GG/EE 518: Energy, Society, and the Environment
2004 Cutler J. Clevleand
Instructor: Cutler J. Cleveland
Director, Center for Energy and Environmental Studies
Professor, Department of Geography
Fellow,
Office: STO 141; Office Hours: TBA
p 617.353.3083
f 617.353.5986
i http://www.bu.edu/cees/people/faculty/cutler/index.html
A note about email: I respond to all email I get from my students. However, please reserve email for issues and questions that require a relatively quick and concise response. Multi-question and complicated inquires should be done in person.
Web Site: http://courseinfo.bu.edu/courses/04sprgcasee518_a1/
This course is designed to provide you with the methods, tools and perspectives to understand, critique, and ultimately influence the management of technical, economic, and policy choices regarding the options for energy generation and use. We will focus equally on the technical, economic, political, and environmental impacts of energy. Understanding energy systems requires an interdisciplinary approach that embodies the scientific, technical, economic, social, political and environmental opportunities and impacts of our energy system. Thus, thus course will be a highly interdisciplinary experience, combining analytic tools, social, economic, historical and policy analysis from a variety of disciplines. Over the semester we will take a roughly chronological tour of the major fuel types used in human civilization. From there we will begin a broad-ranging analysis of the energy resource, combustion or conversion processes, waste, economic, social, political, cultural and environmental impacts and options associated with these fuels and with the changing mix of fuels used within and across societies around the globe.
You should purchase a packet of readings in the office of the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, STO 141, 675 Commonwealth Avenue.
There will be 7 problem sets (35%), a mid-term examination (30%), and a final exam (35%). A word about assignments. First, show all of your work. Second, students are free to discuss the assignments, but each student ultimately is responsible for completing the questions on his/her own. Copying solutions, providing solutions to other students, or accepting solutions in printed or electronic form is unacceptable. Copying text, tables, or graphs from printed materials or the Internet and incorporating such material into papers without attribution is plagiarism. Problem sets are due in class on the assigned day; late assignments are docked one letter grade per day.
You are allowed 2 (two) absences from class. Each additional absence results in a final grade reduction of one-half of a letter grade.
Incomplete Grades:
"I" grades can only be given when specific work has not been completed AND when the student and instructor have conferred and the instructor has assigned a date within the next 12 months for the work to be completed. This becomes a permanent F (undergraduates) or a permanent I (graduates) if the work is not completed with 12 months from when the I was given.
Academic Honesty
Plagiarism, cheating on exams, submitting the same work for more than one course, deliberately impeding the academic performance of others, and other forms of academic misconduct are serious offenses. I take them very seriously and I expect my students to do likewise. I follow the definitions, procedures, sanctions, etc. as set forth in the CAS Academic Conduct Code (http://www.cs.bu.edu/ugradprogram/conduct.html). I urge each student to be familiar with these expectations.
Intellectual Property Rights of This Course
Boston University and/or Professor Cleveland copyright the syllabus, course descriptions, and handouts created by Professor Cleveland, and all class lectures. Except with respect to enrolled students as set forth below, the materials and lectures may not be reproduced in any form or otherwise copied, displayed or distributed, nor should works derived from them be reproduced, copied, displayed or distributed without the written permission of Professor Cleveland. Infringement of the copyright in these materials, including any sale or commercial use of notes, summaries, outlines or other reproductions of lectures, constitutes a violation of the copyright laws and is prohibited. Students enrolled in the course are allowed to share with other enrolled students course materials, notes, and other writings based on the course materials and lectures, but may not do so on a commercial basis or otherwise for payment of any kind. Please note in particular that selling or buying class notes, lecture notes or summaries, or similar materials both violates copyright and interferes with the academic mission of the College of Arts and Sciences, and is therefore prohibited in this class and will be considered a violation of the student code of responsibility that is subject to academic sanctions.
