Article ID: CBB001320574

Building More Just Energy Infrastructure: Lessons from the Past (2013)

unapi

can gain a useful perspective on these issues by analyzing the history of energy transport infrastructures. Over the last two centuries, Americans have invested massive quantities of capital, labor, time, and material into technological systems to transport energy. Coal canals, oil pipelines, and electricity transmission wires have revolutionized the nation's energy consumption patterns, transformed the environment, and given rise to a fossil fuel dependent society. They have also created numerous inequalities. In particular, they have promoted unequal distributions of energy, money, and environmental harms. In the rest of this essay, I illustrate these points with examples from my research on the history of coal canals, oil pipelines, and electricity transmission wires in the mid-Atlantic region from 1820 to 1930 (Jones, 2009 , forthcoming ). Though the past rarely repeats itself directly, these anecdotes suggest strategies and policy measures we can pursue to design more just infrastructure systems.

...More

Description Focuses on the “history of coal canals, oil pipelines, and electricity transmission wires in the mid-Atlantic region from 1820 to 1930.” (from the introduction)


Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001320574/

Similar Citations

Book Rigney, Peter; (2010)
Trains, Coal and Turf: Transport in Emergency Ireland (/isis/citation/CBB001320095/)

Article S. George Pemberton; (2012)
John Joyce Carter (1842-1917): Civil War Hero & Petroleum Mogul (/isis/citation/CBB731484837/)

Thesis Shulman, Peter Adam; (2007)
Empire of Energy: Environment, Geopolitics, and American Technology before theAge of Oil (/isis/citation/CBB001561505/)

Article Shulman, Peter A.; (2010)
Linking Energy and Climate (before 1974) (/isis/citation/CBB001221291/)

Book Adam M. Romero; (2021)
Economic Poisoning: Industrial Waste and the Chemicalization of American Agriculture (/isis/citation/CBB940384528/)

Book Christopher F. Jones; (2014)
Routes of Power: Energy and Modern America (/isis/citation/CBB824368541/)

Book Charles Blanchard; (2021)
The Extraction State: A History of Natural Gas in America (/isis/citation/CBB393886172/)

Article Quataert, Donald; Gutman, David; (2012)
Coal Mines, the Palace, and Struggles over Power, Capital, and Justice in the Late Ottoman Empire (/isis/citation/CBB001200949/)

Book Daniel French; (2017)
When They Hid the Fire: A History of Electricity and Invisible Energy in America (/isis/citation/CBB324123746/)

Article Steven Gray; (2017)
Fuelling mobility: Coal and Britain's naval power, c. 1870–1914 (/isis/citation/CBB295663741/)

Article Madureira, Nuno Luís; (2010)
Oil in the Age of Steam (/isis/citation/CBB001421529/)

Book Lucier, Paul; (2008)
Scientists and Swindlers: Consulting on Coal and Oil in America, 1820--1890 (/isis/citation/CBB000951111/)

Review Benjamin K. Sovacool; (2016)
Review of "Coal and Empire: The Birth of Energy Security in Industrial America" (/isis/citation/CBB725920453/)

Book David Bond; (2022)
Negative Ecologies: Fossil Fuels and the Discovery of the Environment (/isis/citation/CBB856832723/)

Article Carolan, Michael S.; (2009)
Ethanol versus Gasoline: The Contestation and Closure of a Socio-technical System in the USA (/isis/citation/CBB000953567/)

Authors & Contributors
Shulman, Peter Adam
Jones, Christopher F.
Sarkar, Suvobrata
S. George Pemberton
Charles Blanchard
David Bond
Concepts
Energy resources and technologies
Oil; natural gas
Coal and coal mining
Fuels and fuel technology
Technology and economics
Technology and industry
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
Modern
21st century
20th century, late
Places
United States
South America
Turkey
Russia
North America
Soviet Union
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment