Green plants and photosynthetic organisms are the Earth's natural photoconverters of solar energy. In future, biomass and bioenergy will become increasingly significant energy sources, making a contribution both to carbon dioxide abatement and to the security, diversity and sustainability of global energy supplies. In this book, experts provide a series of authoritative chapters on the intricate mechanisms of photosynthesis and the potential for using and improving photosynthetic organisms, plants and trees to sequester carbon dioxide and to provide fuel and useful chemicals for the benefit of man./a

Since the 1960s, breakthroughs in agriculture have made it possible to satisfy the world's increasing requirements for food. Can this trend continue over the next thirty years when the world population is projected to exceed eight billion? This book takes a critical look at the immediate challenges for feeding the population just a generation from now. Based on the 10th International Symposium sponsored by the Nutrition Committee and the Trustees of the Rank Prize Funds, the volume examines the full range of related issues, from food economics to resource allocation and crop yields. Beginning with an analysis of future food needs, the articles cover basic resources and constraints, applications of science to increase yield, the role of animal products in feeding eight billion people, and diverse social issues. The book provides insights into some of the most important questions we will be faced with in the coming years, making it an invaluable resource for a wide range of researchers in agriculture, the environment, and public policy.

Renewable Energy Resources is a numerate and quantitative text. It covers the many renewables technologies implemented worldwide by harnessing sustainable resources, mitigating pollution and climate change, and providing cost effective services. This fourth edition is extensively updated by John Twidell with global developments as underpinned by fundamental analysis and illustrated by case studies and worked examples. Efficiency of end-use and cost-effectiveness is emphasized. Each chapter begins with fundamental scientific theory, and then considers applications, environmental impact and socio-economic aspects, before concluding with Quick Questions for self-revision, Problems and new Exercises. Basic theory underlying the technologies is covered in succinct Reviews of electrical power, fluid dynamics, heat transfer and solid-state physics. Common symbols and cross-referencing apply throughout; essential data are tabulated in Appendices. Renewable Energy Resources supports multidisciplinary master’s degrees in science and engineering, and specialist modules at undergraduate level. Practicing scientists and engineers will find it a useful introductory text and reference book.

In the modern world, to meet increasing energy demands we need to develop new technologies allowing us to use eco-friendly carbon-neutral energy sources. Solar energy as the most promising renewable source could be the way to solve that problem, but it is variable depending on day time and season. From this side, the understanding of photosynthesis process could be of significant help for us to develop effective strategies of solar energy capturing, conversion, and storage. Plants, algae, and cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis, annually producing around 100 billion tons of dry biomass. Presently, the detailed studies of photosynthetic system structure make functional investigations of the photosynthetic process available, allowing scientists to construct artificial systems for solar energy transduction. This book summarizes exciting achievements in understanding of photosynthetic structures and mechanisms of this process made by world leaders in photosynthesis field, and contains information about modern ideas in development of revolutionary new technologies of energy conversion. Organized according to the natural sequence of events occurring during photosynthesis, the book includes information of both photosynthetic structures and mechanisms and its applications in bioenergetics issues.

Work as fundamental to life, explored at different levels of organization from the perspectives of a variety of biological and nonbiological disciplines.

This is the final volume of a 3-volume history of solar power generating systems covering the approximately 50 years of research and development surrounding the energy crisis of 1973. Volume 1 focused on solar-thermal systems and the second volume on photovoltaic systems in the 20th century. Volume 3 covers photovoltaic developments from the start of the 21st century. The history is based upon keynote lectures given by international specialists at the Sede Boqer Symposia on Solar Electric Power Production, a series that commenced in 1986. The lectures document many technical details that have become hard to find, including some pertaining to technologies that were successfully demonstrated but subsequently discontinued owing to their not having been deemed to be cost-effective at the time. However, in the event that different economic considerations may ensue, these volumes can provide a valuable starting point, including references, for the re-investigation of some of those once abandoned ideas.

​Plant signalling has emerged as an integrated field which has become indispensable in recent times to study any biological process. Over the last decade, an enormous amount of information has been generated in this field and the advances in information technology gave birth to bioinformatics which has helped greatly in managing the galaxy of information. It is now possible to view the different information’s in a systems biology approach which has unravelled the association/ new processes and thus helped us enormously in understanding of the biological processes. The present book is an attempt at understanding the plant signalling processes with different perspectives. Even though the plants are sessile but there exists a tremendous interconnected network of perception at morphological, physiological and molecular levels. The impact of the surrounding environment in terms of abiotic and biotic stresses is significant in terms of its survival, adaptation and productivity for the human welfare. The plants possess a wide array of processes at the organ, tissue and cellular levels which are governed by a plethora of molecules. The molecules govern individual processes and these exists a cross talk between them to form a complex network of processes. The book tries to envision how different processes are operating at different points in the life cycle of the plant.

As the search for renewable sources of energy grows more urgent, more and more attention is focusing on the blueprint offered by biological photosynthesis for translating the energy of our Sun into energy rich molecules like H2 and carbohydrates, commonly known as "solar fuels." These solar fuels have enormous potential to store high densities of energy in the form of chemical bonds as well as being transportable. This book offers a complete overview of the promising approaches to solar fuel generation, including the direct pathways of solar H2 generation and CO2 photocatalytic reduction. Solar Fuel Generation is an invaluable tool for graduate students and researchers (especially chemists, physicists, and material scientists) working in this field.

The increasingly widespread production of toxins by marine and freshwater microalgae raises serious concerns regarding seafood and drinking water safety. This book compiles studies on the influence of climate change on the spreading of toxin-producing species in aquatic systems. The chemistry and biology of toxin production is revised and an outlook on control and prevention of the toxins' impact on human and animal health is given.

In view of changes in the global environment, it is important to determine and developing technologies to ameliorate metabolic limitations by biological processes most sensitive to abiotic stress factors warning crop productivity. It is reaffirmed that publishing the important Treatise Series has been undertaken with a view to identify the inadequacies under varied environments and to scientifically extend precise and meaningful research so that the significant outcomes including new technologies are judiciously applied for requisite productivity, profitability and sustainability of agriculture. Besides this, meticulous research in some of the very sensible and stirring areas of Plant Physiology-Plant Molecular Physiology are indispensably needed for holistic development of agriculture and crop production in different agro-climatic zones. Ardently, this is also to focus upon excellent new ideas ensuring the best science done across the full extent of modern plant biology, in general, and plant physiology, in particular. In Volume 14, with inventive applied research, attempts have been made to bring together much needed eighteen remarkable review articles distributed in three appropriate major sections of Nutriophysiology and Crop Productivity, Plant Responses to Changing Environment and Environmental Stresses and Technological Innovations in Agriculture written by thirty four praiseworthy contributors of eminence in unequivocal fields mainly from premier institutions of India and abroad. In reality, the Volume 14 of the Treatise Series is wealth for interdisciplinary exchange of information particularly in the field of nutriophysiology and abiotic stresses for planning meaningful research and related education programmes in these thrust areas. Apart from fulfilling the heightened need of this kind of select edition in different volumes for research teams and scientists engaged in various facets of research in Plant Physiology/Plant Sciences in traditional and agricultural universities, institutes and research laboratories throughout the world, it would be tremendously a productive reference book for acquiring advanced knowledge by post-graduate and Ph.D. scholars in response to the innovative courses in Plant Physiology, Plant Biochemistry, Plant Molecular Biology, Plant Biotechnology, Environ-mental Sciences, Plant Pathology, Microbiology, Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, Agronomy, Horticulture, and Botany.