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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Frameworks For Understanding And Promoting Solar Energy Technology Development, Chelsea Schelly Nov 2017

Frameworks For Understanding And Promoting Solar Energy Technology Development, Chelsea Schelly

Chelsea Schelly

In this paper, the contrasting theories of metabolic rift and ecological modernization theory (EMT) are applied to the same empirical phenomenon. Metabolic rift argues that the natural metabolic relationship between humans and nature has been fractured through modernization, industrialization and urbanization. EMT, in contrast, argues that societies in an advanced state of industrialization adopt ecologically benign production technologies and political policies, suggesting that modern societies could be on course to alleviate the ecological damage caused by capitalism. These two theories are fundamentally different in their assumptions about modern economies and technologies, yet both can be used as a theoretical lens …


What’S Political About Solar Electric Technology? The User’S Perspective, Chelsea Schelly Nov 2017

What’S Political About Solar Electric Technology? The User’S Perspective, Chelsea Schelly

Chelsea Schelly

Scholars in science and technology studies have debated the various ways in which technologies are (or are not) political. Here, I examine how users themselves understand and articulate the politics of a specific technology—residential solar electric technology—and how understandings of politics interact with motivations to adopt. Based on interviews with 48 individuals in 36 households across the state of Wisconsin who have adopted residential solar electric technology, I consider the user’s perspective on the question: “What’s political about residential solar electric technology use?” These users were asked about the politics of this technology and how their understanding of the technology’s …


Renewable, Ethical? Assessing The Energy Justice Potential Of Renewable Electricity, Aparajita Banerjee, Emily Prehoda, Roman Sidortsov, Chelsea Schelly Nov 2017

Renewable, Ethical? Assessing The Energy Justice Potential Of Renewable Electricity, Aparajita Banerjee, Emily Prehoda, Roman Sidortsov, Chelsea Schelly

Chelsea Schelly

Energy justice is increasingly being used as a framework to conceptualize the impacts of energy decision making in more holistic ways and to consider the social implications in terms of existing ethical values. Similarly, renewable energy technologies are increasingly being promoted for their environmental and social benefits. However, little work has been done to systematically examine the extent to which, in what ways and in what contexts, renewable energy technologies can contribute to achieving energy justice. This paper assesses the potential of renewable electricity technologies to address energy justice in various global contexts via a systematic review of existing studies …