Peter Tavner is an emeritus professor of new and renewable energy at Durham University, UK and continues to be an active participant in UK university doctoral schemes including, Hull University's AURA Centre for Doctoral Training and Sheffield University's Future Electrical Machines Manufacturing (FEMM) Hub.

An account of the engineering history of extracting energy from our environment in sustainable ways, this book describes the status of energy usage, then reviews energy demands through history, covering science, engineering, and electricity, with graphical and schematic data presentation.