The imperative of making just energy decisions

Benjamin K. Sovacool; Michael H. Dworkin

doi:10.1017/CBO9781107323605.011

11 - The imperative of making just energy decisions

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014

Benjamin K. Sovacool and

Michael H. Dworkin

Show author details

Benjamin K. Sovacool: Affiliation:
Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
Michael H. Dworkin: Affiliation:
Vermont Law School

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Now we come to our closing chapter, in which we hope to summarize what we have learned about how justice theory can help us make energy decisions. As we do so, let us consider one more factual example, a clear and horrible test of life and death. With that example in mind, we will try to both recognize the diversity of advice that justice theorists might give and, moreover, find some core principles that they do seem to share.

On the evening of April 25, 1986, engineers at Chernobyl’s number four reactor in the Ukraine experimented with the cooling pump system to see if it could still function without auxiliary electricity supplies. In order to proceed with the test, the operators turned off the automatic shutdown system. At the same time, they mistakenly lowered too many control rods into the reactor core, dropping plant output too quickly. This stressed the fuel pellets, causing ruptures and explosions, bursting the reactor roof and sweeping the eruption outwards into the surrounding atmosphere. As air raced into the shattered reactor, it ignited flammable carbon monoxide gas and created a radioactive fire that firefighters could not extinguish.

Type: Chapter
Information: Global Energy Justice
Problems, Principles, and Practices
, pp. 353 - 377

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107323605.011 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Marples, David R., “Nuclear Politics in Soviet and Post-Soviet Europe,” in Byrne, John and Hoffman, Steven M. (eds.), Governing the Atom: The Politics of Risk (London: Transaction Publishers, 1996), pp. 247–270Google Scholar

Sovacool, B. K. and Cooper, C., “Nuclear Nonsense: Why Nuclear Power is No Answer to Climate Change and the World’s Post-Kyoto Energy Challenges,” William & Mary Environmental Law & Policy Review 33(1) (Fall 2008), pp. 1–119Google Scholar

Berkovitz, Dan M., “Pariahs and Prophets: Nuclear Energy, Global Warming, and Intergenerational Justice,” Columbia Journal of Environmental Law 17(2) (1992), pp. 245–326Google Scholar

O’Neill, Onora, “Bounded and Cosmopolitan Justice,” Review of International Studies 26 (2000), pp. 45–60Google Scholar

Jamieson, Dale, “When Utilitarians Should Be Virtue Theorists,” in Gardiner, Stephen M., Caney, Simon, Jamieson, Dale, and Shue, Henry (eds.), Climate Ethics: Essential Readings (Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 315–331Google Scholar

Wolf, Clark, “Intergenerational Justice,” in Frey, R. G. and Wellman, Christopher Heath (eds.), A Companion to Applied Ethics (London: Blackwell Publishing, 2003), pp. 279–294Google Scholar

Singer, Peter, Practical Ethics, 2nd edn. (Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 8Google Scholar

Oracle Utilities, The Future of Energy, October 14, 2011

Vandenbergh, Michael P., “From Smokestack to SUV: The Individual as Regulated Entity in the New Era of Environmental Law,” Vanderbilt Law Review 57 (2004), pp. 515–610Google Scholar

Rosa, Eugene A., Machlis, Gary E., and Keating, Kenneth M., “Energy and Society,” Annual Review of Sociology 14 (1988), pp. 149–172CrossRef Google Scholar

Kempton, Willett and Layne, Linda, “The Consumer’s Energy Analysis Environment,” Energy Policy 22(10) (1994), pp. 857–866CrossRef Google Scholar

Lutzenhiser, Loren, “Social and Behavioral Aspects of Energy Use,” Annual Review of Energy & Environment 18 (1993), pp. 247–289CrossRef Google Scholar

Cavanagh, Ralph, “Energy-Efficiency Solutions: What Commodity Prices Can’t Deliver,” Annual Review of Energy and Environment 20 (1995), pp. 519–525CrossRef Google Scholar

Pitts, Robert E. and Wittenbach, James L., “Tax Credits as a Means of Influencing Consumer Behavior,” Journal of Consumer Research 8 (December 1981), pp. 335–338CrossRef Google Scholar

Bigdeli, Sadeq Z., “Will the Friends of Climate Emerge in the WTO? The Prospects of Applying the Fisheries Subsidy Model to Energy Subsidies,” Carbon & Climate Law Review 2(1) (2008), pp. 78–88CrossRef Google Scholar

Williams, James H., DeBenedictis, Andrew, Ghanadan, Rebecca, Mahone, Amber, Moore, Jack, Morrow, William R., Price, Snuller, and Torn, Margaret S., “The Technology Path to Deep Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cuts by 2050: The Pivotal Role of Electricity,” Science 335 (January 6, 2012), pp. 53–59CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Shorey, Everett and Eckman, Tom, Appliances & Global Climate Change: Increasing Consumer Participation in Reducing Greenhouse Gases (Washington, DC: Pew Center on Global Climate Change, October 2000)Google Scholar

Bickman, L., “Environmental Attitudes and Actions,” Journal of Social Psychology 87 (1972), pp. 323–324CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Mishan, E. J., The Costs of Economic Growth (New York: Praeger, 1967)Google Scholar

Caldwell, Lynton K., “Energy and the Structure of Social Institutions,” Human Ecology 4(1) (1976), pp. 31–45CrossRef Google Scholar

