude oil supplies.
Campbell, C.J. 1998. “The End of Cheap Oil.” Scientific American 278 (3): 78-83. So far, oil production has kept up with rising demand.
Canine, Craig. 2004. “Our Lady of the Grid.” OnEarth 26 (2): 12-19. The manager of electrical transmission for the Bonneville Power Administration suggests non-grid solutions for increasing demand.
Cavaney Red. 2006. “Global Oil Production About To Peak? A Recurring Myth.” Worldwatch 19 (1): 13-15. The President of a industry trade group says we aren’t going to run out of oil anytime soon.
Chow, J. R., et al. 2003. “Energy resources and global development.” Science 302: 1528-1531. Part of a special issue on the state of the planet.
Chusid, O. et al. 2003 “Solid-state rechargeable magnesium batteries.” Advanced Materials 15: 627 - 630, (2003). Magnesium makes rechargeable batteries cheaper, lighter and greener.
Corcoran, E. 1991. "Cleaning Up Coal," Scientific American 264 (5): 106-116. Novel market-based approaches to reducing air pollution from coal combustion are described.
Deffeyes, Kenneth S. 2001. Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage. Princeton Univ. Press. Predicts an end to inexpensive oil.
Dowie, Mark. 2009 “Nuclear Caribou: On the front lines of the new uranium rush with the Inuit of Nunavut. Orion 28 (1): 20-29. Canada’s autonomous Nunavut region has large deposits of uranium. With the rejuvenation of atomic power, that uranium is now highly valuable. When they didn’t get any benefit from mining, the Inuit people were opposed to uranium development; now that they stand to profit, some think it might not be so bad.
Dunn, Seth. 2001. “Decarbonizing the energy economy.” State of the World 2001. p 83-102. How can we shift to renewable energy?
Dunn, Seth. 1999. "King Coal's Weakening Grip on Power," Worldwatch 12 (5): 10-19. The fuel that ushered in the Industrial Revolution may be on the way out.
Easthouse, Keith. 2001. “A Sanctuary Threatened.” Forest (May/June 2001): 18-28. A plea to save the Arctic national Wildlife Refuge.
Finkelman, R. B. et al. 1999. “Health impacts of domestic coal use in China.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA 1999 March 30: 96( 7): 3427-3431. Peppers dried over arsenic-contaminated coal can have up to 500 ppm arsenic, 50,000 times the level considered safe.
Ford, D. 1983. Three Mile Island: Thirty Minutes to Meltdown. Penguin Books. A description of the worst nuclear power accident in the United States and how it happened.
Fox, William F. 2003. “Radioactive Roadtrip.” Orion January/February 2003: 32-38. A tour of cratered landscape of Yucca Flat and the Nevada Test Site.
Freeze, Barbara. 2003. Coal: A Human History. Perseus Pubs. A fascinating look at how coal has changed human life for better and for worse.
Fulkerson, W., et al. 1990. "Energy from Fossil Fuels," Scientific American 263 (3): 128-138. One of a series of articles in a special issue on energy. Also reprinted in book form. See Davis, G. R., above.
George, Richard L. 1989. “Mining for Oil” Scientific American 278 (3): 84-85. Tar sands and oil shales in Canada contain more petroleum than Saudi Arabia’s reserves. Can they be mined safely?
Gibbs, W. Wayt. 2001. “The Arctic Oil & Wildlife Refuge.” Scientific American 284 (5): 62-69. An optimistic presentation of both the chances for finding significant oil under the Wildlife Refuge and of getting it out without unacceptable environmental damage.
Golay, M. W., and N. E. Todreas. 1989. "Advanced Light-Water Reactors," Scientific American 262 (4): 82-90. Discusses passive safety features that could make nuclear energy safer and more attractive.
Goldemberg, Jose¢. 1996. Energy, Environment, and Development. Island Press. An overview of international energy issues.
Goldemberg, Jose, et al (eds). 2000. World Energy Assessment. United Nations Development Program and World Energy Council. Packed with data and references on both traditional and renewable energy supplies and consequences of use.
