Thermodynamics and the Destruction of Resources

This book is a unique, multidisciplinary effort to apply rigorous thermodynamics fundamentals, a disciplined scholarly approach, to problems of sustainability, energy, and resource uses. Applying thermodynamic thinking to problems of sustainable behavior is a significant advantage in bringing order to ill-defined questions with a great variety of proposed solutions, some of which are more destructive than the original problem. The articles are pitched at a level accessible to advanced undergraduates and graduate students in courses on sustainability, sustainable engineering, industrial ecology, sustainable manufacturing, and green engineering. The timeliness of the topic, and the urgent need for solutions make this book attractive to general readers and specialist researchers as well. Top international figures from many disciplines, including engineers, ecologists, economists, physicists, chemists, policy experts and industrial ecologists among others make up the impressive list of contributors.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Bhavik R. Bakshi, Timothy Gutowski and Dusan Sekulic; Part I. Foundations: 1. Thermodynamics: generalized available energy and availability or exergy Elias Gyftopoulos; 2. Energy and exergy: does one need both concepts for a study of resources use Dusan Sekulic; 3. Accounting for resource use via thermodynamics Bhavik R. Bakshi, Anil Baral and Jorge L. Hau; Part II. Products and Processes: 4. Material separation and recycling Timothy Gutowski; 5. Entropy based metric for transformational technologies development Dusan Sekulic; 6. Thermodynamic analysis of resources used in manufacturing processes Timothy Gutowski and Dusan Sekulic; 7. Case studies in energy use to realize ultra-high purities in semiconductor manufacturing Eric Williams, Nikhil Krishnan and Sarah Boyd; 8. Energy resources and use: the present (2008) situation, possible sustainable paths to the future and the thermodynamic perspective Noam Lior; Part III. Life Cycle Assessments and Metrics: 9. Using thermodynamics and statistics to improve the quality of life cycle inventory data Bhavik R. Bakshi, Hangjoon Kim and Prem K. Goel; 10. Developing sustainable technology: metrics from thermodynamics Geert Van der Vorst, Jo Dewulf and Herman Van Langenhove; 11. Entropy production and resource consumption in life cycle assessments Stefan Gößling-Reisemann; 12. Exergy and material flow in industrial and ecological systems Nandan Ukidwe and Bhavik R. Bakshi; 13. Materials flow analysis and input-output analysis: a synthesis Shinichiro Nakamura; Part IV. Economic, Social Industrial, Eco Systems: 14. Early development of input-output analysis of energy and ecologic systems Bruce Hannon; 15. Exergoeconomics and exergoenvironmental analysis George Tsatsaronis; 16. Entopy, economics and policy Matthias Ruth; 17. Integration and segregation in a population - a thermodynamicist's view Mueller Ingo; 18. Exergy use in ecosystems analysis: background and challenges Roberto Pastres and Brian D. Fath; 19. Thoughts on the application of thermodynamics to the development of sustainability science Timothy Gutowski, Dusan Sekulic and Bhavik R. Bakshi.

About the Author :
Bhavik R. Bakshi holds a dual appointment as a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The Ohio State University, and Vice Chancellor and Professor of Energy and Environment at TERI University, New Delhi. He is also the Research Director of the Center for Resilience at Ohio State. From 2006 to 2010 he was a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai, India. He has over 100 refereed publications in areas such as Process Systems Engineering and Sustainability Science and Engineering. Timothy G. Gutowski is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA. He was the Director of MIT's Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity (1994–2004), and the Associate Department Head for Mechanical Engineering (2001–5). From 1999 to 2001 he was the chairman of the National Science Foundation/Department of Energy panel on Environmentally Benign Manufacturing. He has over 150 technical publications, and seven patents and patent applications. His previous book was Advanced Composites Manufacturing. Dusan P. Sekulic is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kentucky. He is a fellow of ASME. Dr Sekulic is a Consulting Professor at the Harbin Institute of Technology, PR China. He is the author of over 150 refereed research publications, more than a dozen book chapters, and the author of the book Fundamentals of Heat Exchanger Design (jointly with R. K. Shah), published in English, and in Chinese. He is the editor of the books Advances in Brazing: Science, Technology and Applications and Handbook of Heat Exchanger Design.

Review :
"This book is a good choice for professors to use as part of an effort to teach thermodynamic concepts..Recommended." - CHOICE