Martin J. Pasqualetti - Böcker

Energy Democracies for Sustainable Futures explores how our dominant carbon and nuclear energy assemblages shape conceptions of participation, risk, and in/securities, and how they might be reengineered to deliver justice and democratic participation in transitioning energy systems. Chapters assess the economies, geographies and politics of current and future energy landscapes, exposing how dominant assemblages (composed of technologies, strategies, knowledge and authorities) change our understanding of security and risk, and how they these shared understandings are often enacted uncritically in policy. Contributors address integral relationships across the production and government of material and human energies and the opportunities for sustainable and democratic governance.

In addition, the book explores how interest groups advance idealized energy futures and energy imaginaries. The work delves into the role that states, market organizations and civil society play in envisioned energy change. It assesses how risks and security are formulated in relation to economics, politics, ecology, and human health. It concludes by integrating the relationships between alternative energies and governance strategies, including issues of centralization and decentralization, suggesting approaches to engineer democracy into decision-making about energy assemblages.

Explores descriptive and normative relationships between energy and democracy Reviews how changing energy demand and governance threaten democracies and democratic institutions Identifies what participative energy transformations look like when paired with energy security Reviews what happens to social, economic and political infrastructures in the process of achieving sustainable and democratic transitions

Energy weaves the tapestry of our lives, and it does so in more ways than we usually recognize. While it is clear that it powers our homes, airplanes, and factories, its overwhelming influence often goes without notice in other areas, from the heartbreak of poverty to the motivation for war. While maintaining its availability has the potential to create jobs and contribute to competitive economies, nonrenewable energy sources are scarring our landscapes, polluting our air, and fouling our water. Understanding how we use energy and what we are willing to do to maintain our access to it can help us prepare for the complex and daunting challenges that linger as we look for alternatives. In The Thread of Energy, Martin J. Pasqualetti homes in on this vital driver of human actions and decisions. He exposes the impact of energy according to multiple scales of measurement and assessment, from everyday applications to global entanglements. The book traces our increasing dependence on Earth's nonrenewable energy resources by comparing lifestyle changes throughout history. Pasqualetti showcases the many ways energy infiltrates communication methods in all its forms (e.g., print, visuals, digital, etc.). The final chapters detail various approaches used by democratic societies looking to lessen their energy usage, including the critical importance of environmentally conscious policymakers. The Thread of Energy treats energy as a social issue with a technical component, rather than the other way around.

Addressing the major issues surrounding the use of nuclear power, twenty-nine social scientists with extensive involvement in the assessment and management of nuclear technology discuss critical areas of concern--problem recognition, risk estimation, and policy formation and implementation. The authors appraise fundamental policy issues and examine

The objective of this book is to further the field of technology assessment and hazard management by exploring issues in problem recognition, hazard reduction and impact management, and policy formulation.

Originally published in 1990. This book argues that a better understanding of the social impact of decommissioning - in areas such as jobs, waste, economics, opinion, law, public policy, land-use and legacies - is vital to the successful application of any technical solution. The issues raised are divided into three areas which deal with those problems that have already been recognized, the questions that decommissioning itself will raise and those that may result from likely future developments. The book aims to initiate a process of appraisal by examining several of the more obvious social ties to decommissioning.

Originally published in 1990. This book argues that a better understanding of the social impact of decommissioning - in areas such as jobs, waste, economics, opinion, law, public policy, land-use and legacies - is vital to the successful application of any technical solution. The issues raised are divided into three areas which deal with those problems that have already been recognized, the questions that decommissioning itself will raise and those that may result from likely future developments. The book aims to initiate a process of appraisal by examining several of the more obvious social ties to decommissioning.

Energy has become a central concern of many strands of geographical inquiry, from global climate change to the effects of energy decisions on our lives. However, many aspects of the ‘black box’ of relationships at the energy-society interface remain unopened, especially in terms of the spatial underpinnings of energy production and consumption within nations, cities and regions. Debates focusing on the location and nature of energy flows frequently fail to consider the multiple geographical networks that illustrate and explain the distribution of fuels and services around the world.Providing an integrated perspective on the complex interdependencies between energy and geography, The Routledge Research Companion to Energy Geographies offers a timely conceptual framework to study the multiple facets of energy geography, including security, space and place, planning, environmental science, economics and political science. Illustrating how a geographic approach towards energy can aid decision-making pathways in the domains of social justice and environment, this book provides insights that will help move the international community toward greater cooperation, stability, and sustainability.