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Sustainability & Renewable Energy

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S&RE Library Research - Energy

When using the Library Search Engine (Primo), enter specific search terms to help narrow your focus. For example, searching for "Renewable Energy" is more helpful than simply searching for "Energy" and—depending on your particular topic"Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)" or "Hydrogen Economy" might be even better.

Consider also filtering your search results by media type (e.g. books, streaming videos &c) or arranging them by most recent publication date. Newer is not always better, but more recent scholarship does have the benefit of hindsight. Finding current information is especially important for fast-changing fields and technologies, whether it be for hydrogen fuel cells or finance for utility-scale renewables.

If you find resources particularly helpful for your research interests, use the catalog entry to your advantage and search for other books or media with similar subject headings and keywords.

Example Topics in Energy & Sustainability

Conventional Power

  • Fossil Fuels

  • Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

  • Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG)

  • Fracking

  • “Clean Coal”

Renewable Energy

  • Solar Power

    • Photovoltaic (PV) Systems

    • Ground Mount vs. Roof Mount

    • Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)

    • Floatovoltaics

    • Monocrystaline vs. Multicrystaline Silicon Cells

    • Thin-Film Solar Cell

    • Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)

    • Solar Thermal Systems

    • Domestic Hot Water

    • Radiant Heating

    • Thermosiphon

    • Solar Window

    • Duck Curve

  • Wind Power

    • Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT)

    • Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT)

    • Off-Shore Wind Farm

  • Hydroeclectricity

    • Micro Hydro

    • Run-of-the-River (ROR)

    • Wave Power

    • Tidal Power

  • Geothermal Power

    • Dry Steam vs. Flash Steam Power Station

    • Binary Cycle Power Plant

    • Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)

  • Biomass

    • Corn vs. Cellulosic Ethanol

    • Biodiesel

    • Biogas vs. Landfill Gas (LFG)

    • Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS)

    • Biochar

    • Algae Fuel

Nuclear Power

  • Fission vs. Fusion

  • Thermal-Neutron Reactor

  • Fast Neutron Reactor (FNR)

  • Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR)

  • Molten Salt Reactor (MSR)

  • Radioactive Waste

  • Pro-Nuclear vs. Anti-Nuclear Movements

  • Nuclear Decommissioning

  • Tokamak

Energy Efficiency

  • Energy Audit

  • EPA Energy Star

  • Negawatt Market

Energy Security

  • Energy Independence

  • Energy Poverty

  • Petro-Politics

Transmission & distribution

  • Distributed Generation

  • Grid Integration vs. Off-Grid

  • Smart Grid

  • Grid Parity

  • Net Metering

Energy Storage

  • Electrochemical Cell / Battery

  • Hydrogen Fuel Cell

  • Hydrogen Economy

  • Pumped-Storage Hydroelectricity (PSH)

  • Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES)

  • Flywheel Energy Storage

  • Energy Storage as a Service (ESaaS)

Alternative Fuels & Propulsion Systems

  • Electric Vehicles (EVs)

  • Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) & Plug-In Hybrids (PHEVs)

  • Flex-Fuel

  • Free-Piston Engine

  • Regenerative Braking System

  • Combined Charging System (CCS)

  • Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G)