Electrical Engineering:Principles and Applications: United States Edition - Hardcover

For undergraduate introductory or survey courses in electrical engineering. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING: PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS, 5/e helps students learn electrical-engineering fundamentals with minimal frustration. Its goals are to present basic concepts in a general setting, to show students how the principles of electrical engineering apply to specific problems in their own fields, and to enhance the overall learning process. Circuit analysis, digital systems, electronics, and electromechanics are covered. A wide variety of pedagogical features stimulate student interest and engender awareness of the material's relevance to their chosen profession.

Tomorrow's Engineers

Finding and developing practical ways to provide the energy needed for modern technical societies on a sustainable basis without disrupting the environment is the most important problem confronting the coming generation of engineers and scientists. Among the proposed energy sources, two of which (solar and wind) are used by the dandelion to grow and disperse its seeds are:

Wind energy

Earth-based solar thermal concentrators and photovoltaic solar cells

Hydroelectric energy

Biomass energy

Geothermal energy

Gulf stream, wave, and tidal energy

Clean coal, in which the C02 is captured and stored ot recycled in a biomass energy plant

Systems of nuclear fission reactors combined with hybrid fission/fusion reactors that burn the waste products of the fission reactors

Nuclear fusion

Hydrogen from water using sunlight aided by a catalyst

Enhanced power grids may need to be built to distribute energy from some of these proposed solutions. Conservation must also play a part, possibly including:

• More efficient power grids
• Hybrid or electric vehicles
• Better mass transportation for people
• Hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles
• Efficient lighting
• More/better rail systems in place of trucks and highways
• Better building design
• Better intelligence in energy consumption

Regardless of which solutions ultimately emerge, it is certain that all of the topics discussed in this book will play important roles. For example, see the Practical Application concerning energy-storage systems for electric vehicles starting on page 100.