Lecture Schedule
| T |
Jan |
13 |
Introduction and Overview Reading: Smil, V. (2000) "Energy in the Twentieth Century: Resources, conversions, costs, uses and consequences," Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, 25, 21 - 51. |
| R |
Jan |
15 |
Energy, Society and Environment: Historical Transitions Reading: Grbler, Arnulf. 2004. Transitions in Energy Use. In: Cutler J. Clevleand (Editor), The Encyclopedia of Energy (Oxford: Elsevier Science). Problem Set 1 Distributed |
| T |
Jan |
20 |
Energy Mechanics I Reading: Joseph Priest. 1991. Energy: Principles, Problems, Alternatives (New York: Addison-Wesley), pp. 20-27. |
| R |
Jan |
22 |
Energy Mechanics II Reading: Hinrichs, Roger A. and Merlin Kleinbach. 2002. Energy: Its Use and the Environment (New York: Harcourt), Chapter 4. Problem Set 1 Due Problem Set 2 Distributed |
| T |
Jan |
27 |
Evaluation of Energy Systems I: Net Energy Analaysis Reading: Bullard, C. W., P. S. Penner, and D. A. Pilati. 1978. Net energy analysis: a handbook for combining process and input-output analysis. Resources and Energy 1:267-313. |
| R |
Jan |
29 |
Evaluation of Energy Systems II: Life Cycle AnalysisSpeaker: Binna Davidsdottir, Boston UniversityReading: Graedel, T. E., and B. R. Allenby. 1995. Industrial Ecology. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall), Chapter 8. Dones, Roberto, Thomas Heck and Stefan Hirschberg. 2004. Greenhouse gas emissions from energy systems: comparison and overview. In: Cutler J. Clevleand (Editor), The Encyclopedia of Energy (Oxford: Elsevier Science). Problem Set 2 Due |
| T |
Feb |
3 |
Evaluation of Energy Systems III: Economic Analysis Reading: Rubin, Edward S. 2001. Introduction to Engineering and the Environment (Boston: McGraw-Hill), Chapter 13. |
| R |
Feb |
5 |
Magnitude and Distribution of Fossil Fuel ResourcesReading: Thomas S. Ahlbrandt, Ronald R. Charpentier, T.R. Klett, James W. Schmoker, and Christopher J. Schenk. 2000. Analysis of Assessment Results. In: USGS World Energy Assessment Team, Editor. U.S. Geological Survey World Petroleum Assessment 2000. http://greenwood.cr.usgs.gov/energy/WorldEnergy/DDS-60/ESpt1.html |
| T |
Feb |
10 |
Modeling World Oil Supply: When Will the Wells Run Dry? Reading: Hubbert, M. K. Energy resources. In: National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences (Editor), Resources and Man. (Freeman, San Francisco, 1969) pp. 157-176. Laherrre, Jean. 2004. Oil and Natural Gas Resource Assessment: Production Growth Cycle Models. In: Cutler J. Clevleand (Editor), The Encyclopedia of Energy (Oxford: Elsevier Science). |
| R |
Feb |
12 |
Nuclear Energy I: Physics and Engineering of Fission Systems Lake, J. A., Bennett, R. A., and Kotek, J. F. (2002) "The Future of Nuclear Power", Scientific American, January, 73 - 81. Bodansky, D. (1996) Nuclear Energy: Principles, Practices, and Prospects (AIP Press: Washington, DC), pages 1 - 19, 83 - 99. |
| T |
Feb |
17 |
No meetingMonday Schedule of Classes |
| R |
Feb |
19 |
Nuclear Energy II: Waste, Politics, and Public Perception |
| T |
Feb |
24 |
No meeting |
| R |
Feb |
26 |
Renewable Energy I: Solar Energy |
| T |
Mar |
2 |
Renewable Energy II: Hydrogen and Fuel CellsSpeaker: Srikanth Gopalan, Dept. Manufacturing Engineering, Boston University |
| R |
Mar |
4 |
Mid term Exam |
| T |
Mar |
9 |
No meetingSpring recess |
| R |
Mar |
11 |
No meetingSpring recess |
| T |
Mar |
16 |
Renewable Energy III: Wind Energy |
| R |
Mar |
18 |
Renewable Energy IV: Biomass |
| T |
Mar |
23 |
Energy End Use and Efficiency I: Transportation, Industry, HouseholdsReading: Interlaboratory Working Group. 2000. Scenarios for a Clean Energy Future, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (LBNL-44029), National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO (NREL-xxx), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (ORNL/CON-476), November. Pages 1-42. See the full report at http://www.ornl.gov/sci/eere/cef/. |
| R |
Mar |
25 |
Energy End Use and Efficiency I: Is There an Energy Efficiency "Gap?"Readings: Brown, Marilyn A. 2001. Market failures and barriers as a basis for clean energy policies. Energy Policy, 29: 1197-1207. Jaffe, A. B. and R. N. Stavins, 1994. "The Energy-Efficiency Gap," Energy Policy, 22(10): 804-810. |
| T |
Mar |
30 |
Energy and Well-Being I: The Energy-GDP ConnectionReading: Kaufmann, Robert K. 1992. A biophysical analysis of the energy/real GDP ratio: implications for substitution and technical change. Ecological Economics 6(1):35-56. |
| R |
Apr |
1 |
Energy and Well-Being II: An Environmental Kuznet's Curve for Energy? Speaker: Amy Richmond, Boston University Reading: Ricmond, Amy. 2004. Is There an Environmental Kuznet's Curve for Energy and Carbon Emissions? Unpublished Manuscript, Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Boston, MA. |
