Conflicting imaginaries in the energy transition? Nature and renewable energy in Iceland

Benediktsson, Karl

doi:10.2478/mgr-2021-0008

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Faulques et al (2022) emphasize territorial distribution justice as one of the basic factors motivating the development of renewable energies. Unjustified irregularities in spatial distribution of the energy production facilities and disbalance between their location and local energy needs, gradually materializes into the conflicts with sustainable development of communities and just transition (Benediktsson, 2021). Right contrary, there is an urgent need to adapt our communities to the climate policies.…”

Section: Local Energy Producers In the Anthropocenementioning

confidence: 99%

Renewable energy creditors versus renewable energy debtors: Seeking a pattern in a sustainable energy transition during the climate crisis

Kazak

Chodkowska‐Miszczuk

Chrobak

et al. 2023

The Anthropocene Review

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Considering unpredictable and hastily evolving tipping points (like the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing climate crisis and the war in Ukraine), it is clear that sustainable energy transition and utilization of locally sourced renewable energies must be in the heart of both national, regional, and local energy systems. However, if we take a closer look at the actions undertaken at the local (communal) level, we see enormous diversity of patterns, prerequisites, and implications that drive and affect spatial deployment of renewable energies. Therefore, our research targets to better comprehend the question if individual communities are comparatively involved in the energy transition. We also ask whether the demand and supply of renewable energy is territorially balanced and how these differences (if any) can be justified. We are framing our research by the concepts of energy justice and ecological debt. We thoroughly explore and asses the renewable energy balance on the level of individual communities which is based on data on the installed power capacity potentials and energy consumption in local administration units in Poland (380). Spatial distribution and discrepancies in the deployment of the renewable energy creditors and the renewable energy debtors are detected. Noticeable disproportions were identified among communities where improved utilization of local potential of renewable energy could exceed energy demand (29% of communities). This result is contrasting with communities (71% of communities) that can be, on the other hand, classified as renewable energy debtors. We claim that insufficient support (institution, regulatory, and financial) for expanding local renewable energy systems is a clear barrier when adapting to the climate crisis by balancing the energy demand and supply at the local level.

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Section: Local Energy Producers In the Anthropocenementioning

confidence: 99%

Renewable energy creditors versus renewable energy debtors: Seeking a pattern in a sustainable energy transition during the climate crisis

Kazak

Chodkowska‐Miszczuk

Chrobak

et al. 2023

The Anthropocene Review

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“…Nevertheless, geothermal technology is considered among the fields where Iceland has a competitive edge, and there has been much enthusiasm for developing this resource further (Clark 2019). Articulated by geoscientists, engineers, politicians, and businesspeople, a distinct 'geothermal sociotechnical imaginary' (Benediktsson 2021) with clear ecomodernist characteristics, can be identified in the country, striving for the 'good' Anthropocene and contributing to a 'new Nordic extractivism' (Kröger 2016).…”

Section: Iceland and The Island Of Grímseymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The concept of the 'imaginary' has indeed gained much attention in recent studies of sociotechnical systems (Jasanoff & Kim 2009. It has proved particularly productive for understanding how energy systems come to be assembled in particular ways (Benediktsson 2021), resulting in a range of 'scapes'.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earth, wind and fire: island energy landscapes of the Anthropocene

Huijbens

Benediktsson

2022

Fennia

Self Cite

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Carbon-based systems of energy are rapidly unravelling. The imperative of climate emergency is reshaping energy landscapes, in some instances leading to the reappraisal of energy options hitherto sidelined. This paper deals with the emerging energy landscapes of the Netherlands and Iceland through historically informed tales that focus on islands. While vastly different in historical and geographical context and scale, these cases reveal the necessity of geographical nuance facilitated by the ways insular places offer insights into energy imaginaries of the Anthropocene. The former is a historicised narrative about the reinvention of wind energy as natural gas is being ousted. It focuses on the proposed Dogger Bank Power Link Islands, the first of which is scheduled to emerge in the coming years. The latter, also historically informed, identifies the context for current large wind energy proposals in Iceland, and then contrasts these with the authors’ empirical observations from the small peripheral island of Grímsey. There wind energy is also being reinvented for ousting the predominant oil infrastructure on the island. These cases represent experimental opportunities for envisioning Anthropocene futures intended to destabilize imaginaries of growth in ways that open spaces for negotiation and contestation. They problematize dominant narratives that render wind energy development visible and knowable as a necessary intervention. Emergent from this is wind’s decentred energy landscape in the Anthropocene; an epoch where energy is revealed in its importance to our societies, dispelling the human exceptionalism implicit in the nomenclature whilst at the same time showing how our actions come to matter. The collision of the Earth and ourselves under the terms of climate emergency begs the question whether our differences are the only ones that matter? But also, if it matters what we have done, then surely it matters what we have not done and chosen to ignore.

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“…Felt's (2015) conception is idealised and in practice, there will often be some degree of instability and conflict among imaginaries of the same object. To take an empirically close example, Benediktsson (2021) observes this specifically in relation to renewable energy and nature in the sense of human-non-human relationships in Iceland. As Benediktsson (2021) points out, different imaginaries exist and function in different social groups.…”

Section: Stabilisation Of Sociotechnical Imaginariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To take an empirically close example, Benediktsson (2021) observes this specifically in relation to renewable energy and nature in the sense of human-non-human relationships in Iceland. As Benediktsson (2021) points out, different imaginaries exist and function in different social groups. These groups have differing access to differing types of resource, including political power.…”

Section: Stabilisation Of Sociotechnical Imaginariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imaginaries on ice: Sociotechnical futures of data centre development in Norway and Iceland

Upham

Sovacool

Monyei

2022

Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

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In 2018, Norway promoted itself as a ‘Datacentre Nation’. In terms of low cost, renewably generated sources of electricity and low ambient temperatures, Nordic countries and the data centre sector are potentially mutual beneficiaries – yet, there are also negative impacts associated with the necessary electric power production. With this as a starting point, for Norway and Iceland, we explore how data centre proponents promulgate similar techno-environmental imaginaries, but achieve differing degrees of stabilisation. To this end, we use three sources of imaginaries relating to data centre development in Iceland and Norway: those implicit in promotional imagery originating within the countries concerned; those implicit in international newspapers, as indicative of external perceptions; and those implicit in focus groups with the Norwegian and Icelandic public. We show how data centre advocates deploy visual imagery to create a promotional techno-environmental imaginary that marries nature with the digital in a symbiotic form, and we observe that this is largely consistent with the more mundane international imaginary of Norwegian data centres. For Iceland, however, the external imaginary is dominated by associations of excess energy consumption by bitcoin mining. For the publics questioned, there are multiple imaginaries of data centres, with significant notes of moral and other forms of scepticism. Looking ahead, we suggest that for long-term stabilisation of positive data centre imaginaries, conducive to investment, the capacity of Iceland and Norway to equitably supply sufficient renewable power will need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

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Conflicting imaginaries in the energy transition? Nature and renewable energy in Iceland

Cited by 11 publications

References 70 publications

Renewable energy creditors versus renewable energy debtors: Seeking a pattern in a sustainable energy transition during the climate crisis

Renewable energy creditors versus renewable energy debtors: Seeking a pattern in a sustainable energy transition during the climate crisis

Earth, wind and fire: island energy landscapes of the Anthropocene

Imaginaries on ice: Sociotechnical futures of data centre development in Norway and Iceland

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