This book provides a breadth and depth of innovative and impactful research led by women investigators in the field of renewable energy. This book showcases the diversity of renewable energy solutions being deployed commercially in the United States and internationally, including new research underway. The chapters collectively cover the entire spectrum of large, utility scale to small, distributed-scale renewable energy technologies, as well as new operating practices in buildings necessary to fully capture the value of renewable energy. The chapters also discuss technical and market considerations of renewable energy resources, plus customer attitudes and acceptance. These topics touch on many of the challenges facing the world today and these solutions by women researchers are valuable for their technical excellence and their non-traditional perspective.
This book examines the low-carbon energy transition taking place in developing Asia, in the context of persisting social and gender inequalities, the threat of climate change which has necessitated the decarbonisation of industry, and examines how developing Asia can ‘leap-frog’ the carbon-emitting stages that more developed economies have passed through, while simultaneously ‘leap-frogging’ social and gender equity gaps. The book uses the concept of ‘disruptive technologies’, an area of study that assesses the potential of certain technologies to disrupt the status quo and the concept of socio-technical frameworks, where social considerations are factored in to engineering systems and models. Using case studies and methodologies drawn from interdisciplinary approaches to engineering, and from development studies, science and technology studies and feminist approaches, it assesses how the low-carbon energy transition potentially provides poor women in developing Asia the opportunity to get on board at the early phase of these changes and influence and even transform their societies and lives.
"In many ways, everything we once knew about energy resources and technologies has been impacted by: the longstanding scientific consensus on climate change and related support for renewable energy; the affordability of extraction of unconventional fuels; increasing demand for energy resources by middle- and low-income nations; new regional and global stakeholders; fossil fuel discoveries and emerging renewable technologies; awareness of (trans)local politics; and rising interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the need for energy justice. Research on these and related topics now appears frequently in social science academic journals-in broad-based journals, such as International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, and Review of International Political Economy, as well as those focused specifically on energy (e.g., Energy Research & Social Science and Energy Policy), the environment (Global Environmental Politics), natural resources (Resources Policy), and extractive industries (Extractive Industries and Society). The Oxford Handbook of Energy Politics synthesizes and aggregates this substantively diverse literature to provide insights into, and a foundation for teaching and research on, critical energy issues primarily in the areas of international relations and comparative politics. Its primary goals are to further develop the energy politics scholarship and community, and generate sophisticated new work that will benefit a variety of scholars working on energy issues"--
The climate crisis is a crisis of leadership. For too long too many leaders have prioritized corporate profits over the public good, exacerbating climate vulnerabilities while reinforcing economic and racial injustice. Transformation to a just, sustainable renewable-based society requires leaders who connect social justice to climate and energy. During the Trump era, connections among white supremacy; environmental destruction; and fossil fuel dependence have become more conspicuous. Many of the same leadership deficiencies that shaped the inadequate response in the United States to the coronavirus pandemic have also thwarted the US response to the climate crisis. The inadequate and ineffective framing of climate change as a narrow, isolated, discrete problem to be “solved” by technical solutions is failing. The dominance of technocratic, white, male perspectives on climate and energy has inhibited investments in social change and social innovations. With new leadership and diverse voices, we can strengthen climate resilience, reduce racial and economic inequities, and promote social justice. In Diversifying Power, energy expert Jennie Stephens argues that the key to effectively addressing the climate crisis is diversifying leadership so that antiracist, feminist priorities are central. All politics is now climate politics, so all policies, from housing to health, now have to integrate climate resilience and renewable energy. Stephens takes a closer look at climate and energy leadership related to job creation and economic justice, health and nutrition, housing and transportation. She looks at why we need to resist by investing in bold diverse leadership to curb the “the polluter elite.” We need to reclaim and restructure climate and energy systems so policies are explicitly linked to social, economic, and racial justice. Inspirational stories of diverse leaders who integrate antiracist, feminist values to build momentum for structural transformative change are woven throughout the book, along with Stephens’ experience as a woman working on climate and energy. The shift from a divided, unequal, extractive, and oppressive society to a just, sustainable, regenerative, and healthy future has already begun. But structural change needs more bold and ambitious leaders at all levels, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with the Green New Deal, or the Secwepemc women of the Tiny House Warriors resisting the Trans Mountain pipeline. Diversifying Power offers hope and optimism. Stephens shows how the biggest challenges facing society are linked and anyone can get involved to leverage the power of collective action. By highlighting the creative individuals and organizations making change happen, she provides inspiration and encourages transformative action on climate and energy justice.
