Solar Politics

Solar Politics PDF

Author: Oxana Timofeeva

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2022-01-19

Total Pages: 73

ISBN-13: 1509549668

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book is a philosophical essay on the sun. It draws on Georges Bataille’s theories of the solar economy and solar violence and demonstrates their relevance to a world affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. The sun, which, since Antiquity, has played an essential role in our utopian imaginations, is the ultimate source of energy, both productive and destructive. According to Georges Bataille, its infinite generosity can be taken as the model for human societies, which suggests an alternative to the capitalist economy with its infinite expansion, colonization, and disastrous consequences on the cosmic scale. Taking a step from solar economy to solar politics, Timofeeva locates the grounds for it in solidarity with nature, treated neither as a master nor as a slave, but as a comrade. The book will appeal to students, academics, artists, and other readers interested in the philosophy of nature, ecology, social and political theory, postcolonial and decolonial studies, and the humanities generally.

Political Economies of Energy Transition

Political Economies of Energy Transition PDF

Author: Kathryn Hochstetler

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-11-26

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1108843840

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Shows that economic concerns about jobs, costs, and consumption, rather than climate change, are likely to drive energy transition in developing countries.

Renewables

Renewables PDF

Author: Michael Aklin

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2018-03-23

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 0262534940

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy. Wind and solar are the most dynamic components of the global power sector. How did this happen? After the 1973 oil crisis, the limitations of an energy system based on fossil fuels created an urgent need to experiment with alternatives, and some pioneering governments reaped political gains by investing heavily in alternative energy such as wind or solar power. Public policy enabled growth over time, and economies of scale brought down costs dramatically. In this book, Michaël Aklin and Johannes Urpelainen offer a comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy analysis. Aklin and Urpelainen argue that, because the fossil fuel energy system and political support for it are so entrenched, only an external shock—an abrupt rise in oil prices, or a nuclear power accident, for example—allows renewable energy to grow. They analyze the key factors that enable renewable energy to withstand political backlash, andt they draw on this analyisis to explain and predict the development of renewable energy in different countries over time. They examine the pioneering efforts in the United States, Germany, and Denmark after the 1973 oil crisis and other shocks; explain why the United States surrendered its leadership role in renewable energy; and trace the recent rapid growth of modern renewables in electricity generation, describing, among other things, the return of wind and solar to the United States. Finally, they apply the lessons of their analysis to contemporary energy policy issues.

Who Owns the Sun?

Who Owns the Sun? PDF

Author: Daniel M. Berman

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Narrated against a backdrop of diminishing fossil fuels, environmental degradation, avaricious corporations, and worldwide competition for natural resources, Who Owns the Sun? shows how existing solar technologies combined with local management present logical remedies for our energy gluttony.

Energy and Empire

Energy and Empire PDF

Author: George A. Gonzalez

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2012-09-01

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1438442955

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

What set the United States on the path to developing commercial nuclear energy in the 1950s, and what led to the seeming demise of that industry in the late 1970s? Why, in spite of the depletion of fossil fuels and the obvious dangers of global warming, has the United States moved so slowly toward adopting alternatives? In Energy and Empire, George A. Gonzalez presents a clear and concise argument demonstrating that economic elites tied their advocacy of the nuclear energy option to post-1945 American foreign policy goals. At the same time, these elites opposed government support for other forms of energy, such as solar, that cannot be dominated by one nation. While researchers have blamed safety concerns and other factors as helping to arrest the expansion of domestic nuclear power plant construction, Gonzalez points to an entirely different set of motivations stemming from the loss of America’s domination/control of the enrichment of nuclear fuel. Once foreign countries could enrich their own fuel, civilian nuclear power ceased to be a lever the United States could use to economically/politically dominate other nations. Instead, it became a major concern relating to nuclear weapons proliferation.

The Solar Energy Transition

The Solar Energy Transition PDF

Author: Daniel Rich

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-07-11

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 1000305570

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Solar energy is considered by many an attractive and practical option for America's energy future, one that is technically and commercially feasible as well as socially and environmentally desirable. Sun-generated power could meet upwards of 20 percent of U.S. energy needs by the year 2000—but only if there is a concerted national effort to use this energy option. The issues of implementation and the public and private initiatives needed to facilitate a transition to extensive use of solar energy are the focus of this volume. The solar transition is addressed from the diverse perspectives of the many necessary participants: industries and small businesses; local, state, regional, and federal governments; public utilities; policy analysts; and solar advocates. The contributors assess the extent to which solar alternatives can replace and augment other energy forms, the pace and pattern for solar commercialization, and the roles of public and private institutions in carrying out the transition. A consensus becomes apparent: Although the transition to solar energy is technically and commercially viable, its success depends on concerted public and private efforts to promote innovation and diversification in energy production and distribution and to institute major changes in public policy related to energy use.

The Governance of Solar Geoengineering

The Governance of Solar Geoengineering PDF

Author: Jesse L. Reynolds

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-05-23

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1107161959

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Solar geoengineering could reduce climate change, but poses risks. This volume explores how it is, could, and should be governed.

Solar Energy, Technology Policy, and Institutional Values

Solar Energy, Technology Policy, and Institutional Values PDF

Author: Frank N. Laird

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001-03-26

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1139428543

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Energy policies that promote new technologies and energy sources are policies for the future. They influence the shape of emergent technological systems, and also condition our social, political and economic lives. Solar Energy, Technology Policy, and Institutional Values demonstrates the difficulties of deliberating such properties by providing a historical case study that analyses US renewable energy policy from the end of World War II through the energy crisis of the 1970s. The book illuminates the ways beliefs and values come to dominate official problem frames and get entrenched in institutions. In doing so it also explains why advocates of renewable energy have often faced ideological opposition, and why policy makers fail to take them seriously.

Solar Technologies for the 21st Century

Solar Technologies for the 21st Century PDF

Author: Anco S. Blazev

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2021-01-07

Total Pages: 726

ISBN-13: 8770223076

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book examines solar technologies, describes their properties, and evaluates the technological potential of each. It also reviews the logistics of deploying solar energy as a viable and sustainable way to solve urgent energy, environmental, and socio-economic problems. Topics discussed include solar power generation, today’s solar technologies, solar thermal, silicon PV, thin PV, 3-D solar cells, nano-PV, organic solar cells, solar successes and failures, solar power fields, finance and regulations, solar markets and solar energy and the environment.