Julie L. MacArthur – författare

Canada is known for being an energy-producing nation – with much attention being paid to the Alberta tar sands and their large carbon footprint. This book looks at a very different part of the Canadian energy sector: the hundreds of renewable energy co-ops that have sprung up across the nation. These co-ops are democratically structured, community-based organizations that use sun, wind, rivers, tides, and plant and animal waste as sources of local power generation.

Empowering Electricity offers an illuminating analysis of these co-ops within the context of larger debates over climate change, renewable electricity policy, sustainable community development, and provincial power-sector ownership. It looks at the conditions that led to this new wave of co-operative development, examines their form and location, and shines a light on the promises and challenges accompanying their development.

As energy systems are pressured to transform in the face of climate change, Justice in Canada's Energy Transition asserts that justice and equity are central to making a low-carbon economy sustainable.

Bringing together voices too often excluded from energy debates, this collection reframes Canada's energy transition in social, political, and practical terms. Contributors address key issues – the politics of phasing out fossil fuels, the limits of market-based climate solutions, and the need for Indigenous energy sovereignty – and then discuss how to design inclusive responses that tackle energy inequalities and advance energy democracy.

Specific cases explore the human and ecological impact of various projects, including the effect on communities of a coal phase-out and the equity considerations in locating a solar farm. Recommended steps involve teaching energy justice, supporting Indigenous leadership, and developing grounded solutions, such as community-owned renewables.

This is a call to shift how we think about climate action. Only by diversifying the voices that shape and benefit from Canadian energy infrastructure can we transition to a just and sustainable system.