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Decarbonising Electricity

Decarbonising Electricity

Decarbonising Electricity

The Promise of Renewable Energy Regions
James Goodman, University of Technology Sydney
Gareth Bryant, University of Sydney
Linda Connor, University of Sydney
Devleena Ghosh, University of Technology Sydney
Jonathan Paul Marshall, University of Technology Sydney
Tom Morton, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
Katja Müller, Merseburg University for Applied Sciences
Stuart Rosewarne, University of Sydney
Riikka Heikkinen, University of Technology Sydney
Lisa Lumsden, University of Technology Sydney
Mareike Pampus, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
Priya Pillai, University of Technology Sydney
July 2025
Available
Hardback
9781009485616

    The current shift to renewable energy is dominated by globalised energy companies building large-scale wind and solar plants. This book discusses the consequences and possibilities of this shift in India, Germany, and Australia, focusing on regions which have now largely decarbonised electricity generation. The authors show how centralised models of energy provision are maintained, and chart their impacts in terms of energy geography, social stratification, and socio-ecological appropriation. The chapters emphasise the prominent role played by state regulation, financial incentives, and public infrastructure for corporate renewables, arguing that public provision should be re-purposed for distributed renewables, social equity in affected regions, and for wider social benefit. This interdisciplinary book provides fertile building ground for research in - and application of - future energy transitions. It will appeal to students, researchers, and policy makers from anthropology, sociology, politics and political economy, geography, and environmental and sustainability studies.

    • Provides a deep understanding of drivers and obstacles to renewable energy development faced by all countries, both rich and poor
    • Offers insights into the experiences and impacts of energy transitions on local populations
    • Presents an interdisciplinary analysis of renewable energy transitions, drawing on a range of disciplines, from environmental and sustainability studies to political economy

    Product details

    July 2025
    Hardback
    9781009485616
    268 pages
    244 × 170 mm
    0.653kg
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • Acknowledgements
    • Authorship
    • Tables and Figures
    • Introduction: legitimacy for renewables?
    • 1. The promise of renewable energy
    • 2. Renewable energy regions: cases and policy
    • 3. Karnataka, India
    • 4. Brandenburg, Germany
    • 5. South Australia
    • 6. Comparative analysis.
      Contributors
    • James Goodman, Gareth Bryant, Linda Connor, Devleena Ghosh, Jonathan Paul Marshall, Tom Morton, Katja Müller, Stuart Rosewarne, Riikka Heikkinen, Lisa Lumsden, Mareike Pampus, Priya Pillai

    • Authors
    • James Goodman , University of Technology Sydney

      James Goodman is a Professor in Social and Political Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney. He has led two large Australian Research Council projects: Beyond the Coal Rush (2014–2017), and Decarbonising Electricity (2018–202). He is a co-author of Justice Globalism (Sage, 2013) and Climate Upsurge (Routledge, 2014).

    • Gareth Bryant , University of Sydney

      Gareth Bryant is Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow and Chair of the Discipline of Political Economy at the University of Sydney. His research explores the political economy of sustainability and inequality in a range of policy areas including climate change, energy, housing, and education. He is author of Carbon Markets in a Climate-Changing Capitalism (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

    • Linda Connor , University of Sydney

      Linda Connor is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Sydney. She has conducted long-term ethnographic research on coal mining conflicts, climate change, and renewable energy in Hunter Valley communities and in South Australia. Her publications include Climate Change and Anthropos (Routledge, 2016).

    • Devleena Ghosh , University of Technology Sydney

      Devleena Ghosh is Honorary Professor in Social and Political Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney. She has published widely in colonial, global, and environmental history and is the co-author of Colonialism and Modernity (UNSW Press, 2007). She is currently working on a project on indigenous responses to fossil fuel extraction in India.

    • Jonathan Paul Marshall , University of Technology Sydney

      Jonathan Paul Marshall is a Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney, researching the problems of energy transition. He is co-editor of Environmental Change and the World's Futures (Routledge, 2016), and has also edited several journal issues on climate and energy, including with Energy Policy and Energy Research and Social Science.

    • Tom Morton , Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg

      Tom Morton is an associate member of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Regional Studies (ZIRS) at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and is based in Sydney. He is co-editor of From Carbon Democracy to Climate Democracy (Routledge, 2024) and works as a freelance journalist and media convenor for the climate action group Rising Tide in Australia.

    • Katja Müller , Merseburg University for Applied Sciences

      Katja Müller works in the field of energy humanities, as well as digitization, museum studies, material culture, and visual anthropology. With a background in anthropology, she is Heisenberg-Professor for Technology, Ethics and Society at Merseburg University for Applied Sciences, conducting research into digitization processes in energy transitions.

    • Stuart Rosewarne , University of Sydney

      Stuart Rosewarne is an Honorary Associate Professor in Political Economy at the University of Sydney, focusing on environmental and ecological economics, socialist ecology, international political economy, and the political economy of gender. He is author of Contested Energy Futures: Capturing the Renewable Energy Surge in Australia (Palgrave, 2023).

    • Riikka Heikkinen , University of Technology Sydney

      Riikka Heikkinen works in the renewable energy industry and is a Ph.D. candidate with the University of Technology Sydney. She is researching large-scale renewable energy support mechanisms and their impacts and is affiliated with several renewable energy research projects. She works hands-on with communities in large energy projects.

    • Lisa Lumsden , University of Technology Sydney

      Lisa Lumsden is a regional energy transition practitioner with The Next Economy. She has lived experience of energy transition, having served as Port Augusta City Councillor during the surprise closure of the Playford and Northern coal power stations in South Australia and the subsequent rise of renewables. She is a recipient of the Jill Hudson Award for Environmental Protection.

    • Mareike Pampus , Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg

      Marieke Pampus is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in the Human Geography Department at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, and also serves as a scientific coordinator at the Centre for Just Transition and Sustainability. Her current postdoctoral research explores diverse nature concepts in land restoration of former lignite mining areas in the Central German Mining District.

    • Priya Pillai , University of Technology Sydney

      Priya Pillai has worked on environmental and social justice issues for over twenty years, including with Greenpeace, the Right to Food Campaign, Action Aid, and Oxfam, and is associated with the National Alliance of People's Movement (NAPM). She is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Technology Sydney, researching the socio-ecological impacts of large-scale renewable energy in India.