Goodell, Jeff 2006. Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future. Houghton Mifflin. A scathing critique of the coal industry and it’s environmental and human costs.
Goodstein, David. 2004. Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil. W.W. Norton. Traces our use of oil and what dwindling supplies may mean for future generations.
Handler, Marisa. 2005. “The New Amazon.” Orion 24 (1): 52-63. Ecuadorian natives protest oil pollution and degradation of traditional lands.
Heinberg, Richard. 2004. Powerdown : Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World. New Society Publishers. Details risks and presents options for an oil-depleted world.
Heinberg, Richard. 2003. “The end of the oil age.” Earth Island 18 (3): 24-29. Predicts that global oil production is peaking.
Heinberg, Richard. 2003. The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies. New Society Publishers. Predicts famine, disease, economic collapse, despotism, and resource wars if we don’t reduce our dependence on oil.
Hoffmann, Peter. 2001. Tomorrow’s Energy. MIT Press. The history and uses of hydrogen as a fuel.
Hollister, Charles D. and Steven Nadis. 1998. “Burial of Radioactive Waste under the Seabed.” Scientific American 287 (1): 60-65. Argues that deep sea burial of radioactive waste might be the best method of disposal.
Holmes, Bob and Nicola Jones. 2003. “Brace yourself for the end of cheap oil.” New Scientist, August 2, 2003 p 9-11. What will we do when cheap oil is gone?
H'tele, W. 1990. "Energy from Nuclear Power," Scientific American 263 (3): 136-142. A rosy picture of nuclear power, but a useful description of how it works.
Kane, Hal. 2002. “Who Speaks for Siberia?” Worldwatch 15 (2): 14-23. A chilling account of the environmental and social effects of oil drilling and mineral exploitation in this remote region.
Kaufmann, Robert K. 2006. “Planning for the Peak in World Oil Production.” Worldwatch 19 (1): 19-21. The author claims that Hubbert was right. We’re going to run out of oil.
Kats, G. 1992. "The Earth Summit: Opportunity for Energy Reform," Energy Policy 20 (6): 547-551. The 1992 Earth Summit was an opportune time to reform energy policy. What happened?
Kenney, J. F., Kutchenov, V.A., Bendeliani, N. A. & Alekseev, V. A. 2002. “The evolution of multicomponent systems at high pressures: VI. The thermodynamic stability of the hydrogen-carbon system, the genesis of hydrocarbons, and the origin of petroleum.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.172376899 (published online August 2002). Claims that fossil fuels didn’t come from plants or animals but rather from inorganic sources.
Klare, Michael T. 2004. Blood and Oil : The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Petroleum Dependency. Metropolitan Books. With no meaningful energy conservation being attempted in the U.S., Klare predicts an increasing dependence on imported oil from unstable and dangerous parts of the world, a greater risk of anti-American violence, and worsening balance of payments with foreign governments.
Koppel, Tom. 1999. Powering the Future: The Ballard Fuel Cell and the Race to Change the World. John Wiley & Sons. The story of fuel cell development.
Kovalchuk, O., Dubrova, Y. E., Arkhipov, A., Hohn, B. & Kovalchuk, I. 2002. “Wheat DNA mutation rate after Chernobyl”. Nature 407, 583 - 584 (2000). Fourteen years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, crops grown in contaminated land surrounding the former power station show a mutation rate six times higher than normal. Similar but controversial results have previously been seen in humans and rats.
LaDuke, Winona. 2002. “The Salt Woman and the Coal Mine.” Sierra 87 (6): 44—47, 73. A salt lake sacred to the Zuni people is threatened by a coal mine.
LaForge, John M. 1997. “Chernobyl: A Global Tragedy,” Earth Island Journal 12 (3): 28-29. Do understated media reports keep the nuclear industry alive?
Lake, James A., et al. 2002. “Next-Generation Nuclear Power,” Scientific American 286 (1): 72-81. Proponents argue that advanced nuclear power plants might be the best way to meet future energy needs without worsening global warming.