A provocative call for delegitimizing fossil fuels rather than accommodating them, accompanied by case studies from Ecuador to Appalachia and from Germany to Norway.Not so long ago, people North and South had little reason to believe that wealth from oil, gas, and coal brought anything but great prosperity. But the presumption of net benefits from fossil fuels is eroding as widening circles of people rich and poor experience the downside.A positive transition to a post-fossil fuel era cannot wait for global agreement, a swap-in of renewables, a miracle technology, a carbon market, or lifestyle change. This book shows that it is now possible to take the first step toward the post-fossil fuel era, by resisting the slow violence of extreme extraction and combustion, exiting the industry, and imagining a good life after fossil fuels. It shows how an environmental politics of transition might occur, arguing for going to the source rather than managing byproducts, for delegitimizing fossil fuels rather than accommodating them, for engaging a politics of deliberately choosing a post-fossil fuel world. Six case studies reveal how individuals, groups, communities, and an entire country have taken first steps out of the fossil fuel era, with experiments that range from leaving oil under the Amazon to ending mountaintop removal in Appalachia.
This book casts a light on the daily struggles and achievements of ‘gender experts’ working in environment and development organisations, where they are charged with advancing gender equality and social equity and aligning this with visions of sustainable development. Developed through a series of conversations convened by the book’s editors with leading practitioners from research, advocacy and donor organisations, this text explores the ways gender professionals – specialists and experts, researchers, organizational focal points – deal with personal, power-laden realities associated with navigating gender in everyday practice. In turn, wider questions of epistemology and hierarchies of situated knowledges are examined, where gender analysis is brought into fields defined as largely techno-scientific, positivist and managerialist. Drawing on insights from feminist political ecology and feminist science, technology and society studies, the authors and their collaborators reveal and reflect upon strategies that serve to mute epistemological boundaries and enable small changes to be carved out that on occasions open up promising and alternative pathways for an equitable future. This book will be of great relevance to scholars and practitioners with an interest in environment and development, science and technology, and gender and women’s studies more broadly. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351175180, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Cities across the globe are growing fast. Today many are environmental nightmares with polluted air, excessive energy consumption and an absence of nature. But big cities don’t have to mean a dystopian future. They can be turned around to be powerhouses of well-being and environmental stability – if we empower women. This book is a unique collaboration between C40 and Friends of the Earth showcasing pioneering voices in the environmental and feminist movements. This book reveals just how women’s empowerment is critical to environmental sustainability. This book is a rallying call – for the planet, for women, for everyone.
'offers knowledge and inspiration to promote renewable energy in developing and industrialized countries' Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP From technology to financing issues, Renewable Energy offers a comprehensive and authoritative review of the determining factors that drive worldwide dissemination of renewable energy technologies. With a clear emphasis on policy and action, contributions from internationally renowned experts combine to form a holistic picture of the current status, impacts and future potential of renewable energy. Addressing the situation in both developing and developed countries, each chapter reviews in detail a different issue, to present extensive information on social, environmental, political, economic and technological aspects. This will be essential reading for professionals in renewable energy, in particular policy-makers, researchers, NGOs and energy consultants, and a valuable resource for teachers and students of renewable energy, environmental studies, development studies, political science and international relations.
In this book, meet thirty-four real-life energy superheroes powering our planet. They install solar panels, dig wells miles into the ground, connect zigzagging power lines that charge our favorite electronics, and drive us into the future with battery-powered cars.
