Energy and Society ─ An Introduction

This second edition deals with the development of energy technology from the time of early humans through antiquity, medieval times, and the Industrial Revolution. The author addresses the development of nuclear energy, energy supply and demand, geopolitics of energy, and the various environmental issues associated with energy use in general. This revised edition offers simple updates, as well as completely rewritten material, regarding the last decade in areas including global climate change, oil prices, renewable and alternative fuels, and diversion of civil nuclear energy programs into nuclear weapons proliferation.

Harold Schobert is professor emeritus of fuel science at Penn State University (University Park, PA) and extraordinary professor of natural sciences in the Coal Research Section at North-West University (Potchefstroom, South Africa). Professor Schobert is the author of ten other books and about 140 papers. His work has been recognized by his election as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society. He has received the Henry H. Storch award for lifetime excellence in fuel chemistry, as well as awards from Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences for excellence in teaching and in research, and an award from the Golden Key Honor Society as Penn State’s outstanding faculty member.