This book raises awareness about environmental issues that result from energy production, extraction and conversion, and examines the attitudes people have about these issues. It discusses societal and educational relations associated with energy and environmental issues, focusing on philosophical, sociological and psychological views, and provides an analysis of how the individual and the society perceive, process and analyze the information on this subject. The authors present the concept of environmentally conscious engineering, discussing various forms of energy extraction and production, and detail alternative, under-researched and unaffordable solutions, such as nuclear fusion and artificial photosynthesis. The book also touches on topics such as the storage of energy and greenhouse gases, recycling and reuse of energy waste, and energy saving and efficiency. The book will be of interest to students and researchers of environmentally conscious engineering, energy use, and human dimensions of ecology and the environment, as well as NGOs, policy makers, and environmental activists.
Author(s): Boris Aberšek, Andrej Flogie
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 252
City: Cham
Abstracts
Book Review by Matej Vesenjak
Book Review by Stanislav Avsec
Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: A Philosophical View
1 What Is True and What Isn´t?
2 Science and Reasoning
2.1 Scientific Thought
2.2 Argumentation
2.3 Scientific Explanation
2.3.1 Carl Hempel: Covering-Law Explanation Model
2.3.2 Example: Reality-Space-Time
3 How Do We Know, How Do We Believe?
4 Cognitive Biases Today
4.1 Information Overload
4.2 Social Herding
4.3 Echo Chambers
4.4 Rise of the Bots
4.5 Curbing Online Manipulation
5 Scientific and Pseudoscientific Argumentation
6 Knowledge Is Power: Science, Technology, and Engineering Literacy
7 Technology and Engineering Literacy
7.1 Areas of Technology and Engineering Literacy
7.1.1 Technology and Society
7.1.2 Design and Systems
7.1.3 Information and Communication
7.1.4 Understanding Technological Principles
7.1.5 Developing Solutions and Achieving Goals
7.1.6 Communicating and Collaborating
8 Philosophy of Mind
8.1 An Epistemological Outline
9 Recent Philosophical Views on Philosophy of Mind
10 Ethics and Technological Development
10.1 Morality, Machines, and Education
11 Cognitive Science
11.1 Cognitive Learning Theory
12 Cognitive Learning
12.1 What Is Learning?
12.2 What Is Upbringing?
12.3 Basic Forms of Learning for the Acquisition of Cognitive and Social Competence
12.4 The Impact of Learning on Social Competence and Emotional Intelligence
13 Naturalism
13.1 Naturalization of Consciousness in Philosophy
14 Developing Social Competence and Critical Thinking
15 The Underlying Problem: The Environmental System
16 Conclusion
Chapter 3: Environmental Costs Hierarchy
1 Ecological Footprint
2 The Human Population and Human Awareness
3 Construal Level Theory and the Theory of Chaos
4 A Historical Understanding of How Science Works
5 What Can (Must) We Do?
6 Conclusion
Chapter 4: Social Relations
1 From the Sociological to the Anthropological Level
1.1 Human as a Social Being
1.2 Where We Are Now
2 Taxonomies and Learning
2.1 Bloom´s Taxonomy
2.2 What Is Bloom´s Taxonomy?
2.3 Revised Bloom´s Taxonomy
2.4 Terminology Changes
2.5 Structural Changes
2.6 Changes in Emphasis
2.7 Why Use Bloom´s Taxonomy?
2.8 How to Use Bloom´s Taxonomy?
2.9 Bloom´s Taxonomy for Affective Domain
3 Emotional Intelligence
4 Solipsism and the Problem of Other Minds
5 Decision-Making, Incomplete Knowledge, and Uncertainty
5.1 Understanding Risk
5.2 Thinking of the Unthinkable
5.3 Lesson 1
5.4 Lesson 2
5.5 More than Science
5.6 When Decisions Matter Most
6 Conclusion
Chapter 5: Energies and Energetics
1 Basic Forms of Energy
2 Accumulated Energy
3 Energy Sources
4 Transition Energies
5 Power
6 Primary Forms
7 Useful Forms of Energy
