Electricity from Renewable Resources: Status, Prospects, and Impediments
English
By (author): America's Energy Future Panel on Electricity from Renewable Resources National Academy of Engineering National Academy of Sciences National Research Council
A component in the America's Energy Future study, Electricity from Renewable Resources examines the technical potential for electric power generation with alternative sources such as wind, solar-photovoltaic, geothermal, solar-thermal, hydroelectric, and other renewable sources. The book focuses on those renewable sources that show the most promise for initial commercial deployment within 10 years and will lead to a substantial impact on the U.S. energy system.
A quantitative characterization of technologies, this book lays out expectations of costs, performance, and impacts, as well as barriers and research and development needs. In addition to a principal focus on renewable energy technologies for power generation, the book addresses the challenges of incorporating such technologies into the power grid, as well as potential improvements in the national electricity grid that could enable better and more extensive utilization of wind, solar-thermal, solar photovoltaics, and other renewable technologies.
- Front Matter
- Summary
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Resource Base
- 3 Renewable Electricity Generation Technologies
- 4 Economics of Renewable Electricity
- 5 Environmental Impacts of Renewable Electricity Generation
- 6 Deployment of Renewable Electric Energy
- 7 Scenarios
- Appendixes
- Appendix A: America's Energy Future Project
- Appendix B: Panel Biographical Information
- Appendix C: Presentations to the Panel
- Appendix D: Description of State Renewables Portfolio Standards
- Appendix E: Attributes of Life-Cycle Assessment
- Appendix F: Atmospheric Emissions from Fossil-Fuel and Nuclear Electricity Generation