Book reviews

effective without some central consideration of taxation, financial objectives, investment priorities, R&D support and subsidies? These ins t ruments are used in an interventionist way in other Western countries, not least in Germany, which probably comes out best in this book, possibly deservedly so. Perhaps in the UK intervention has been clumsy and inconsistent.

It is not necessary to be a technical expert to write a book on energy policy. Some greater familiarity with the background of the energy industries would have assisted, especially in the areas of coal, nuclear power, and renewable resources. In coal, the level of future investment is certainly debatable but Mr Evans revives old arguments of the 1950s and 60s, not relevant to the present case. The coal conversion R&D programme is also misrepresented, with

a warning (also relating to nuclear power) about 'scientists over-arguing their case'. The limits which Mr Evans accepts on nuclear power appear to be based on criticisms from the anti- nuclear lobby but he does not attempt to appraise their legitimacy. The broad subject of renewable resources is treated without discrimination, and not very adequately in view of the importance they assume at the end of the book, and no rationale is suggested for bridging the gap between the hard facts of the present and the desirable benign future.

This book may appeal more to the political theorist than to those directly involved in deciding energy policy. At £4.95 it seems a little expensive for less than 200 pages of large type in soft covers.

L. Grainger National Coal Board

London, UK

Bioenergy- a growing field

ENERGY FROM BIOMASS AND WASTES

868 pp, $60.00, /nstitute of Gas Technology, Chicago, 1978

This substantial volume contains the 45 papers presented at a symposium organized by the US Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) and held in Washington DC during August 1978. The book is therefore already one year old and, as we are all too aware, much has happened on the global energy scene over the past 12 months. If anything, recent events in Iran, in OPEC generally, and in the USA have made an even more powerful case for the need to promote bioenergy R&D than did even the most enthusiastic contributors to this symposium. What may not have been an economically competitive biofuel production process in August 1978 would have much more chance of being so in August 1979, particularly if the product were liquid.

The meeting was the third in a series of symposia sponsored by IGT dealing with all aspects of bioenergy production, and the content of papers presented continues to be mainly of a high standard. There is a strong US bias (with 35 of the articles written by USA- based authors), but this is only to be expected since the USA is certainly in the forefront of most biomass energy resource developments occurring today. Contributions from many of the now familiar names on the US bio- energy scene, such as Benemann, Ghosh, Klass and Pimentel, are to be found, and overall there is a good representative mix from academic institutions, government bodies, and private industry. Something of an international flavour is also provided through the inclusion of papers from Brazil, Canada, the German Federal Republic, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore and Sweden. This is a welcome departure from the exclusively US authorship of the first volume, produced in January 1976. The

fact that the number of papers presented has doubled is a good indication of the rapidly increasing interest in biomass as an energy supply option.

The scope of the topics covered is large: from US Department of Energy estimates of the bioenergy potential in the USA to design criteria for small- scale anaerobic digesters in rural India, and from an appraisal of Brazil's huge gasohol programme to the use of charcoal as a heat source within Norwegian houses. There is, in fact, something here for almost everyone, whether his/her main interest is biomass productivity, bioconversion technologies, economic and energy analyses of production systems, news of the development of commercially operational processes, or more basic research into areas like biophotolysis and plant genetics.

Although some of the articles are necessarily of a hypothetical nature it is very encouraging to learn of processes which are actually producing energy at this moment, as well as those which might do so in the future. In his introductory overview Donald Klass of IGT, the Symposium Chairman, cites 135 examples of pilot, demonstration, and commercial plants in the USA which are currently converting waste feeds and other biomass into a whole variety of energy forms and using a wide range of conversion methods, including combustion, pyrolysis, partial oxidation, anaerobic digestion, and ethanolic fermentation. He also quotes a surprisingly high number of 243 municipal waste-to-energy combustion plants in operation in Western Europe, a number which has now probably been surpassed. It is indeed gratifying to observe that progress is being made in the area of commercial energy production on an ever-increasing scale. The reviewing and correlating of information on new developments and achievements in the field of biomass energy is a stated objective of the symposium, and one which it succeeds in fulfilling admirably. Whereas just two or three years ago most of the information provided in books and articles devoted to bioenergy was based solely on paper studies (though of course these are still valuable) the emphasis is now changing to the publication of operational data.

