Renewable Energy Resources by John Twidell & Tony Weir

November 30, 2006

A review by Paul Gipe

Massive. That's the first word that comes to mind when picking up the 600-page tome by John Twidell and Tony Weir. Of course the broad subject of renewable energy deserves the treatment and I can't think of any better academic team to take on the task.

I've known John Twidell for decades now. He's one of Britain's renewables pioneers - and he has the scars to prove it. At one time Twidell owned or at least operated the abandoned WEG LS1 (Wind Energy Group Large Scale unit 1) on the Isle of Orkney. This was a behemoth of its day, a 60-meter, 3 MW two-bladed monster. Now that's hard core.

Twidell edits the long-running, peer-reviewed Journal of Wind Engineering http://www.multi-science.co.uk/windeng.htm . (Wind Engineering is one of the few, if not only remaining peer-reviewed journals on wind energy.) He knows his stuff and the book shows it.

Intended as a text book for masters students in engineering and science, Renewable Energy Resources is chocked full of equations, diagrams, charts, and tables that will give anyone a thorough technical grounding in renewable energy. The book can also be a useful reference for practicing professionals and energy policy analysts who need quick access to the technical foundations of each technology.

As a textbook, each chapter includes problems for solutions. But unlike the old days when you had to order the key separately, Renewable Energy Resources includes the solutions as part of its extensive appendix.

Each chapter also includes a thorough bibliography and a list of journals, magazines, and web sites in English. While the latter is often not complete, it is a good starting place for finding additional information on the technology of choice.

One weakness that is difficult for Anglophones to avoid is often to only reference background materials in English. Similarly, the examples cited are often in the Anglophone world: Britain, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Though the fundamental physics of the technologies are universal in any language, the intellectual and development momentum has definitely shifted to Japan and Germany for photovoltaics, and to Germany and Denmark for wind energy.

Nevertheless, British academics and practicing engineers have been producing some genre leading works on renewable energy, notably the Wind Energy Handbook by Tony Burton, et al. Twidell and Weir are masters of their subject and join the ranks of accomplished authors who have made a powerful contribution to the field. Renewable Energy Resources is a superb reference work.

Renewable Energy Resources, Second Edition, John Twidell & Tony Weir, 2005, Taylor and Francis, paper, 601 pages, illustrations, index, 234x156, ISBN 0-419-25330-0, £29.99. For U.S. orders: phone 1-800-634-7064; for international orders, phone (561) 994-0555.

Contents

Preface

List of symbols