全球变化知识资源中心

Societies need to transition to renewable energy and eliminate fossil fuel use as soon as possible. However, policymakers have mostly neglected to consider that there is an array of possible energy transition pathways. Therefore, I offer a typology that envisions potential energy futures as falling along a two-dimensional model comprised of the structural organization of the social (political, economic, and civil) on one axis - on a spectrum of democratic versus monopolistic - and the scale of the energy system on the other - dichotomized as centralized versus decentralized. This typology suggests that there are four potential energy futures, which I term: (1) libertarian energy decentralism, (2) technocratic energy centralism, (3) democratic energy centralism, and (4) democratic energy decentralism. These four futures are not equal in terms of power, equity, and ecological impact. I argue that the democratization of the social is necessary to facilitate a "just transition," but the scale of the energy system will also play a pivotal role in reinforcing and reproducing democratic and just social relations.