3 5 6 E N E R G Y P O L I C Y December 1979

Being a collection of individual papers the book suffers from an inevitable lack of continuity but, although it has not been sectionalized as such, articles on related topics generally tend to be grouped together. The papers themselves are reproduced in full and are unedited, presumably to facilitate rapid publication, so that some of the contributions are longer than they need be and a larger than usual number of typographical errors remain in the text. Another minor criticism concerns the plethora of units which different authors use. These include Btu, quad, kWh, and kcal. Anything, it would seem, is used rather than the correct SI unit, the joule. Unfortunately this is a fault perpetuated by many writers on energy, but why Americans in particular should be so fond of British thermal units is a continuing mystery to me.

Although an excellent information source, the book is not so successful with its more ambitious aim of providing an overview that relates specific biomass energy areas to the

overall energy supply situation. Reasonable national assessments are made for the bioenergy potential of Brazil, Canada, the USA, India, Sudan and Sweden, though some of the conclusions drawn are open to question.

My advice to the bioenergy specialist would be to buy this book in order to keep abreast of recent US developments. Anyone with a broader interest in energy matters and US$60 (currently £26) to spend should seriously consider buying it. To others in Europe it may be expedient to wait and see if the dollar falls still further. Though it is to be hoped that before too long the fourth IGT symposium proceedings will be on the market with even more up-to-the-minute information, but also, one presumes, an even more up- to-the-minute price.

Chris Lewis, Energy Studies Unit

University of Stra thclyde Glasgow, UK

Energy centres-do we need them ?

THE ENERGY CENTER

by John F. Hemdal

272 pp, £16.50, Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Ann Arbor, ML 1979

I was surprised to find that this book had nothing to do with centres of energy teaching or research. All becomes clear on reading the first few sentences. It is stated that the concept of collocation - the clustering of electric power generation facilities around industrial users of that power - is not a new idea. What is new is the systematic analysis of such complexes - a type of study which began about 10 years ago. Several studies have now been completed allowing 'a preliminary evaluation of the economic and environmental impact which can be

expected from "energy centers" as well as a comparison with the dispersed siting approach, the method of electric power generation now commonly used'.

The author of this book, an electrical engineer, has been investigating the feasibility of energy centres in Michigan throughout this decade. Indeed, much of Dr Hemdal's book is devoted to a detailed description of the Michigan Energy Center, although features of several other energy centre studies in the USA are described whenever they illustrate contrasts, differences or topics of special interest. These other centres are Camp Gruber (Oklahoma), the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Energy Park, the Puerto Rico Center, the Wasatch Front Industrial Complex (Utah) and the Hanford Nuclear Energy Center. I liked Pennsylvania's use of 'park' rather than

Book reviews

'centre' - it is perhaps less cryptic for the uninitiated. Their definition is that an 'energy park' is 'a large concen- tration of electrical generating capacity at one geographic center', and Dr Hemdal should have chosen a title for his book which conveyed this impression.

Most energy centre plans provide for generating sufficient power to meet a region's needs until 1990 or 2000, exclusive of current plans for additional capacity. The basic justifications for such centres seem to be that further rapid growth in electrical demand must be anticipated and that new industries must be established in close association with the new generating capacity.

Many economists, however, believe that the West has entered a period in its history which will be characterized by slow economic growth for several years. But Dr Hemdal's case for energy centres in the USA relies on assured and appreciable economic growth. Does the author really believe the USA will be different from other countries in the West?

It is stated that electrical generation in an energy centre will be based on either coal or nuclear fuel. The safety siting requirements of very large nuclear power stations will surely prevent them being built adjacent to large industrial complexes. But if the workers and their families have to live far from their place of work, for safety reasons, a large quantity of energy will be used in transporting the breadwinners.

This leaves us with coal as the power source for energy centres. But are not the pro-nuclear experts often reminding us about the environmental pollution aspects of coal combustion? This book is about the environmental as well as the economic aspects of energy centres, so one might expect it to provide the answers to such questions. While be does present some related facts and claims that the safety aspects of centres are no worse than to be expected with the dispersed siting approach, I am unconvinced.

I am not even sure that Dr Hemdal is himself really convinced that the energy centre is greatly preferable to dispersed siting, in view of his statement that:

The favourable advantage that is characteristic of the energy center is a precarious one and can easily be lost through careless planning and execution.

ENERGY P O L I C Y December 1979 3 5 7