| T |
Apr |
6 |
Energy and Well-Being II: Energy and Sustainable Development Speaker: Adil Najam, Tufts University Reading: Najam, Adil and Cutler J. Cleveland. 2003. Energy and Sustainable Development at Global Environmental Summits: An Evolving Agenda. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 5: 117-138. |
| R |
Apr |
8 |
Energy Markets I: The World Oil Market Speaker: Michael Lynch, MIT & Strategic Energy & Economic Research, Inc. Reading: Lynch, Michael. 2002. Causes of Oil Price Volatility. Paper presented at the Eigth Annual International Energy Forum, Osaka, Japan, September, 2002. |
| T |
Apr |
13 |
Energy Markets II: Electricity Speaker Bruce Biewald, Synapse Energy Economics |
| R |
Apr |
15 |
Energy Markets III: Efficiency and Demand Side Management |
| T |
Apr |
20 |
The Role of Energy in Climate Change Reading: Hoffert, Martin I. and Ken Caldeira. 2004. Climate Change and Energy: An Overview. In: Cutler J. Cleveland (Editor), The Encyclopedia of Energy (Oxford: Elsevier Science). |
| R |
Apr |
22 |
Energy Policy for Climate Change Mitigation Speaker: William Moomaw, Tufts University Reading: Moomaw, Willam. 2004. Energy Policy for Climate Stablization. In: Cutler J. Cleveland (Editor), The Encyclopedia of Energy (Oxford: Elsevier Science). |
| T |
Apr |
27 |
Open |
| T |
M |
4 |
FINAL EXAM 9:00-11:00 |
Energy Data Sources
You will need these to complete some of your problem sets.
Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy (http://www.eia.doe.gov/)
The Energy Information Administration (EIA), created by Congress in 1977, is a statistical, modeling, and analysis agency of the U.S. Department of Energy. It provides policy-independent data, forecasts, and analyses to promote policy making, efficient markets, and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment. Current and historical data for the U.S. is available in HTML, XLS, and PDF formats. Less detailed data are also available for the world in similar formats. Among its more notable publications are the Annual Energy Outlook (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/index.html) which forecasts energy market condition 20-25 years out, the Annual Energy Review (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/contents.html) which includes histotical data back to 1949, and the International Energy Annual (http://www.eia.doe.gov/iea/). These data are available free of charge.
International Energy Agency (http://www.iea.org/)
The International Energy Agency , based in Paris, is an autonomous agency linked with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (http://www.oecd.org/home/). Notable publications include the World Energy Outlook (http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/) which assess current energy conditrions and projects energy demand, energy supply and CO2 emissions from 20 to 30 years into the future. Key World Energy Statistics (http://www.iea.org/statist) contains up to date data on the supply, transformation and consumption of all major energy sources. Energy Balances of OECD Countries (http://www.iea.org/stats/files/enbal.htm) contains data on the supplyand consumption of coal, oil, gas, electricity, heat, renewables and waste presented as comprehensive energy balances expressed in million tonnes of oil equivalent. Historical tables summarise production, trade and final consumption data as well as key energy and economic indicators. A companion volume - EnergyStatistics of OECD Countries- presents corresponding data in comprehensive balances expressed in a common unit, million tonnes of oil equivalent. The IEA charges a fee for most of its data.
BP Statistical Review of World Energy (http://www.bpamoco.com/centres/energy/index.asp)
Thus publication presents country-level data on energy proiduction, use, prices and reserves dating back to 1965 in available in ZIP, XLS, and PDF formats. A new energy charting tool allows the user to view pre-determined reports for each type of energy or chart specific data according to energy type on a regional and annual basis. Charts and graphs can be created as images for exporting. These data are available free of charge.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (www.iaea.org)
IAEA's Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) (http://www.iaea.org/programmes/a2/) constitutes the most complete data bank on nuclear power reactors in the world. PRIS covers two kinds of data: general and design information on power reactors, and information about operating experience with nuclear power plants. These data include country level data on electricity generation and the role of nuclear power in national energy budgets. These data are available free of charge.
