The Political Ecology and Justice of Energy

Abstract

This chapter first briefly discusses definitions of political economy, political ecology, and social justice. It then presents five different theoretical concepts or lenses that offer a novel way of evaluating and assessing energy systems. Political ecology research attempts to understand conflict over energy resources. Tyranny, dispossession, and peripheralization research seeks to investigate the sacrifice of one group over another more powerful group in energy decision-making. Global production networks research examines the activities and structures that transform labor, nature, and capital into commodities and services. Enclosure and exclusion research explores the power regimes, processes, or ideologies that enclosure upon resources or exclude agents from access. Energy justice research examines dimensions of fairness and equity in energy decisions and practices. In tandem, these five novel concepts suggest that, firstly, we need to think about energy technology and systems as more than simply hardware, and that secondly, conflict and struggle are part and parcel of the process of the diffusion of new energy technologies and the formulation of energy policies. No matter how noble the intentions of engineers and planners, they have their own inescapable underlying political ecology and ramifications for justice.