Learning Resources for the 2008 Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science

"Fueling the Future: A Place for Coal?"
Harold Schobert, Penn State

Here are links to the learning resources that were reproduced and distributed at this lecture:

John Deutch and Ernest Moniz, The Future of Coal. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007. This report is the result of an interdisciplinary study conducted by MIT faculty. It is mainly focused on future uses of coal in electricity generation, and not on synthetic fuels. The entire report is accessible free, as a pdf at the web address noted.
http://web.mit.edu/coal/

Ken Berlin and Robert M. Sussman, Global Warming and the Future of Coal: Carbon Capture and Storage. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/05/coal_report.html
Published by the Center for American Progress.

Kurt Cobb, The Coal Question Revisited (Opinion). http://scitizen.com
Published by Scitizen.

These are some resources for those who would like to learn more about coal and its possible uses. The resources marked with a * are mainly intended for readers with upper-level undergraduate or professional backgrounds. The others are easily accessible to readers with little or no formal science education.

Norbert Berkowitz, An Introduction to Coal Technology. Academic Press, 1979 (reissued 1994). Although parts of this book pertaining to the synfuels technology of the 70s are quite dated, overall it remains easily the best available introductory text on coal and coal technology.

Carmen DiCiccio, Coal and Coke in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1996. A  history of the industry up to about 1945, with primary focus on western Pennsylvania. Abundant illustrations, period photographs, and historical data.

John Longwell et al., Coal: Energy for the Future, National Academy Press, 1995. A detailed report, in book format, of a National Research Council study on the then-current coal research, development, and demonstration program of the Department of Energy. The material on DoE is obsolete, but there is much useful technical information. An earlier volume, Fuels to Drive Our Future, focuses on synthetic liquid fuels.

* Ronald Probstein and Edwin Hicks, Synthetic Fuels, Dover, 2006. A text for upper-level engineering students that covers principles and technologies for synthetic fuels production from coal and other sources. A near-verbatim reprint of the original 1982 edition, some material on specific technologies may be somewhat dated, but still a very useful (and comparatively inexpensive) book.

* Harold Schobert, The Chemistry of Hydrocarbon Fuels, Butterworths, 1990. An upper-level undergraduate textbook treating the geological formation, composition and properties, and refining or conversion of coal, petroleum, and natural gas.

Harold Schobert, Coal: The Energy Source of the Past and Future, American Chemical Society, 1987. An introduction to the formation, composition, properties, and uses of coal intended for interested readers with little or no formal science education.

Harold Schobert, Energy and Society, Taylor and Francis, 2002. An introductory-level book on energy science and technology “101” presented through the history of technology. Assumes no prior science or math background.

* Dirk Van Krevelen, Coal: Typology–Physics–Chemistry–Constitution. Elsevier, 1993. The greatest book on coal science ever written, by the greatest coal scientist ever. Indispensable for professional readers, except for its being incredibly expensive.

"Global Warming and Our Future "
Richard Alley, Penn State

A report of Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Summary for Policymakers Is available from a link at <http://www.ipcc.ch/> or directly from the following link: http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-spm.pdf

"The Promise of Solar Energy"
John Golbeck, Penn State

Basic Research Needs for Solar Energy Utilization. U. S. Department of Energy Office of Science, 2005. This report is based on a BES Workshop on Solar Energy Utilization, April 18–21, 2005, to examine the challenges and opportunities for the development of solar energy as a competitive energy source and to identify the technical barriers to large-scale implementation of solar energy and the basic research directions showing promise to overcome them.
http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/reports/abstracts.html#SEU

Badrul H. Chowdhury, Alternative Energy — Hype or Real? IEEE-USA Today's Engineer Online, December 2006.
http://www.todaysengineer.org/2006/Dec/energy.asp

Craig Whitlock, Cloudy Germany a Powerhouse in Solar Energy. Washington Post, 5 May 2007.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402466.html

Small Steps, Big Energy Savings. Los Angeles Times, 26 November 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-efficiency26nov26,0,4833776.story

"Biofuels: Tapping Nature's Abundance"
Tom Richard, Penn State

Biofuels And the Bay: Getting It Right To Benefit Farms, Forests and the Chesapeake. The Chesapeake Bay Commission, September 2007.
http://www.chesbay.state.va.us/Publications/BiofuelsAndTheBay1.pdf

"The Renaissance of Nuclear Power: An Energy Source of the Future"
Jack Brenizer, Penn State

The following Web sites will be referenced in this lecture. You can use these sites to gather information about nuclear power and current and future plant designs, and to learn more about nuclear issues such as waste disposal and the licensing of new plants.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was created as an independent agency by Congress in 1974 to enable the nation to safely use radioactive materials for beneficial civilian purposes while ensuring that people and the environment are protected. The NRC regulates commercial nuclear power plants and other uses of nuclear materials, such as in nuclear medicine, through licensing, inspection, and enforcement of its requirements.

Department of Energy
The Department of Energy's overarching mission is to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States; to promote scientific and technological innovation in support of that mission; and to ensure the environmental cleanup of the nation's nuclear weapons sites.

Office of Nuclear Energy
The Office of Nuclear Energy’s mission is to support the nation’s diverse nuclear energy programs. The purpose of its Web site is to provide information on the office's goals and activities and also to provide useful information about nuclear energy.

Energy Information Administration
Created by Congress in 1977, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy. EIA’s mission is to provide policy-independent data, forecasts, and analyses to promote sound policy-making, efficient markets, and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment.

Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) is a program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) assigned to develop and manage a federal system for disposing of spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear reactors and high-level radioactive waste from nationaldefense activities. OCRWM was established in 1982 under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The OCRWM Program Director reports to the Secretary of Energy.

American Nuclear Society
The American Nuclear Society (ANS) is a not-for-profit, international, scientific, and educational organization. It was established by a group of individuals who recognized the need to unify the professional activities within the diverse fields of nuclear science and technology. December 11, 1954, marks the society's historic beginning at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. ANS has since developed a multifarious membership composed of approximately 11,000 engineers, scientists, administrators, and educators representing 1,600 plus corporations, educational institutions, and government agencies. It is governed by four officers and a board of directors elected by the membership.

European Nuclear Society (similar to the American Nuclear Society)