文档介绍：Preface and Acknowledgements
to the Second Edition
In the roughly three years since the First Edition of this book appeared, the world has
e increasingly alarmed about the consequences of global climate change. The
debate over the causes of the documented warming of the has e
to an end. Attention is focused on collective actions that must be taken now to slow, or
reverse, the rising temperatures and to stabilize the situation as soon as possible.
So-called “greenhouse gases” such as carbon dioxide have been identified as the
main contributors to global warming. Since the dawn of the Industrial Age some two
hundred years ago, humans have been mining and converting carbon, in the form
of hydrocarbons stored for millions of years underground, into carbon dioxide. The
combustion of fossil fuels is largely responsible for the quality of life that many have
come to take for granted and which appears threatened.
Given the diversity of economies and cultures among the world’s countries, it may
be futile to hope for a coherent, comprehensive, and effective global energy policy.
Such a policy must begin by acknowledging the critical role of energy, particularly
electricity, in improving the standard of living for all peoples. It must then find ways
to minimize the environmental impact of converting energy resources to serve
a myriad of applications. As fossil fuels, especially petroleum, e scarcer, it
is likely that the world will rely more heavily on electricity for many daily needs,
including vehicular transportation. Thus, the use of renewable, non-polluting
sources of electric power will be in great demand.
Geothermal energy has been just such an environmentally-friendly supplier of
electricity for over 100 years. The First Edition of this book had several sections
devoted to the environmental effects of geothermal power generation, but lacked
a thorough, self-contained treatment of the subject. Chapter 19 of this edition