Call for Papers
Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, April 14-18 2010
ENERGY FUTURES: GEOGRAPHIES OF ENERGY TRANSITION
Organisers: Michael Bradshaw (Leicester), Gavin Bridge (Manchester),
Scott Jiusto (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
How societies secure energy and transform it to do useful work exerts
a powerful influence on their economic prosperity, geographical
structure and international relations. Major shifts in the role of
different fuels and energy conversion technologies in the global
energy mix have underpinned broad social and geographical changes in
the past, such as those accompanying the transition from wood and
water power to coal in the 19th century, or from coal to oil in the
twentieth. A primary energy challenge in the twenty-first century is
to bring about a new transition, towards a more sustainable energy
system characterised by affordability and security of supply and
efficient, low-carbon sources - what some are calling a `new energy
paradigm'. The spatial implications of this new energy paradigm are
not well defined, however, and a range of quite different geographical
futures are currently in contention. Low-carbon electricity
generation, for example, can be achieved either by large, remote
actors (nuclear or offshore wind) and long-distance transmission, or
via local and highly-decentralized micro-generation. Similarly,
different approaches for achieving energy security - from domestic
investment in demand reduction to controlling and protecting overseas
supplies - rest on assumptions about the geographical scale at which
energy systems should be governed. Meeting the challenges of climate
change and energy security, therefore, is fundamentally a geographical
project: it not only requires societies to commit massive investment
to redesign infrastructure, buildings and equipment, but also to make
choices from a range of possible spatial solutions and scales of
governance.
We seek papers that do one or more of the following
examine the economic and political geographies emerging as part of a
new energy paradigm;
reflect on the different ways in which past, present and future energy
systems are constituted spatially;
focus on geographical scale - and re-scaling - as a primary means in
which energy and climate concerns will be governed;
highlight the different 'geographical futures' that are in play in the
search for more sustainable energy systems.
Expressions of interest should be sent to Gavin Bridge
([log in to unmask]), Michael
Bradshaw ([log in to unmask]) or Scott Jiusto ([log in to unmask]) by
Monday October 19th.
--
Dr Gavin Bridge
Reader in Economic Geography
School of Environment and Development
University of Manchester
Manchester M13 9PL
ENGLAND
+44(0)161 275 3638
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/geography/staff/bridge_gavin.htm
New Political Economy
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13563467.asp
Geographical Political Economy Research Group, University of
Manchester
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/geography/research/gpe/
Society and Environment Research Group, University of Manchester
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/research/serg/
|