Contents -- List of Tables and Figures -- Preface -- 1 Are We on Easter Island? -- Easter Island -- The Mathematics of Extinction -- Progress Is Our Most Important Product -- The Unremitting Rise in Population -- The Case of Double Exponential Growth -- A Lesson in Fish -- From Hunting to Farming -- Energy Depletion -- Notes -- 2 Electricity and the Utility Industry -- It Takes Energy to Make Energy -- Energy for Electricity Generation -- Enhancing Efficiency in Electricity Generation -- Early History of Electricity -- Generating Electricity -- Generating Electricity Commercially -- System Operation -- Methods of Rate Regulation -- Operating Models in an Era of Deregulation/Liberalization -- Utility Pools -- When Demand Exceeds Supply -- The Real Lesson of California -- Notes -- 3 Biomass -- Yesterday 's Fuel -- Today 's Fuel -- Biomass as a Motor Vehicle Fuel -- Biomass for Electricity Generation -- Biogas -- Tomorrow 's Fuel -- Notes -- 4 Coal -- The First Energy Crisis -- The Origin and History of Coal -- Coal and the Industrial Revolution -- Coal and Railroads -- Coal and Steel -- The Rise and Fall of King Coal -- Types of Coal -- Coal Mining -- Coal in the Twenty-first Century -- The Role of Coal Among the Major Consumers -- The Case Against Coal -- Clean-Coal Technologies -- Eliminating Coal Not So Easy -- Notes -- 5 The Story of Big Oil -- History of Lighting -- History of Oil -- Oil and Diplomacy -- Oil and Environmentalists -- The Role of Oil Companies After the Oil Crisis -- Notes -- 6 Oil -- The Earth as an Oil Manufacturer -- Formation of Oil -- Oil Exploration -- Getting the Oil to a Refinery -- Oil Reserves -- Synthetic Crude -- Challenge of Oil:The Automobile -- Internalizing an Externality -- 7 Natural Gas -- Background -- Early History of Coal Gas -- History of Natural Gas -- From Source to Consumer -- Natural Gas as a Fuel.

The European Version of Deregulation -- LPG:Prelude to LNG -- Liquefied Natural Gas -- Gas to Liquids (GTL)Technology -- Notes -- 8 Nuclear and Hydropower -- Background -- What Does a 1,000-Megawatt Plant Mean? -- Physics of a Nuclear Reactor -- Nuclear Incidents and Accidents -- Commercial Reactors -- Fusion Power -- Future of Nuclear Power -- Hydropower -- Notes -- 9 Sustainable Energy -- The Meaning of Sustainability -- Geothermal Energy -- Wind Energy -- Solar Energy -- Ocean Energy -- Sustainable Energy and Economic Development -- A Sustainable Energy Action Plan -- Notes -- 10 Looking Toward the Future -- The Hydrogen Economy -- Climate -- Carbon Dioxide Conundrum -- Projecting the Future -- The Environment -- Efficiency and Conservation -- Notes -- 11 An Energy Strategy -- Oil -- Pollution -- We Need Time -- Notes -- Index -- About the Author.