The necessity to adapt the energy system due to limited energy resources and environmental
damage e.g. climate change is today widely accepted. To understand discuss and manage the
adaption a basic knowledge on the technologies used in the energy system is needed.The book
tries to give a brief introduction in a way that is suitable for people without a higher
scientific or technical education. It focuses on basic effects and general concepts and tries
to explain how things work without complex formulas only basic physics and chemistry at a high
school level is used. Crucial points are illustrated by examples. Additional information given
includes sources of short movies in the internet that describe different technologies often in
action and can be especially helpful for teaching. Further on sources with a detailed
scientific and technical treatment to go beyond a brief introduction are given. The book covers
the essentials regarding energy the different energy technologies and finally how the
different technologies are combined forming the energy system. The essentials introduce and
explain the different energy forms as there are mechanical thermal electrical magnetical
chemical and nuclear energy the different types of processes of energy conversion storage
and transport and the exchange of energy as work and heat. Following the essentials is the
description of the individual technologies for energy conversion storage and transport. For
each of them the basics and the different technologies are discussed starting from single
step processes as in materials to multiple step processes as in power plants. In the energy
system many of these technologies are connected to supply the desired energy to the user.
Basic considerations on energy networks a description of networks for thermal electrical
chemical and nuclear energy individually and their connections in the global energy system
conclude the book.
