Page 7 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

Preface

In recent years, a lot of emphasis has been given to renewable, sustainable and
environment friendly energy sources in order to offset the dependence of mankind
on conventional and non-renewable sources of energy most of which are fossil-
based. However, the plethora of options available today makes it difficult for the
users, policy makers as well as the researchers in this area to identify the right
source for a specific situation as the usage and implementation depends on a
variety of factors such as availability, ease of transportation, maintenance and end-
of-life options. Energy and environment are closely interlinked and therefore any
alternative energy option brings with it a certain impact on the environment.
Several terms such as ‘cradle to grave’, ‘cradle to cradle’, ‘cradle to gate’ are used
in this regard to denote the impacts at each stage of a product’s life-cycle. This has
led to a lack of understanding among the practitioners in this field and often leads
to complicated situations where no agreement can be found over one single source
of renewable energy. The integrated assessment of all environmental impacts from
cradle to grave is the basis for many decisions relating to achieving improved
products and services. The assessment tool most widely used for this is the
environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
This book is intended to have three roles and to serve three associated audiences
namely, the students and research community who will benefit from the lucid
explanation of the LCA aspects of different bioenergy systems, the policy makers
who will find it easier to identify the pros and cons of one type of bioenergy
systems against another and finally the industries involved as it will give them a
feeling about the current loopholes and ways to fix them. New developments in
LCA methodology from all over the world have been discussed and, where pos-
sible, complemented with real life examples by the renowned experts in the field.
Integration of all the recent developments into a new, consistent methodology for
each type of renewable energy system has been the main aim for this book.
Though we have tried to be very objective in our choice of topics to be covered in
this book, some not so common themes might have been missed but which may
become important in future which we will try to cover in the second edition of the
book. ‘‘Importance of Life Cycle Assessment of Renewable Energy Sources’’

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