Power plants

James Palmer is Senior Lecturer in Environmental Governance at the University of Bristol

Power plants is a timely intervention that helps to better situate bioenergy as a ‘solution’ to energy and climate crises. What sets this book apart is Palmer’s focus on the material properties of the plant life that comprise bioenergy. Through this lens, Palmer asks what society can learn from listening to the plants, rather than continually trying—and failing—to shape plants to serve societal needs. As such, the book offers a refreshing new way of thinking about more sustainable energy futures. Dr Jennifer Baka, Associate Professor of Geography, Pennsylvania State UniversityBioenergy makes up the majority of non-fossil fuel energy supplies, but plants tend to receive less attention than wind or solar power. James Palmer’s engaging book provides a much-needed analysis of ‘vegetal labor,’ showing how plants are being put to work worldwide – whether in plans for aviation biofuel or for carbon removal and storage – in order to sustain the dream of endless energy expansion. Palmer illuminates the many ways that plants are distinct as energy workers, even though ecomodernists like to treat bioenergy as a smooth substitution for fossil fuels. This leads to the book's inspiring conclusion: that plants suggest different energy values, premised in vegetal rhythms of rest and activity that transcend the narrow goal of maximizing productivity. Dr Cara Daggett, Affiliate faculty, Dept of Poli Sci at VT, and Fellow, Futures of Sustainability Centre, University of Hamburg, GermanyThis brilliant critique of bioenergy foregrounds the power of plants for photosynthesis. With more and more of this ‘vegetal work’ earmarked for climate change mitigation, James Palmer shows how a logic of plant productivity now pervades the governance of energy-society relations. Engagingly written and informed by over a decade of original work, Palmer takes us into fields and forests where plant life is being put to work, saving capitalist commitments to growth if not the planet. There’s a daring argument here too, about the excessiveness of plant life beyond logics of work and productivity: plants’ true potential may lie in helping us rethink attachments to efficiency and growth. A must read for anyone who cares about resources, environments or energy transition.Professor Gavin Bridge, Department of Geography, Durham University

• Introduction | Power plants: Bringing energy to life1 | Dead stocks to living flows? Bioenergy as vegetal labour2 | The new biofuel rush: Cars, crops, climate and coloniality3 | Growing energy on trees? Reinventing working forests as carbon conveyors4 | Living oil fields: Reprogramming crops to mine the sun5 | Going global: Mobilising vegetal labour for climate stabilisationConclusion | Rethinking plant power: For vegetal energy cultures