8 Limitations in Energy Conversion
9 Energies and Energy Sources
10 Energy Content of Some Fuels
11 Energy and Electricity Mix
12 Where Does Our Electricity Come from?
13 How Much of Our Electricity Comes from Low-Carbon Sources?
14 Energy Consumption and Sustainable Development
15 Sustainable Development
16 Conclusion
Chapter 6: Green Solutions
1 Rational Use of Energy
1.1 Incinerating Precious Raw Materials
1.2 Threats to the Environment
1.3 Excessive Emissions of Nonpoisonous Gases Are Also Dangerous
1.3.1 Saving Energy at the Level of the Individual
2 Back to the Future: Possible Green Solutions
3 Low-Carbon Solutions
3.1 Nuclear Fission
3.2 Types of Nuclear Fission Power Plants Today
3.2.1 Generation IV Reactor Concepts
4 Nuclear Fusion
5 Fusion Energy
5.1 Cold Fusion
5.2 From Utopia to the Physical Basics of Fusion
5.2.1 Plasma Pressure Confinement
5.2.2 Magnetic Confinement Fusion Systems
5.2.3 Technological Issues in Building Tokamak Fusion Reactors
5.2.4 Safety Aspects of a Nuclear Fusion Reactor
5.2.5 Magnetic Mirror Plasma Confinement
6 Fusion Research of Inertial Plasma
6.1 Fusion Research in the Field of Magnetic Plasma Confinement
7 ITER: International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
7.1 Technical Objectives of ITER
7.1.1 Model Reactor and Costs
7.1.2 The Safety Aspect
7.1.3 A Vision of Fusion Energy: A Continuation of the ITER Project
7.1.4 The Situation Today: 2020
7.2 Other Low-Carbon Nonsustainable Solutions
7.2.1 Natural Gas vs. Low Carbon
7.3 Low-Carbon Gas vs. Zero-Carbon Gas
7.4 Hydrogen Instead of Methane
7.4.1 Fuel Cells
The Physical Background
Historical Overview
7.4.2 The Principle of Operation of a Fuel Cell
7.4.3 Fuel Cell Elements
Electrodes
Catalysts
Electrolytes
Fuels
Oxidants
7.4.4 Fuel Cell Efficiency
Thermodynamic Efficiency
Voltage Efficiency
Faradaic Efficiency
7.4.5 Types of Fuel Cells and Potential Use
7.4.6 Research and Applications
7.5 End of the Pipe
7.6 Photosynthesis
7.6.1 Brief Historical Overview
7.6.2 Various Contemporary Visions of Energy Use (Reuse)
7.6.3 Carbon Capture and Storage
7.6.4 Energy Reuse
Waste Heat Recovery
8 Conclusion
Chapter 7: A View to the Future and Human Awareness
1 Problem 1: The Green Deal and Nuclear Power
1.1 Critics: Do We Need Nuclear Power to Meet the Challenge of Climate Change?
1.2 Nuclear Fission
1.3 Green Peace Perspectives - Nuclear Power and CO2
1.4 Generation IV Nuclear Reactors
1.5 Reality
1.6 Background
1.7 Generation IV and the Nuclear Industry_Contra
1.8 Eight Claims and Eight Nuclear Daydreams
2 First Goal - Generation IV and Sustainability
3 Second Goal - Generation IV and Nuclear Waste
4 Problem 2: Transportation and Energy
4.1 Transport Emission and Environment
4.2 How Do Emissions Vary?
4.3 Can Driving Be Better Than Flying?
4.4 What About Travelling by Boat?
4.5 The Transport Energy Sources
4.5.1 Transportation and Oil Use
4.6 Modal Variations and the Environment
4.6.1 Road Transportation
4.6.2 Air Transport/Transportation
4.7 The Impact of Air Transportation on Climate Change
4.7.1 Evolution
4.7.2 Climate Aviation Facts
4.7.3 Rail Transport
4.7.4 Maritime Transport/Transportation
5 Transportation and the Environmental System
5.1 Environmental Costs Hierarchy for Transportation
5.2 The Transport - Environment Link
5.3 Environmental Dimensions
6 Climate Change
6.1 Transportation, Sustainability, and Decarbonization
6.1.1 Sustainable Transportation
6.1.2 Mitigation - Vehicle Efficiency
6.1.3 Adaptation - CAFE Standards
7 Push for Decarbonization
8 Health and GHM and Other Non-GHG Damages
8.1 Overall Implications of the Results
8.2 Environmental Commitment
9 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
10 The Kyoto Protocol
10.1 The Paris Agreement
10.2 The Role of the EU in Drawing Up the Paris Agreement
11 The Long-Term Goal - The Green Deal
11.1 Clean Energy Transitions
12 ``Blah, Blah, Blah´´
13 Conclusion
Chapter 8: Conclusion
Index
