Future Energy

Professor Trevor Letcher is an Emeritus Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and living in the United Kingdom. He was previously Professor of Chemistry, and Head of Department, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Rhodes University, and Natal, in South Africa (1969-2004). He has published over 300 papers on areas such as chemical thermodynamic and waste from landfill in peer reviewed journals, and 100 papers in popular science and education journals. Prof. Letcher has edited and/or written 32 major books, of which 22 were published by Elsevier, on topics ranging from future energy, climate change, storing energy, waste, tyre waste and recycling, wind energy, solar energy, managing global warming, plastic waste, renewable energy, and environmental disasters. He has been awarded gold medals by the South African Institute of Chemistry and the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics honoured him with a Festschrift in 2018. He is a life member of both the Royal Society of Chemistry (London) and the South African Institute of Chemistry. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, and is a Director of the Board of the International Association of Chemical Thermodynamics since 2002.

• Chapter 1 Introduction with a Focus on Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Climate ChangeChapter 2 Conventional Oil and GasChapter 3 Coal Extraction and use in Power GenerationChapter 4 Frontier Oil and Gas: Deepwater, ArcticChapter 5 Unconventional Oil and Gas: OilsandsChapter 6 Unconventional Oil and Gas: Oil Shales and FrackingChapter 7 Coal-bed MethaneChapter 8 Methane HydratesChapter 9 Nuclear Fission and the new Thorium processChapter 10 Nuclear FusionChapter 11 Transport Fuel: Ethanol and BiofuelsChapter 12 Transport Fuel: Biomass-, Coal-, Gas- and Waste-to-Liquids ProcessesChapter 13 Transport Fuel: LNG and MethaneChapter 14 Transport Energy – BatteriesChapter 15 Wind EnergyChapter 16 Tidal EnergyChapter 17 Wave EnergyChapter 18 Solar  Energy – PhotovoltaicsChapter 19 Solar Energy – Concentrated Solar Thermal PowerChapter 20 Solar Energy – Water HeatingChapter 21 Hydro-Electric PowerChapter 22 Geothermal EnergyChapter 23 Hydrogen: An Energy CarrierChapter 24 Fuel Cells: Energy Conversion TechnologyChapter 25 Environmental Impacts of Energy Production, Distribution and TransportChapter 26 CO2 Capture and Sequestration (CCS)Chapter 27 Energy Storage (Hydrogen storage, pumping water, phase changes, etc.)Chapter 28 Energy Efficiency, Conservation, Energy Saving Devices, and the Smart GridChapter 29 Energy Resources in Developing NationsChapter 30 The Transition to Future EnergyChapter 31 Energy Options and Predictions for China