Global Energy Justice Problems, Principles, and Practices

We need new ways of thinking about, and approaching, the world's energy problems. Global energy security and access is one of the central justice issues of our time, with profound implications for happiness, welfare, freedom, equity, and due process. This book combines up-to-date data on global energy security and climate change with fresh perspectives on the meaning of justice in social decision-making. Benjamin K. Sovacool and Michael H. Dworkin address how justice theory can help people to make more meaningful decisions about the production, delivery, use, and effects of energy. Exploring energy dilemmas in real-life situations, they link recent events to eight global energy injustices and employ philosophy and ethics to make sense of justice as a tool in the decision-making process. They go on to provide remedies and policies that planners and individuals can utilize to create a more equitable and just energy future.

1. Introduction; 2. The global energy system; 3. Virtue and energy efficiency; 4. Utility and energy externalities; 5. Energy and human rights; 6. Energy and due process; 7. Energy poverty, access, and welfare; 8. Energy subsidies and freedom; 9. Energy resources and future generations; 10. Fairness, responsibility, and climate change; 11. Conclusion.

Benjamin K. Sovacool is Professor of Business and Social Sciences and Director of the Center for Energy Technologies, AU-Herning, Aarhus University, Denmark. He is also Associate Professor at Vermont Law School, where he manages the Energy Security and Justice Program at the Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEE). Sovacool is the recipient of the 2015 Dedication to Diversity and Justice Award for Environmental and Energy Justice, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, American Bar Association.
Michael H. Dworkin is a Professor of Law and Director of the IEE at Vermont Law School.