Sustainability And Energy Politics

The author explores the fraught politics of energy transitions in an age of climate change. She does so through an ecological modernisation and corporate social responsibility lens which she contends shapes and underpins sustainability today. Case studies cover climate policy, unconventional gas and renewable energy.

Despite a 2016-18 glut in fossil fuel markets and decade-low fuel prices, the global transformation to sustainable energy is happening. Our ongoing energy challenges and solutions are complex and multidimensional, involving science, technology, design, economics, finance, planning, policy, politics, and social movements. The most comprehensive book on this topic, Energy for Sustainability has been the go-to resource for courses. This new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to inform and guide students and practitioners who will steer this transformation. Drawing on a combined 80 years of teaching experience, John Randolph and Gilbert Masters take a holistic and interdisciplinary approach. Energy for Sustainability can help techies and policymakers alike understand the mechanisms required to enable conversion to energy that is clean, affordable, and secure. Major revisions to this edition reflect the current changes in technology and energy use and focus on new analyses, data, and methods necessary to understand and actively participate in the transition to sustainable energy. The book begins with energy literacy, including patterns and trends, before covering the fundamentals of energy related to physics, engineering, and economics. The next parts explore energy technologies and opportunities in three important energy sectors: buildings, electricity, and transportation. The final section focuses on policy and planning, presenting the critical role of public policy and consumer and investor choice in transforming energy markets to greater sustainability. Throughout the book, methods for energy and economic analysis and design give readers a quantitative appreciation for and understanding of energy systems. The book uses case studies extensively to demonstrate current experience and illustrate possibilities.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution energy has been a key driver of world politics. From the oil crises of the 1970s to today’s rapid expansion of renewable energy sources, every shift in global energy patterns has important repercussions for international relations. In this new book, Thijs Van de Graaf and Benjamin Sovacool uncover the intricate ways in which our energy systems have shaped global outcomes in four key areas of world politics: security, the economy, the environment and global justice. Moving beyond the narrow geopolitical focus that has dominated much of the discussion on global energy politics, they also deftly trace the connections between energy, environmental politics, and community activism. The authors argue that we are on the cusp of a global energy shift that promises to be no less transformative for the pursuit of wealth and power in world politics than the historical shifts from wood to coal and from coal to oil. This ongoing energy transformation will not only upend the global balance of power; it could also fundamentally transfer political authority away from the nation state, empowering citizens, regions and local communities. Global Energy Politics will be an essential resource for students of the social sciences grappling with the major energy issues of our times.

This book demonstrates the need to coordinate private and corporate actors with national and global sustainable climate policies, with conventions in the spheres of green energy laws, as well as from the spheres of commercial, trade, and other private law. While many states have joined together in the Paris Agreements in support of green energy policies, it remains a stark reality that most of the efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions remain with private actors who operate the various industries, vehicles, and vessels that emit the gases in target. The risks of anthropogenic climate change cannot be solved by environmental law alone and will need complementary support from commercial, corporate, and private law. However, aspects of commercial law, securities law, and trade law can be shown to frustrate certain aspects of green energy policies, resulting in damaging "green paradoxes". It raises issues associated with corporate social responsibility and green paradoxes, with international trade laws, and with liability risks for misrepresenting the state of feasible green energy technologies. The book will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of energy law, environmental law, and corporate law.

This volume presents an in-depth analysis of climate change problems and discusses the proliferation of renewable energy worldwide—in conjunction with such important questions as social justice and economic growth, providing an interdisciplinary approach to sustainable development. Exploring various responses to human-induced climate change, the book offers a critical reflection on climate change and clean energy and highlights the fundamental problems of international energy justice and human rights. Examining these and other climate-related issues from legal, business, political, and scientific perspectives, the volume also analyzes the impact of economic factors and policies on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The world of development thinkers and practitioners is abuzz with a new lexicon: the idea of "the nexus" between water, food, and energy which is intuitively compelling. It promises better integration of multiple sectoral elements, a better transition to greener economies, and sustainable development. However, there appears to be little agreement on its precise meaning, whether it only complements existing environmental governance approaches or how it can be enhanced in national contexts. One current approach to the nexus treats it as a risk and security matter while another treats it within economic rationality addressing externalities across sector. A third perspective acknowledges it as a fundamentally political process requiring negotiation amongst different actors with distinct perceptions, interests, and practices. This perspective highlights the fact that technical solutions for improving coherence within the nexus may have unintended and negative impacts in other policy areas, such as poverty alleviation and education. The Water–Food–Energy Nexus: Power, Politics and Justice lays out the managerial-technical definitions of the nexus and challenges these conceptions by bringing to the forefront the politics of the nexus, around two key dimensions – a dynamic understanding of water–food–energy systems, and a normative positioning around nexus debates, in particular around social justice. The authors argue that a shift in nexus governance is required towards approaches where limits to control are acknowledged, and more reflexive/plural strategies adopted. This book will be of interest to academic researchers, policy makers, and practitioners in the fields of international development studies, environmental politics, and science and technology studies, as well as international relations.

A comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy. Wind and solar are the most dynamic components of the global power sector. How did this happen? After the 1973 oil crisis, the limitations of an energy system based on fossil fuels created an urgent need to experiment with alternatives, and some pioneering governments reaped political gains by investing heavily in alternative energy such as wind or solar power. Public policy enabled growth over time, and economies of scale brought down costs dramatically. In this book, Michaël Aklin and Johannes Urpelainen offer a comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy analysis. Aklin and Urpelainen argue that, because the fossil fuel energy system and political support for it are so entrenched, only an external shock—an abrupt rise in oil prices, or a nuclear power accident, for example—allows renewable energy to grow. They analyze the key factors that enable renewable energy to withstand political backlash, andt they draw on this analyisis to explain and predict the development of renewable energy in different countries over time. They examine the pioneering efforts in the United States, Germany, and Denmark after the 1973 oil crisis and other shocks; explain why the United States surrendered its leadership role in renewable energy; and trace the recent rapid growth of modern renewables in electricity generation, describing, among other things, the return of wind and solar to the United States. Finally, they apply the lessons of their analysis to contemporary energy policy issues.

China’s energy use has been doubling every decade.