Introduction—Thermodynamics and Energy Efficiency

Thermodynamics has traditionally been defined as the study of heat and work. The steam engine’s invention in the nineteenth century was closely related to Newcomen’s discovery, and it developed at the same time as the Industrial Revolution. This succinct historical synopsis highlights the close relationship between science and technology development; it’s a great example of how scientific bases encourage and assist engineering. An industrialized, globalized world that is insatiably hungry for energy nonetheless faces many of the same problems, concerns, and paradigms as it did in the past.