It is aimed at an audience of scientists, engineers, economists, and energy planners interested in the evaluation and comparison of energy technologies. The handbook is written at a level accessible to understanding by engineers and other technical people not familiar with a specific technology. The economic data are sufficient for a preliminary comparison of different technologies potentially capable of meeting the same end use. In addition to covering conventional energy sources such as coal, petroleum, natural gas, peat, and nuclear fission, also less-developed nonrenewable technologies such as oil shale, synfuels from coal and oil sands are treated. To me it was particularly gratifying, however, that the editor has also included renewable technologies such as solar thermal energy, wind energy, ocean thermal energy, and geothermal power technology, as well as fusion power.Upon reading a compendium of articles written by experts, one should ask whether or not the coverage is complete and up to date and contains sufficient breadth. There is no question that the coverage of topics is complete and will serve as an introduction to all the major energy conversion technologies known today. In my view it would have been desirable to include a chapter on thermodynamics for those not familiar with the topic. The method of presentation implicitly approaches the question of how to achieve specific energy enduse requirements from the perspective of the first law of thermodynamics, and nowhere in the book is the topic of energy availability or exergy covered. The current trend, especially in Europe, is to approach energy planning from the perspective of exergy rather than energy, and a good deal of interest has recently also been focused in the United States on this approach.Modern economists and technologists of energy, such as Professor R. A. Gaggioli, have shown that the second law cost accounting method, called thermo-economics, is a valuable tool for optimizing the development design and utilization of more efficient plants and energy facilities. J. W. Gibbs and J. C. Maxwell gave form to the concept of available energy more than a hundred years ago, but efforts towards acceptance and practical use of this concept in this country have only met with limited acceptance. It would therefore have been important and helpful for a handbook dealing with all energy sources to provide some information on the methodology and power of the exergy perspective.The book contains excellent line drawings to illustrate various technologies, and there are also schematic diagrams as well as photographs of the current energy technologies from all over the world. The handbook strives to present its information in units accessible to the large variety of potential readers. Unfortunately, in some instances, the multitude of
