**About the Editor**

**Andrzej L. Wasiak** 1961 got his MSc degree in X-ray crystallography from the Department of Chemistry of Warsaw University. In 1974 received PhD in technical sciences from the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research of Polish Academy Sciences, and in the year 2000—DSc in Materials Science. Actually holds the professor's position at Bialystok University of Technology. (Poland).

His scientific career includes work at the Crystallography Department of Warsaw University. Institute of Industrial Chemistry in Warsaw, Institute of Fundamental Technological Research of Polish Academy of Sciences. postdoctoral associate position at the University of Massachusetts, and visiting scientist positions at the Duisburg University (Germany), Kyoto University (Japan). Prof Wasiak also presented many lectures at European, American and Japanese universities and industrial laboratories as well as on international conferences.

Scientific activity for long time was focused on X-Ray investigations of structure formation processes occurring during industrial processing in low molecular and polymeric materials, in particular by means of synchrotron radiation techniques. These works gradually led to involvement in the mathematical modeling of formation of the structure of material undergoing transformation in manufacturing processes.

Over the last several years, Prof. Wasiak focused his interests on mathematical modeling of energetic efficiency of fuel production processes, with particular emphasis on biofuels. These works resulted in the development of a methodology that allows taking into account the impact of individual elements of the production system on the energetic efficiency of the entire system.

## **Preface to "Alternative Energy Sources"**

The use of fossil fuels gave rise to enormous progress in the development of civilization in the 20th century. Fossil fuels, providing an easy availability and abundance of energy, were the main factors assuring the creation and development of modern technologies.

The world's economy is confronted with several problems associated with the present state of fossil fuel exploitation, as well as challenges associated with an increasing demand for energy. Increased atmospheric pollution, widely discussed effects of carbon dioxide emission, etc., are on one side of the problem. The other side is the unavoidable exhaustion of fossil resources themselves.

Efforts undertaken in the name of "energy efficiency", tending to optimize the productivity of energy being consumed, are very important, but physically limited.

The mitigation of energy consumption by limiting the access to the energy resources seems to be unacceptable since it would result in stagnation or even regression in the global economy, and would cause a worldwide decrease in the standard of life.

Consequently, new resources, as well as the development of corresponding technologies, are needed. In fact, substantial achievements in this direction have already been made.

It is difficult to imagine instantaneous worldwide transfer to any new technology. Progress must be achieved by the gradual replacement of the old resources and technologies with developing ones. It would be nice to avoid big mistakes involving attempts to develop routes that go nowhere. Therefore, there is a need for a wide spectrum of research on alternative resources, including renewable ones, as well as those that seem to be inexhaustible (solar energy is one such example, but resources enabling the construction of appropriate converters are more or less limited).

One of the important factors is the energy efficiency of the harvesting and exploitation of energy derived from both fossil and alternative resources. It can be expressed as a ratio of energy delivered by the converting system to the sum of energy fluxes consumed by that system in order to assure its functioning. The search for conversion routes that consume only a small part of the energy being delivered is perhaps the biggest challenge for technological development.

The notion of alternative energy covers at least two scopes of intellectual activity.

The first, more conservative one, concerns the efforts to develop technological or organizational innovation in the steps assuring only the possibility to fulfill actual legal requirements posed by international political organizations or country's government.

The second seeks radical steps that usually consume more time and bigger investments, but are aimed towards fundamental changes in technologies, and lead to fundamental changes in ecological impact as well as similar influence on the global economy.

Both directions require systematic applied and fundamental research concerning generation, as well as rational use of energy, and both concern the mitigation of the negative environmental impacts.

> **Andrzej L. Wasiak** *Editor*
