Subject energy technologies

Alternative feedstocks for petrochemicals have been the subject of much research and study over the past several decades, but have not yet become economically attractive. Chemical producers are expected to continue to use fossil fuels for energy and feedstock needs for the next 75 years. The most promising sources which have received the most attention include coal, tar sands, oil shale, and biomass. Near-term advances ia coal-gasification technology offer the greatest potential to replace oil- and gas-based feedstocks ia selected appHcations (10) (see Feedstocks, coal chemicals). 

Real irreversible processes can be subjected to thermodynamic analysis. The goal is to calciilate the efficiency of energy use or production and to show how energy loss is apportioned among the steps of a process. The treatment here is limited to steady-state, steady-flow processes, because of their predominance in chemical technology. 

Solid substances are forced into unusual and distinctive conditions when subjected to powerful releases of energy such that their inertial properties result in the propagation of high pressure mechanical waves within the solid body. The very high stress, microsecond-duration, conditions irreversibly force materials into states not fully encountered in any other excitation. It is the study of solids under this unique compression-and-release process that provides the scientific and technological interest in shock-compression science. 

Each of these products is different each uses a different technology, is subject to different market forces, different production characteristics, distribution practices, and pricing systems. Yet, the dominant trends in energy efficiency, and in the policies used to affect it, show rcniarkablc siniilarity across end uses. 

Fuel cells are the subject of vast amounts of research and most experts now predict that by about 2020 they will be widely used for mass transportation. There are four major potential benefits to using fuel cell technology compared to more conventional sources of energy ... 

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