IAEA's International Nuclear Information System (INIS) (http://www.iaea.or.at/programmes/inis/index.html) is a large information system on the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology. INIS maintains a database which currently contains over 2.2 million bibliographic references covering fields such as nuclear reactors, reactor safety, nuclear fusion, applications of radiation and radioisotopes in medicine, agriculture, industry and pest control as well as related fields such as nuclear chemistry, nuclear physics and materials science. Legal and social aspects associated with nuclear energy are also covered. And, from 1992, the economic and environmental aspects of all non-nuclear energy sources are included in the scope. Additionally, INIS also maintains a unique collection of full text non-conventional (grey) literature that would be difficult to obtain elsewhere.
World Energy Council (http://www.worldenergy.org/)
The World Energy Council (WEC) is a global multi-energy organisation with Member Committees in over 90 countries, including most of the largest energy-producing and energy consuming countries. The 80-year-old organisation covers all types of energy, including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, and renewables, and is UN-accredited, non-governmental, non-commercial and non-aligned. Notable publications include the Survey of World Energy Resources (http://www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/publications/reports/ser) that has data on resources, reserves, production and consumption for conventional and alterantive energy sources for most countries in the world. These data are available in HTML and XLS formats. These data are available free of charge.
ASEAN Energy Center (http://www.aseanenergy.org/index.htm)
The Association of Southeast Nations (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia. Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam) energy database. It contains data on the trade, price, supply and consumption of coal, oil, gas, electricity, heat, renewables and waste presented as comprehensive energy balances. The Energy Reporting Application is a WEB based application for accessing these data. The data also include detailed country profiles. These data are available free of charge.
Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre (http://www.ieej.or.jp/aperc/)
The Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre (APERC) was established is an affiliate to the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan. It covers all 21 nations of the he Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC): Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam. Notable publications incldue Energy Balance Tables for the APEC Energy Demand and Supply Outlook that contains data on the trade, price, supply and consumption of coal, oil, gas, electricity, heat, renewables and waste presented as comprehensive energy balances for member countries. These data are available in PDF format. The annual APEC Energy Demand and Supply Outlook provides forecasts for 20 years out. These data are available free of charge.
American Petroleum Institute (http://www.api.org)
API is the statisical arm of the U.S oil and gas industry and represents more than 400 members involved in all aspects of the oil and natural gas industry. Notable data sources includes ACCESS API Online Data and the Basic Petroleum Data Book. These sources include a wide array of data on all aspects of the industry: exploration, drilling, production, use, trade, transportation, refining, reserves, prices, finance and investment, offshore, and stocks for the U.S. Less detailed are available for the world. The API charges a fee for most of its data.
The Oil & Gas Journal Energy Database (http://orc.pennnet.com/energydatabase/energydatabase.cfm)
This online data service has dat afor the U.S. on all aspects of the industry: exploration, drilling, production, use, trade, transportation, refining, reserves, prices, finance and investment, offshore, and stocks for the U.S. Data on industry operations appear in three databases: monthly and quarterly, annually, and weekly. Most data can be downloaded. There is a fee for most of these data.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) (http://www.opec.org/)
OPEC is an eleven nation organization that supply a major share of global oil production that collectively agree on global oil production and/or price targets. Members include Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Notable publications include the Annual Statistical Bulletin which reports data on basic economic and demographic conditions in member countries, as well as detailed data on all aspects of oil production, use, imports, exports, earnings, and so on. Data are available in PDF and ZIP formats, and are free of charge.
Nuclear Energy Agency (http://www.nea.fr/)
The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) is a specialised agency within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Notable publications include the annual Nuclear Energy Data which is a compilation of essential statistics on nuclear energy in OECD countries. It provides the reader with a comprehensive overview on the status of and trends in the nuclear power and fuel cycle sector. Another notable work is the annual "Uranium : Resources, Production and Demand." The "Red Book", jointly prepared by the Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency, is the foremost world reference on uranium. Demand. This world report provides compilations of statistics on resources, exploration, production, and demand for uranium for about 50 countries, and provides an international expert analysis of industry statistics and worldwide projections of nuclear energy growth, uranium requirements, and uranium supply. Both of these publications are available only in print form and require a fee.
