Renewable energy : power for a sustainabl e future / edited by Stephen Peake.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introducing renewable energy / Godfrey Boyle, Bob Everett and Gary Alexander -- Solar thermal energy / Bob Everett -- Solar photovoltaics / Godfrey Boyle -- Bioenergy / Dick Morris and Jonathan Scurlock -- Hydroelectricity / Janet Ramage -- Tidal power David Elliott -- Wind energy / Derek Taylor -- Wave energy / Les Druckers -- Geothermal energy / John Garnish and Geoff Brown -- Integrating renewable energy / Bob Everett and Godfrey Boyle -- Appendix A. Energy arithmetic : a quick reference -- Appendix B. Levelized costs of renewable energy.

The provision of sustainable energy supplies for an expanding and increasingly productive world is one of the major issues facing civilisation today. Renewable Energy examines both the practical and economic potential of the renewable energy sources to meet this challenge. The underlying physical and technological principles behind deriving power from direct solar (solar thermal and photovoltaics), indirect solar (biomass, hydro, wind and wave) and non-solar (tidal and geothermal) energy sources are explained, within the context of their environmental impacts, their economics and their future prospects. -- Publisher description.