Our Energy Future ─ Introduction to Renewable Energy and Biofuels

Our Energy Future is an introductory textbook for a college course in energy production, alternative and renewable fuels, and related issues involved in building a sustainable energy future. Our society is consuming energy at an alarming rate as trends in energy consumption continue to rise. Jones and Mayfield explore the creation and history of fossil fuels, their impact on the environment, and how they have become critical to our society. They warn that continuing fuel-usage patterns could permanently damage our environment.

Jones and Mayfield also outline how the adoption of sustainable biofuels will be key to our future energy stability. They discuss a number of renewable energy options, and then discuss different biofuel feedstocks and their potential as replacements for petroleum-based products. This book emphasizes the importance of continued scientific, agricultural, and engineering development, while outlining the political and environmental challenges that are coupled with a complete shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy and biomass.Our Energy Future is an excellent, accessible resource for undergraduate students studying biofuels and bioenergy.

Stephen P. Mayfield is the Director of the California Center for Algae Biotechnology and Food and Fuel for the 21st Century Research Unit at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Mayfield received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in molecular genetics, and was an NIH post-doctoral fellow at the University of Geneva Switzerland He is presently Professor in the Section of Molecular Biology at UC San Diego. The research in the Mayfield lab focuses on molecular genetics in green algae, and on the production of biofuel and bio-products using algae as a production platform.

Carla S. Jones is an Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois. She teaches classes on creating a sustainable future, including energy, climate change, biodiversity, and water. Dr. Jones received her Ph.D. in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and was a National Institutes of Health-sponsored Institutional Research and Career Development postdoctoral fellow at the University of California San Diego. As a post-doctoral fellow she created vaccine candidate proteins in algae and taught Introduction to Bioenergy to hundreds of undergraduate and continuing education students.