Larminie, James and Andrew Dicks. 2000. Fuel Cell Systems Explained. John Wiley & Sons. A guide to fuel cell chemistry.
Lay, Jennie. 2005. “Congress bets on oil shale.” High Country News 37 (23): 8—9. High oil prices stimulate a new rush for oil shale.
Lentfer, Hank and Carolyn Servid (eds.) 2001. Arctic Refuge A Circle of Testimony Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Press. A compilation of essays by leading environmental authors about the dangers of oil-drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Available at http://www.worldashome.org/.
Lenssen, N. 1993. “Providing energy in developing countries,” in State of the World 1993. Reviews options for power in developing countries.
Lester, R. K. 1986. "Rethinking Nuclear Power," Scientific American 254 (3): 31-39. A good description of how low-power, centrally fabricated nuclear reactors could be designed for inherent safety.
Liu, Jie, et al. 2002. “Chronic Arsenic Poisoning from Burning High-Arsenic-Containing Coal in Guizhou, China.” Environmental Health Perspectives 110 ( 2): 119-123, February 2002. Burning coal containing high arsenic levels in open firepits and unvented stoves exposes residents of Guizhou, provence to dangerous metal levels, especially in food.
Lovins, Amory B. et al. 2004. Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profits, Jobs, and Security. Rocky Mountain Institute. Offers a strategy for ending oil dependence, starting with the United States but applicable worldwide.
Lovins, Amory. 1977. Soft Energy Paths: Toward a Durable Peace. Friends of the Earth International. An enormously influential book about renewable energy.
McCafferty, N. 1996. “Life after Chernobyl,” Audubon 98 (3): 66-75. A sad picture of the aftermath of a nuclear disaster.
McGrath, Susan. 2001. “The last great wilderness.” Audubon 103 (5): 52-65. First in a series of articles on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and why it should be left alone.
Miller, Debbie S. 2001. “Ground Zero.” The Amicus Journal 23 (2): 29-34. The Bush administration says that oil drilling in ANWR won’t hurt wildlife. This report describes conditions in the Alpine field where drilling has already occurred.
Misana, Salome and Gail V. Karlsson (eds). 2001. Generating Opportunities: Case Studies on Energy and Women. United Nations Development Program. Describes the role of energy in women’s lives.
Motavalli, Jim. 1997. “Power Struggle,” E Magazine 8 (6): 32-33. Will utility deregulation unplug dirty fossil fuel and nuclear power plants?
Nellemann, C. and R. D. Cameron. 1998. “Cumulative impacts of an evolving oil-field complex on the distribution of calving caribous.” Canadian Journal of Zoology 76: 1425-1430. Industrial development disturbs wildlife.
Nixon, W. 1999. "Back to the Future: Can Modern Science Make a Car as Green as Fred Flintstone's?" Amicus Journal 21 (3): 17-22. A survey of new proposals for clean automobiles.
Orr, Robert and Bent Lloyd. 2002. Energy: Science Policy and the Pursuit of Sustainability. Island Press. A comprehensive overview of on energy, society, and the environment.
Ohtsuki, T., et al. 2004. “Enhanced Electron-Capture Decay Rate of 7Be Encapsulated in C60 Cages.” Physical Review Letters 93 (112501) doi 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.112501. Buckminsterfullerenes increase the speed of radioactive decay about 1%. Could this be useful in disposal of radioactive wastes?
Ott, Riki. 2004. Sound Truth and Corporate Myth: The Legacy of the EXXON Valdez Oil Spill. Dragonfly Sisters Press. A scathing account of the causes and effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Pollack, C. 1986. "Decommissioning: Nuclear Power's Missing Link," Worldwatch Paper 69. Worldwatch Institute. An good discussion of disposal of old nuclear power plants.
Pope, Carl. 2004. “The Harrison Ford Solution.” Sierra 89 (2): 10-11. In the event of a fire at a nuclear plant, a heroic technician will be designated to run through the flames and operate safety equipment by hand.