There are few scientific disciplines today which do not encounter energy related questions, problems, dilemmas and obstacles. Mankind requires water and oxygen for life and then energy to survive and prosper. There has been an endless search for new ways in which to create energy. While hope springs eternal for a cleaner energy more dependable source of energy, the manner in which the world is energized has continued to be either hydrocarbon based, nuclear or biofuels along with many forms of renewable energy.

The Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy and Shale Gas is a comprehensive depository of all information relating to the scientific and technological aspects of the world's energy. The broken into seven sections contains over 75 concise articles.

Written by a committee of the world's leading energy experts, the encyclopedia combines decades of knowledge and experience working with an exhaustive list of energy sources and technologies. Most topics will be prepared as short digestible entries making it easy for users to find the required information quickly, without the need to search through long articles.

The 7 sections in the Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy and Shale Gas feature along with many other important entries:

Wind Power topics including Acceptance of Wind Power, Alternative Wind Energy Sources, Fatigue Failure in Wind Turbine Blades

Solar topics including Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells, Solar basics, Solar Thermal

Geothermal topics including Thermodynamic Analysis of Geothermal Power Plants, Dry Cooling Towers for Geothermal Power Plants, and Thermal Storage

Hydropower topics including Safety in Hyrdropower Development and Operation and Pumped Hydroelectric Storage

Batteries and Fuel Cells topics including Fuel Cell Control and Recycling and Disposal of Battery Materials

Renewable Energy Concepts including Tidal Power Harnessing, Biomass, Municipal Solid Wastes, and Ethanol

Shale Gas topic including Directional and Horizontal Drilling in Oil and Gas Wells, Shale Gas Versus Ethanol, Oil Shale

The Shale Gas section also include a contribution from the Energy Mineral Division of the American Association of Petroleum with their 2014 Shale Gas and Liquids Committee Annual Report.

The ends of the sections contain useful timelines as well as brief discussions on the fundamentals of the various energy types.

Jay H. Lehr received the nation's first Ph.D. in Ground Water Hydrology from the University of Arizona in 1962, following a degree in Geological Engineering from Princeton University and a few years in the U.S. Navy's Civil Engineering Corps in the Western Pacific. After Graduate school he taught both at the University of Arizona and Ohio State University before serving 25 years as head of the Association of Ground Water Scientists and Engineers where he was editor of the Journals of Ground Water and Ground Water Monitoring Review. During that period he continued to perform academic sponsored research in many areas of environmental science. Since 1994 Dr. Lehr has been Science Director of the Heartland Institute, a free market think tank located in Chicago, IL, which, through its many publications, provides objective technical information to elected officials throughout the United States.

Jack Keeley is the former Chief of Groundwater Research at the USEPA Kerr Water Resource Research Laboratory in Ada, Oklahoma.