MacLean, Douglas, “Introduction,” in MacLean, Douglas and Brown, Peter G. (eds.), Energy and the Future (Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1983), pp. 1–14Google Scholar

Archer, David and Rahmstorf, Stefan, The Climate Crisis: An Introductory Guide to Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2010)Google Scholar

Gilligan, Andrew, “Copenhagen Climate Change Conference: Not the Science but the Vision,” Daily Telegraph (London), December 7, 2009Google Scholar

Sethi, Nitin, “After Five Days, Nothing to Show at Climate Meet,” Times of India, December 12, 2009, p. 1Google Scholar

“What’s Eating Appalachia? Many Democrats in the Region Seem to Hate their President,” Economist, July 7, 2012, p. 35

Sovacool, B. K., “Responsibility and Ecuador’s Yasuni-ITT Initiative,” in Energy & Ethics: Justice and the Global Energy Challenge (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2013), pp. 194–217CrossRef Google Scholar

“Ecuador President Pulls Plug on Innovative Yasuni-ITT Initiative, Authorizes Drilling in National Park,” Amazon Watch, August 16, 2013

Martello, Marybeth Long and Jasanoff, Sheila, “Globalization and Environmental Governance,” in Jasanoff, S. and Martello, M. Long (eds.), Earthly Politics: Local and Global in Environmental Governance (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004), pp. 1–29Google Scholar

Lovins, A. B., “A Target Critics Can’t Seem to Get in Their Sights,” in Nash, H. (ed.), The Energy Controversy: Soft Path Questions and Answers (San Francisco, CA: Friends of the Earth, 1979), pp. 15–34Google Scholar

Elkind, J., “Energy Security: Call for a Broader Agenda,” in Pascual, C. and Elkind, J. (eds.), Energy Security: Economics, Politics, Strategies, and Implications (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2010), pp. 119–148Google Scholar

Wolfowitz, P., “Good Governance and Development – A Time for Action,” World Bank Press Release, April 11, 2006Google Scholar

World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), Our Common Future (Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 43Google Scholar

Hawken, P., The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability (New York: Harper Collins, 1994), p. 112Google Scholar

Gordon, Scott, Welfare, Justice, and Freedom (New York: Columbia University Press, 1980), pp. 146–148Google Scholar

Fleurbaey, Marc, “Economics and Economic Justice,” in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2012 edn.)Google Scholar

Kolm, Serge-Christophe, Modern Theories of Justice (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996)Google Scholar

Maslow, A., Motivation and Personality, 3rd revised edn. (New York: Harper & Row, 1954/1987)Google Scholar

Moellendorf, Darrel, Cosmopolitan Justice (Boulder: Westview Press, 2002), p. 171Google Scholar

Barry, Brian, “Sustainability and Intergenerational Justice,” in Dobson, Andrew (ed.), Fairness and Futurity: Essays on Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice (Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 93–117CrossRef Google Scholar

Pojman, Louis, “Ethical Relativism versus Ethical Objectivism,” in Pojman, Louis P. (ed.), Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings (Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing, 1991), pp. 506–516Google Scholar

Robinson, Matthew B., “Justice as Freedom, Fairness, Compassion, and Utilitarianism,” Contemporary Justice Review 6(4) (2003), pp. 329–340CrossRef Google Scholar

Arrigo, B. (ed.), Social Justice, Criminal Justice: The Maturation of Critical Theory in Law, Crime, and Deviance (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1999)

Paavola, Jouni, Adger, W. Neil, and Huq, Saleemul, “Multifaceted Justice in Adaptation to Climate Change,” in Adger, W. Neil, Paavola, Jouni, Huq, Saleemul, and Mace, M. J. (eds.), Fairness in Adaptation to Climate Change (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006), pp. 263–277Google Scholar

Hahn, F., “On Some Difficulties of the Utilitarian Economist,” in Sen, A. and Williams, B. (eds.), Utilitarianism and Beyond (Cambridge University Press, 1982), pp. 187–198CrossRef Google Scholar

Alder, John and Wilkinson, David, Environmental Law and Ethics (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999)CrossRef Google Scholar

Ash, John, “New Nuclear Energy, Risk, and Justice: Regulatory Strategies for an Era of Limited Trust,” Politics & Policy 38(2) (2010), pp. 255–284CrossRef Google Scholar

Walker, Gordon, Environmental Justice: Concepts, Evidence, and Politics (London: Routledge, 2012)Google Scholar

Ostrom, Elinor, A Polycentric Approach for Coping with Climate Change (Report Prepared for the WDR2010 Core Team at the World Bank, February 2009, W09–4)CrossRef Google Scholar

Gardiner, Stephen M., A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change (Oxford University Press, 2011)CrossRef Google Scholar

Jamieson, Dale, “Energy, Ethics, and the Transformation of Nature,” in Arnold, Denis G. (ed.), The Ethics of Global Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 16–37CrossRef Google Scholar

Hansson, Sven Ove, “Welfare, Justice, and Pareto Efficiency,” Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 7(4) (August 2004), pp. 361–380CrossRef Google Scholar

Grey, Thomas C., “Property and Need: The Welfare State and Theories of Distributive Justice,” Stanford Law Review 28(5) (May 1976), pp. 877–902CrossRef Google Scholar

Wilson, E. O., The Future of Life (New York: Random House, 2002), pp. xxi–xxiiGoogle Scholar

Daly, Herman E., Steady-State Economics (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991), p. 171Google Scholar