Energy is an essential aspect of everyday life. Energy can be produced from renewable as well as non-renewable sources of Energy. The energy produced from non-renewable sources such as coal and petroleum produce pollution which adversely impacts our environment. All energy sources have some impact on our environment. Fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas—do substantially more harm than renewable energy sources by most measures, including air and water pollution, damage to public health, wildlife and habitat loss, water use, land use, and global warming emissions. However, renewable sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and hydropower also have environmental impacts, some of which are significant. The exact type and intensity of environmental impacts varies depending on the specific technology used, the geographic location, and a number of other factors. By understanding the current and potential environmental issues associated with each renewable energy source, we can take steps to effectively avoid or minimize these impacts as they become a larger portion of our electric supply. Due to the rise in world population in the last couple of decades, the need for energy conservation has dramatically risen. Governments across the globe are stressing on the use of alternative energy production methods like solar panels, hydropower, wind energy, etc. so as to limit the use of biodiesel in energy production.
This green movement is being followed to conserve and preserve energy for the future generations. Therefore, the need of the hour, is to use renewable sources of energy such as sunlight, wind, waves, etc. to meet the primary energy demands. Energy efficiency is the process whereby the per unit consumption of electricity is greatly reduced. The process of collecting energy from sources like wind, solar, thermal and other energy resources, in order to store it in electronic device is called energy harvesting. The different methods of energy harvesting are photovoltaic energy harvesting, wireless energy harvesting, piezoelectric energy harvesting pyroelectric energy harvesting, etc. The book discusses a variety of topics related to energy efficiency such as sustainable or green energy technology production, energy efficient building design and manufacture of efficient electric devices. The various studies that are constantly contributing towards advancing technologies and evolution of this field are examined in detail. This book includes some of the vital pieces work being conducted across the world, on various topics related to energy efficiency. It will prove to be immensely beneficial to students and researchers in this field.
Kristian Benedict pursued his M.Sc. in Power Engineering and Sustainable Energy from Technical University, Rijeka. His interest areas of academic research include energy conservation and sustainable energy harvesting, super capacitators and photovoltaics. He is a Visiting Professor as well as an Energy Consultant at Public University, Gomel. He has written several technical papers on energy harvesting for which he won the "Distinguished Scholar Award". He has been an eminent speaker in seminars across Europe, United States, Canada and Middle Asia. His thorough efforts towards addressing environmental issues have been recognized and appreciated globally.
