Sustainable Energy Transformations Power And Politics

This book analyses energy transitions and the opportunities and challenges for building sustainable energy systems to improve human capabilities while protecting the environment. Sufficient and secure energy supply is critical to human thriving and socioeconomic development. Yet energy systems are also implicated in the most pressing socio-environmental challenges of our time - climate change, air pollution, and water and land use. This book examines what is arguably the most ambitious vision for a renewable energy based system worldwide. This vision, often called Desertec, is for a regional electricity system supplying North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East with sustainable and affordable power. The behemoth plan would entail building dozens of large-scale solar and wind power plants mostly in North Africa, interconnecting the fragmented transmission infrastructure of 38 Mediterranean countries, and linking North Africa to the European Union (EU) through undersea transmission cables. Within the Mediterranean, the book focuses on Morocco, which is one of the most advanced developing countries in renewable energy scale-up, to understand its motivations for building renewable energy and the effects on sustainable development. The book therefore takes a unique multi-scalar approach to understanding the social and political aspects of energy transitions, weaving together the views of villagers living near Morocco’s first solar energy zone with the perspectives of national decision-makers in Morocco with the views of European policymakers and major transnational energy companies in the Mediterranean region. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars and policymakers interested in energy transitions, sustainable and renewable energy, Mediterranean politics, sustainable development and environment and sustainability more generally.

Renewable energy is rising within an energy system dominated by powerful vested energy interests in fossil fuels, nuclear and electric utilities. Analyzing renewables in six very different countries, the author argues that it is the extent to which states have controlled these vested interests that determines the success or failure of renewables.

A novel, interdisciplinary account of the global politics of producing, financing, governing and mobilising energy system transformation.

A volume on the political economy of clean energy transition in developed and developing regions, with a focus on the issues that different countries face as they transition from fossil fuels to lower carbon technologies.

With America’s dependence on fossil fuels painfully apparent due to world events and the resultant sharply rising gas prices, the search for renewable energy sources has never been more important. Still, the quest for sustainable energy is far from new. Since passage of the National Energy Act of 1978, states and the federal government have encouraged technological advances designed to make the United States self-sufficient when it comes to energy production. Government incentives and global-minded policymakers encourage development of alternative energy sources. While addressing the national issues of global climate change and energy security, the idea of sustainable energy must also find a way to appeal to an increasingly competitive market. Through nine case studies, this volume explores the roles which politics, market forces and leadership play as barriers or facilitators in the development of sustainable energy sources. Beginning with an overview of energy-related programs and legislation including the National Energy Act of 1978 and the Energy Policy acts of 1992 and 2005, the book discusses the various financial programs and policy mechanisms used by the states. Each of the nine essays examines sustainable energy development within a particular state or region. The importance of the political climate, the impact of free markets and the value of effective leadership with regard to this particular technological development remains a common thread. Topics such as the perceived effectiveness of state and federal governmental efforts and prevalent attitudes regarding renewable energy are also discussed. Each essay includes an in-depth bibliography with many website resources to encourage further research. Statistical tables are also provided. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

This textbook provides an accessible introduction to various energy transformation technologies and their influences on the environment. Here the energy transformation is understood as any physical process induced by humans, in which energy is intentionally transformed from one form to another. This book provides an accessible introduction to the subject: covering the theory, principles of design, operation, and efficiency of the systems in addition to discerning concepts such as energy, entropy, exergy, efficiency, and sustainability. It is not assumed that readers have any previous exposure to such concepts as laws of thermodynamics, entropy, exergy, fluid mechanics or heat transfer, and is therefore an ideal textbook for advanced undergraduate students. Key features: Represents a complete source of information on sustainable energy transformation systems and their externalities. Includes all existing and major emerging technologies in the field. Chapters include numerous examples and problems for further learning opportunities.

Energy Transformation towards Sustainability explores how researchers, businesses and policymakers can explore and usefully improve energy systems and energy consumption behavior, both to reflect the reality of climate change and related environmental degradation and to adapt to the expanding periphery of renewable energy technologies. It introduces the reader to a suite of potential policy pathways to the necessary transformation in societal energy consumption, usage and behavior. Solutions discussed include energy efficiency, energy security, the role of political leadership, green public policy, and the transition to renewable energy sources. International contributions address the range and depth of current research from a position of advocacy for 'energy stewardship' as the driver of this transformation. Case studies illustrate the range of various countries to diminish energy use. Finally, policy avenues are covered in depth. Reviews the interrelationship between economic growth, energy consumption and climate change Uses a wide variety of case studies to support practical implementation across national energy systems Highlights a wide spectrum of urgent issues, including threats related to energy use and secure and sustainable development Contains contributions that reflect a breadth and depth of scholarship from international backgrounds

In 1934, Lewis Mumford critiqued the industrial energy system as a key source of authoritarian economic and political tendencies in modern life. Recent debate continues to engage issues of energy authoritarianism, focusing on the contest between energy-driven globalization (the spread of energy deregulation and the simultaneous consolidation of the oil, coal, and gas industries) and the so-called "sustainable energy" strategy that celebrates the local and community scale characteristics of renewable energy. Including theoretical inquiries and case studies by distinguished writers, Transforming Power is divided into three parts: Energy, Environment, and Society; The Politics of Conventional Energy; and The Politics of Sustainable Energy. It interrogates current contemporary energy assumptions, exploring the reflexive relationship between energy, environment, and society, and examining energy as a social project. Some of these have promised a prosperous future founded upon technological advances that further modernize the modern energy system, such as "inherently safe" nuclear power, environmentally friendly coal gasification, and the advent of a wealthier, cleaner world powered by fuel cells; and the "green technologies," said by advocates to prefigure a revival of human scale development, local self-determination, and a commitment to ecological balance. br This volume offers a timely engagement of the social issues surrounding energy conflicts and contradictions. It will be of interest to policymakers, energy and environmental experts, sociologists, and historians of technology.