The New York Mercantile Exchange (www.nymex.com)
The New York Mercantile Exchange the largest physical commodity exchange in the world. Here you can find up to the minute and historical data on the spot and futures prices for the energy commodities traded on the exchange: home heating oil, crude oil, motor gasoline, natural gas, propane, coal and electricity. These data are available free of charge.
Baker-Hughes Rig Count (http://www.bakerhughes.com/investor/rig/index.htm)
The authority on oil and gas drilling and workover rigs around the world. (A rig rotates the drill pipe from surface to drill a new well to explore for, develop and produce oil or natural gas). Rig activity is an important business barometer for the drilling industry and its suppliers. The active rig count acts as a leading indicator of demand for products used in drilling, completing, producing and processing hydrocarbons, and represents an upstream indicator of the effort aimed at finding and producing oil and gas. Data are available in PDF and/or XLS formats, and are free of charge.
WTRG Economics (http://www.wtrg.com)
WTRG Economics gathers data on the oil and gas industry from industry, government and proprietary sources. This site provides graphical overviews of spot and futures prices for crude oil heating oil, natural gas, and motor gasoline, drilling and workover rig couts, an dother industry barmonters. The graphs are available free of charge; other data services require a fee.
Middle East Economic Survey (http://www.mees.com/)
Middle East Economic Survey ( MEES ) is an authoratative source on oil and gas in the Middle East. Current and recent historical montly data and OPEC member quotas and production, and spot market quotations for the OPEC reference basket of seven crude oils. Data are in HTML format and free of charge.
The United Nations Statistics Division (http://unstats.un.org/unsd/energy/default.htm)
The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) collects energy statistics and updates and maintains the Energy Statistics Database which contains comprehensive energy statistics on more than 215 countries, regions and areas for production, trade and intermediate and final consumption (end-use) for primary and secondary conventional, non-conventional and newand renewable sources of energy. The annual publication 'Energy StatisticsYearbook' is a comprehensive collection of international energy statisticsthat provides a global framework of comparable data on long-term trends inthe supply of mainly commercial primary and secondary forms of energy. The biennial publication 'Energy Balances and Electricity Profiles' presents energy data for selected countries in a format showing an overall pictur eof energy production, conversion and consumption for fuels utilized in the country. Coal, crude petroleum and electricity data are collected on amonthly basis and published in the 'Monthly Bulletin of Statistics' andthe yearly production, trade and consumption of commercial energy dataare published in the 'Statistical Yearbook'. The complete dataset of Energy Statistics, covering the period 1950-2000, is available on cd and electronic format. The UN charges a fee for all of its energy data.
The World Bank (http://www.worldbank.org/data)
The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the World Bank's annual compilation of data about development. WDI includes approx. 800 indicators in 87 tables, organized in six sections. Energy data include commercial use, annual growth of, GDP per unit of, per capita, depletion as share of GDP, net imports, investment in infrastructure, production, traditional fuel use as share of total energy use, and a number of electricity indicators. These data are available in print, CD-ROM, and on line versions, and require a fee.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (http://www.fao.org)
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations was founded in 1945 with a mandate to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living, to improve agricultural productivity, and to better the condition of rural populations. Today, FAO is one of the largest specialized agencies in the United Nations system and the lead agency for natural resource and rural development. An intergovernmental organization, FAO has 183 member countries plus one member organization, the European Community. The FAOSTAT(http://apps.fao.org/default.htm) database is an on-line and multilingual database containing over 1 million time-series records covering international statistics in the following areas in a wide range of natural resource areas, especially, forestry, fisheries, agriculture and land use. Energy data include estimtes of wood fuel use, both commercial and traditional. Data are available on line (free of charge) and on CD-ROM (fee required).
World Radiation Data Centre (http://wrdc-mgo.nrel.gov/)
The WRDC, located at the Main Geophysical Observatory in St. Petersburg, Russia, serves as a central depository for solar radiation data collected at over 1000 measurement sites throughout the world. The WRDC centrally collects, archives and published radiometric data from the world to ensure the availability of these data for research by the international scientific community. The WRDC archive contains the following measurements (not all observations are made at all sites):
- Global solar radiation
- Diffuse solar radiation
- Downward atmospheric radiation
- Sunshine duration
- Direct solar radiation (hourly and instantaneous)
- Net total radiation
- Net terrestrial surface radiation (upward)
- Terrestrial surface radiation
- Reflected solar radiation
- Spectral radiation components (instantaneous fluxes)
- Data are available on line, and via an email query system, and are free of charge.
