Overview
- Provides readers with a practical understanding of sustainability
- Shows how copper, coal and other metals and energy sources have improved human welfare despite an exponentially growing world population
- Shows how we have continually developed increasingly cheaper energy
- Shows how we have continually developed increasingly cheaper metals
- Concludes that technology alone cannot be relied on to continually improve our standard of living
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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Table of contents (4 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
Reviews
“Another recent and excellent publication on the topic focuses on the sustainability and historical development of global coal and copper resources, defined by the authors as “critical components in our species development.” (Robert Bowell, Elements, Vol. 13 (5), October, 2017)
“A valuable resource for everyone concerned about the future availability of any material that has to be extracted from the earth. Certainly, this book should be prescribed reading for anyone who dares to pontificate on issues of sustainability. … The text is illuminated by 80 figures: graphs that effectively present in visual form the sometimes complex analyses and photographs that bring the accounts to life.” (Keith Sweatman, Bulletin Magazine, August, 2017)
“In our era, as global challenges rightly take centre stage, this book is very timely. … This highly readable book of only four chapters provides a worked example of how much insight can be obtained by rigorous scrutiny of the inter-dependencies between just two Earth resources. … The lively prose and striking colour illustrations make for an enjoyable read. … It is essential reading for anyone interested in the contemporary interface between economic geology and sustainability debates.” (Paul L. Younger, Geoscientist, geolsoc.org.uk, June, 2017)
“This book principally traces the development of copper metal as a major commodity through the ages; an element that has played, and continues to play, a major role in the technological developments that have supported civilisations over the millennia. … This is an entertaining and informative read for those interested in the technological developments that have enabled civilisations to use this important metal, and in the future supply and use of the world’s natural resources.” (Peter Hayes, Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy, Vol. 126 (3), 2017)
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Barry completed a Postgraduate Diploma of Applied Economics followed by a Master of Economics by Research in 2002. The focus for both degrees was applying cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness techniques to resource management, incorporating risk analysis and sustainable development. In 2011 he was awarded his PhD in Economics at the University of Queensland for his thesis entitled Metals, Energy and Sustainability.
Suzanne Golding commenced her geology career at the Mount Morgan gold-copper mine in 1967. She graduated from the University of Queensland in 1970 with a first class honours degree in Geology. Suzanne worked in mineral exploration and production in Australia and gold and coal mining in South Africa throughout the 1970s. In 1982 she was awarded a PhD in Geochemistry from the University of Queensland for work on gold mineralization in the Kalgoorlie-Norseman region, Western Australia.
Suzanne has served at the University of Queensland since 1982 and is currently a Professor at its School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. She has published more than 160 journal articles and book chapters and edited a pioneering text on coal seam gas entitled Coalbed Methane: Scientific, Environmental and Economic Evaluation.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Metals, Energy and Sustainability
Book Subtitle: The Story of Doctor Copper and King Coal
Authors: Barry Golding, Suzanne D. Golding
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51175-7
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental Science, Earth and Environmental Science (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-51173-3Published: 07 March 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-84586-9Published: 21 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-51175-7Published: 26 February 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIX, 196
Number of Illustrations: 12 b/w illustrations, 68 illustrations in colour
Topics: Mineral Resources, Energy Policy, Economics and Management, Sustainable Development, Econometrics, Fossil Fuels (incl. Carbon Capture)