Chemistry of the environment / Химия окружающей среды

The question of energy use underlies virtually all environmental issues. The harnessing of energy for the manifold needs of industrial civilization has driven economic development, and access to affordable energy has been the key to a better life for people around the world. At the same time the environmental costs of human energy consumption are becoming ever more apparent: oil spills, the scarring of land by mining, air and water pollution, and the threat of global warming from the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Increasingly, maintaining an expanding supply of cheap energy seems to clash with concern for the environmental costs of such expansion. In this part of the book, we explore the background of energy production and energy consumption, and examine the prospects for meeting the energy needs of society while protecting the environment.