Energy Production and Management in the 21st Century: The Quest for Sustainable Energy

This two-volume set contains papers presented at the first International Conference on Energy Production and Management in the 21st Century: The Quest for Sustainable Energy, which was held at the Ural Federal University (UrFU) in Ekaterinburg, Russia. The meeting was organized by that Institution and the Wessex Institute of Technology of the New Forest, UK. UrFU, named after the first President of Russia B.N.Yeltsin, is one of the best research centers in Russia, providing education in the natural sciences, engineering, economics, social studies, arts and the humanities. The conference enjoyed the support of the Government of Sverdlovsk Region; the Minister of Energy and Housing, Dr N. Smirnov; the Rector of Ural Federal University, Professor V. Koksharov; First Vice-Rector, Professor A. Matern; Vice-Rector in Science, Professor V. Kruzhaev; Vice-Rector in Economic and Strategy Development and Director of the Graduate School of Economics and Management, Professor D. Sandler; the Director of Ural Energy Institute, Professor Yuri Brodov. In addition, the Sinara Group and the Ekaterinburg Electric Grid Company (Professor D.G. A. Semerikov) also contributed to the success of the Conference.

Modern society requires an ever-increasing amount of energy resources, which creates complex technological, economic and political challenges. The Conference was organized to facilitate the sharing of information on energy production and management in a changing world. The Conference participants compared conventional energy sources, particularly hydrocarbon, hydroelectric and nuclear, with a number of other ways of providing energy, emphasizing technological developments. In many cases, the challenge is the conversion of new sources of energy into useful forms and the development of efficient ways of storing and distributing energy.

Energy policies and management are of primary importance and need to be consistent with recent advances in energy production and distribution. Furthermore, recent advances in the exploitation of depleted fields in addition to shale oil and gas deposits have changed the whole picture and given rise to new possibilities.

Some of the papers in the books deal with the energy requirements of industrial processes, including the imbedded energy contents of materials, particularly those related to the built environment. Some of the papers address the substantial use of energy resources in transportation. It is important to reconsider the current emphasis on hydrocarbons as combustibles with an eye to replacing them with other sources of energy; preferably environmentally friendly ones.

The environmental risks of energy production, distribution and usage need to be addressed and better understood. They are part of energy economics and relate to human health as well as to environmental damage. In the medium term a wide range of energy sources are available, varying from nuclear and conventional hydrocarbons to those that rely on advances in renewable sources. There is a great need to investigate the various types and sources of energy and to optimize energy production, distribution and usage. Some of the papers published in this volume address these challenges and point out possible new directions. In the long term there is also a need to invest in new ways of converting solar power into energy that can be produced efficiently, is easy to store and can be distributed without major difficulties; either in its primary form or as a higher form of energy such as electricity.