Solar Radiation Resource Information for the U.S. (http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/)
The National Renewable Energy Lab (http://www.nrel.gov/solar/) maintains a substantial database of data pertaining to solar radiation in the U.S. These data include the three most common measurements of solar radiation (global horizontal, direct normal, and diffuse horizontal), basic meteorological data, maps, and other data for hundreds of stations. These data are available on hourly, daily, monthly and annual basis. Some data are available in time series format. Most data are available on line and are free of charge.
Maps of Renewable Energy Resources in the U.S. (http://www.nrel.gov/gis/index_of_maps.html)
This site provides dynamically-generated maps of renewable energy resources that determine which energy technologies are viable solutions in the United States. NREL analyzes the resources and inputs the data into the GISGeographic Information System. The software package that is being used is an ESRI product called ArcIMS (http://www.esri.com). The following sets of maps are available:
Renewable Energy Atlas of the West
Interactive maps with zoom-in capability that highlight the wind, biomass,
geothermal, and solar resources in the 11 western states.
Federal Energy Management Program
Maps
Maps showing the market potential for various technologies at federal facilities
throughout the country.
Maps of Indian Lands
Created in support of the report, Energy Consumption and Renewable Energy
Development Potential on Indian Lands by the Energy Information Administration,
U.S. Department of Energy.
Solar Maps
Maps of solar radiation resources available for several photovoltaic collector
orientations in the U.S.
Transportation Technologies
Interactive geographical map of the Clean Cities coalitions boundaries and
the Alternative Fuel Station Locator mapping application.
Wind Maps
Maps of gridded wind resource potential are based on wind power density.
The International Geothermal Association (http://iga.igg.cnr.it/)
The International Geothermal Association (IGA), founded in 1988, is a scientific, educational and cultural organization established to operate worldwide. It has more than 2000 members in 65 countries. Its objective is to encourage research, development and utilization of geothermal resources worldwide through the compilation, publication and dissemination of scientific and technical data and information, both within the community of geothermal specialists and between geothermal specialists and the general public. The IGA web site has country level data on geothermal direct use and power generation, as well as individual country reports. The data are in HTML format and free of charge.
Oregon Institute of Technology's Geo-Heat Center (http://geoheat.oit.edu/)
Resource and direct use maps
for the United States, and maps of potential user communities in 10 states
in the Western U. S. Resource maps for the 10 western states are accompanied
by county-by-county data on well and spring characteristics, and geo-referenced
location data. The CD-ROM has data in XLS and CVS format, and requires a modest
fee.
Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)
EnergyFiles (http://www.osti.gov/EnergyFiles/) is a virtual library of over 500 databases and Web sites containing information and resources pertaining to science and technology of interest to the Department of Energy, with an emphasis on the physical sciences. It is free of charge
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The Photographic Information eXchange (PIX) (http://www.nrel.gov/data/pix/) collection consists of renewable energy and energy efficiency technology photographs. The collection was developed and is maintained for the Department of Energy (DOE) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. Users can search for digital images of a variety of renewabl energy technologies that can downlaoded free of charge. Photos obtained from PIX are to be used for lawful purposes only. Any commercial use must receive prior approval from NREL. Credit shall be given to Photographer along with DOE/NREL, and no affiliation with DOE/NREL is to be implied.
Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory, University of Oregon (http://solardat.uoregon.edu)
The SRML is a regional solar radiation data center that provides solar resource data for planning, design, deployment, and operation of solar electric facilities in the Pacific Northwest. Users can download a wide range of solar radiation data on a variety of time scales for states in the Pacific Northwest. These data are free of charge.
The Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues is a web-based collection of annotated references to resources that offer a broad, balanced perspective on current and historical nuclear issues. The references trace the development of nuclear science, the Manhattan Project, which produced the first atomic bombs, the Cold War arms race, and the post-Cold War world of proliferation and terrorism. The materials referenced include books, articles, videos, and websites. Each annotation is vetted to assure accuracy and indexed to facilitate access. It is the mission of the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues to make the history and current status of nuclear issues more accessible and comprehensible to the general public as well as to students and educators in the many fields influenced by the forces of the nuclear age.