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This volume in the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, Second edition, provides a comprehensive overview of complementary strategies for dealing with waste in and around urban areas: Waste-to-energy power plants (WTEs) and recycling.

The expected end of the "oil age" will lead to increasing focus and reliance on alternative energy conversion devices, among which fuel cells have the potential to play an important role. Not only can phosphoric acid and solid oxide fuel cells already efficiently convert today's fossil fuels, including methane, into electricity, but other types of fuel cells, such as polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, have the potential to become the cornerstones of a possible future hydrogen economy. This handbook offers concise yet comprehensive coverage of the current state of fuel cell research and identifies key areas for future investigation. Internationally renowned specialists provide authoritative introductions to a wide variety of fuel cell types and hydrogen production technologies, and discuss materials and components for these systems. Sustainability and marketing considerations are also covered, including comparisons of fuel cells with alternative technologies.

This comprehensive reference is a state-of-the-art survey of biomass as an energy carrier for the provision of heat, electricity, and transportation fuel, considering technical, economic, environmental, and social aspects.

This volume in the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, Second Edition, brings together chapters examining water, energy, minerals and the environment in a holistic approach to land use planning and utilization.

By uncovering relationships and challenges of successful and scalable crop management and breeding, this volume addresses the challenges of environmentally sound production of bulk and quality food, fodder, fiber, and energy which are of ongoing international concern.

This volume of the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, Second Edition, describes technologies that actively convert solar radiation into useful heat in a temperature range from just above ambient up to more than 1,000(deg)C. Applications cover a broad range of energy services such as space heating, cooking, domestic hot water supply, electrical power generation, and high temperature thermochemical processes. The major developments that have led to currently available technologies for solar thermal energy applications were initiated mainly after the first oil shock in 1973. Solar thermal energy is widely used already for heating purposes (water, space) in the "e;low"e; temperature range up to about 100(deg)C employing mainly nonconcentrating collectors, whereas higher temperatures can be achieved with more sophisticated solar collector technologies. Temperatures over 200(deg)C typically require concentrating solar radiation using mirror systems. Several different technologies are described in detail in this volume, including solar collector systems in the lower temperature range, the direct use of solar radiation for food processing, namely cooking and drying, the production of electricity through conversion of solar radiation first to heat, driving a mechanical conversion system coupled to an electric generator, the use of solar radiation to drive chemical processes, and many more.