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What energy sources can be used to power human activity In future years? How can these sources be harnessed and what are their advantages and disadvantages? At a more fundamental level, what exactly is energy? And why are some forms of energy so much more useful than others? The Physics of Energy addresses these questions and more in a comprehensive, unified, and systematic introduction to the scientific principles that govern energy sources, uses, and systems. This definitive textbook will enable the reader to:

  • Understand the fundamental physical principles underlying the full range of energy sources, including nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal, and water power as well as bio and fossil fuels.
  • Explore the flow of energy through Earth’s interior, oceans, and atmosphere to human end uses, and related issues such as energy storage, electric grids, climate impact, efficiency, and conservation.
  • Estimate effectively the resources available and efficiency of extraction and conversion in a wide range of energy contexts.
  • Analyze energy systems using quantitative methods that draw from a broad range of physical theories and practical science and engineering tools.
This book will be an essential resource for any student, scientist, engineer, energy industry professional, or concerned citizen who has some mathematical and scientific background and an interest in understanding energy systems and issues quantitatively. Its comprehensive but modular form makes it an ideal text for a broad range of courses on energy science.

This magnificent book provides an astonishingly comprehensive, yet deep and accurate, coverage of the physics of energy. It also introduces much of the engineering, and some of the chemistry and biology. As well as being a superb text for those who are new to the subject, it will be an invaluable reference for experienced researchers seeking to refresh, deepen or broaden their knowledge and understanding.

Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith FRS, Director of Energy Research, Oxford University and Director General of CERN 1994–98

Jaffe and Taylor have produced a masterpiece that lays out the scientific foundations of energy sources, uses and systems - from fossil fuels to geothermal, engines to wind turbines, electric grid to climate change. I can only wish that The Physics of Energy had been available twenty years earlier when I first had responsibility for the US Department of Energy science and energy programs without the benefit of this extraordinary resource!

Ernest J. Moniz, formerly the 13th United States Secretary of Energy and Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

If your task was to jump-start civilization, but had access to only one book, then The Physics of Energy would be your choice. Professors Taylor and Jaffe have written a comprehensive, thorough, and relevant treatise. It’s an energizing read as a stand-alone book, but it should also be a course, offered at every college, lest we mismanage our collective role as shepherds of our energy-hungry, energy-dependent civilization.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History

Lecture slides for the 2018 version if MIT's Physics of Energy course are available to instructors who are teaching a course based on The Physics of Energy.

List of endorsements

Available to instructors teaching a course based on The Physics of Energy

Robert Jaffe
Robert L. Jaffe holds the Morningstar Chair in the Department of Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was formerly director of MIT's Center for Theoretical Physics and recently chaired the American Physical Society's Panel on Public Affairs. Jaffe is best known for his research on the quark substructure of the proton and other strongly interacting particles, on exotic states of matter, and on the quantum structure of the vacuum. He received his B.A. from Princeton and his Ph.D. from Stanford. In recognition of his contributions to teaching and course development at MIT, Jaffe has received numerous awards including a prestigious MacVicar Fellowship. Jaffe is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Washington Taylor
Washington Taylor is a Professor of Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is currently the Director of MIT's Center for Theoretical Physics. Taylor's research is focused on basic theoretical questions of particle physics and gravity. Taylor has made contributions to our understanding of fundamental aspects of string theory and its set of solutions, including connections to constraints on low-energy field theory and observable physics and to new results in mathematics. Taylor received his B.A. in mathematics from Stanford and his Ph.D. in physics from University of California, Berkeley. Among other honors, Taylor has been an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow and a Department of Energy Outstanding Junior Investigator, and has received MIT's Buechner faculty teaching prize.
MIT

Cambridge University Press

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