Sustainable Resource Development

Taking a fresh new look at the energy industry and how the Earth's resources are being developed, the aim of this book is to aid engineers and scientists in attaining sustainability in this field, both from an economic and environmental perspective. The author herein presents engineering research and practice that is focused on achieving energy sustainability from a global perspective, as is also outlined in other Scrivener books, such as The Greening of Petroleum Operations and the author's own recently published book, Sustainable Energy Pricing, the companion volume to this book. The author applies the principles of economic sustainability developed there to re-examine actual engineering practices in fossil fuel and alternative energy (such as wind and tidal power) exploration and development. One of the book s unique features is its analysis of what is deficient in the thinking and analytical frameworks that inform engineering work done in the field. The book addresses the complex issues surrounding our quest for sustainability and the key causes of the challenges that face the energy industry and its resource development. From this standpoint, the book challenges the reasoning and conclusions drawn from the often-quoted theory of "e;peak oil"e;.

Taking a fresh new look at the energy industry and how the Earth's resources are being developed, the aim of this book is to aid engineers and scientists in attaining sustainability in this field, both from an economic and environmental perspective.The author herein presents engineering research and practice that is focused on achieving energy sustainability from a global perspective, as is also outlined in other Scrivener books, such as The Greening of Petroleum Operations and the author's own recently published book, Sustainable Energy Pricing, the companion volume to this book. The author applies the principles of economic sustainability developed there to re-examine actual engineering practices in fossil fuel and alternative energy (such as wind and tidal power) exploration and development.One of the book's unique features is its analysis of what is deficient in the thinking and analytical frameworks that inform engineering work done in the field. The book addresses the complex issues surrounding our quest for sustainability and the key causes of the challenges that face the energy industry and its resource development. From this standpoint, the book challenges the reasoning and conclusions drawn from the often-quoted theory of "peak oil".

Acknowledgements xiiiPreface xvIntroduction xvii1 A True Sustainability Criterion and Its Implications11.1 Introduction 11.2 Importance of a Sustainability Criterion 31.3 Criterion: The Switch that Determines Direction at aBifurcation Point 81.3.1 Some Applications of the Criterion 111.4 Current Practices in Petroleum Engineering 161.5 Development of a Sustainable Model 241.6 Violation of Characteristic Time 261.7 Analogies with Physical Phenomena 311.8 Intangible Cause to Tangible Consequence 321.9 Removable Discontinuities: Phases and Renewability ofMaterials 341.10 Rebalancing Mass and Energy 351.11 Holes in the Current Energy Model 371.12 Tools Needed for Sustainable Petroleum Operations 401.13 Conditions of Sustainability 431.14 Sustainability Indicators 441.15 Assessing the Overall Performance of a Process 462 "Alternative" and Conventional Energy Sources: Trail-Mix,Tom Mix or Global Mixup? 592.1 Introduction 632.2 Global 682.3 Solar Energy 742.4 Hydroelectric Power 782.5 Ocean Thermal, Wave and Tidal Energy 792.6 Windi Energy 802.7 Bioenergy 822.8 Fuelwood 822.9 Bioethanol 832.10 Biodiesel 862.11 Nuclear Power 882.12 Geothermal Energy 912.13 Hydrogen Energy 922.14 Global [ Efficiency 942.15 Solar Energy 952.16 "Global Warming" 1132.17 Impact of Energy Technology and Policy 1172.18 Energy Demand in Emerging Economies 1192.19 Conventional Global Energy Model 1202.20 Renewable vs Non-renewable: Is There a Boundary? 1212.21 Knowledge-Enriched Global Energy Model 1262.22 Conclusions 1283 Electricity and Sustainability 1313.1 Electrical Power as the World's Premier Non-Primary EnergySource 1313.2 Consequences of the Ubiquity of Electric Power Services1433.3 The Last Twenty Years of "Electrical Services Reform" in theUnited States 1504 The Zero-Waste Concept and Its Applications 169Part A. Petroleum Engineering Applications 1694.1 Introduction 1704.2 Petroleum Refining 1724.3 Zero-Waste Impacts on Product Life Cycle (Transportation,Use, and End-of-Life) 1934.4 No-Flaring Technique 194Part B. Other Applications of the 'Zero-Waste' Principle 2054.5 Zero-Waste Living and the Anaerobic Biodigester 2054.6 Solar Aquatic Process Purifies Waste (includingDesal-inated) Water 2094.7 Last Word 2125 Natural Gas 2935.1 Introduction 2935.2 Divergence of Energy Commodity Pricing From Laws of Supplyand Demand 3035.3 Sustainability and the Increasing Fascination with NaturalGas 3075.4 Natural Gas Pricing, Markets, Risk Management, and Supply3115.5 Natural Gas in Eurasia 3285.6 Nature As The New Model 3336 OPEC -- The Organization of Petroleum ExportingCountries 3596.1 Birthmarks -- The First Twenty Years 3596.2 OPEC's Hard Choices in the Era of the Bush Doctrine 3676.3 Monopoly, Cartel, Rentier -- or Instrumentality forEconomic Independence? 3806.4 Postscript (Friday 21 October 2011) 4007 Concluding Remarks 405Appendix 409Al Taking Economics Backward As Science 416A2 Developing a Theory of Marginal Information Utility Based on"The Alternative Approach of Beginning with Highly Simplified,Quite Concrete Models" 418A3 Imperfections of Information, or Oligopoly and Monopoly?426A4 Afterword 435Bibliography 443Introductory Note 443I. Bibliography 445II. Websites 494Index 497