Imagining Transitions

In this chapter of the virtual exhibition “Energy Transitions,” historian Nuno Luís Madureira discusses the drivers of future transitions in the light of past ones.

Energy Transitions

Human practices of energy consumption both transform—and are transformed by—social structures. This exhibition—written by historian Nuno Luís Madureira—introduces the concept of “energy transitions,” structural shifts in energy use and their pathways, obstacles, and consequences, challenging the view of “transitions” as the simple replacement of one energy resource by another.

by Nuno Luís Madureira

About the author

Madureira, Nuno Luís

Lisbon University Institute (ISCTE), Portugal

Nuno Luís Madureira is professor at the History Department of the Lisbon University Institute, former visiting scholar at UC Berkeley and Harvard University, and referee of the European Science Foundation. With several publications in the fields of contemporary global history, history of technology and energy and environmental policy, his last book is entitled Key Concepts in Energy (Heidelberg and New York: Springer, 2014). His most recent research embraces the analysis of historical methods and nuclear technologies, particularly the plutonium fuel cycle.

Browse the exhibition

The Carbon Rush

This film explores the negative impacts of the multi-billion dollar carbon offsetting industry on those people who are most impacted but least heard.

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Vulcan Street Power Plant (First Edison Hydroelectric Station North America)

The first Edison hydroelectric power plant in North America is established in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1882.

Tags:

Themes:

Environmental Knowledge

Infrastructure

Resources

Regions:

Wisconsin

Rivers, Memory, and Nation-Building: A History of the Volga and Mississippi Rivers

Beginning in the pre-modern world, the Volga and Mississippi Rivers both served as critical trade routes connecting cultures in an extensive exchange network, while also sustaining populations through their surrounding wetlands and bottomlands. In modern times, “Mother Volga” and the “Father of Waters” became integral parts of national identity, contributing to a sense of Russian and American exceptionalism. Rivers, Memory, and Nation-Building discusses their histories, through which we derive a more nuanced view of human interaction with the environment, which adds another lens to our understanding of the past.

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The Serre-Ponçon Dam and the Durance River: The Founding Act towards the most Regulated French Waterway

by Nicolas Maughan

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Arcadia, 2015, no. 16

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Walchensee Hydroelectric Power Station

The Walchensee Hydroelectric Power Station was built between 1918 and 1924 under the supervision of Oskar von Miller, a Bavarian engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum.

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Energy (and) Colonialism, Energy (In)Dependence: Africa, Europe, Greenland, North America

About this issue

What does history tell us about energy transitions? What do energy transitions tell us about the history of colonialism? This volume of RCC Perspectives presents five histories of colonial projects that transformed potential energy sources in Africa, Europe, North America, and Greenland into mechanical energy for wealth production.

Content

Catalyst for Transition: The Anschluss, Kaprun, and a Dual Energy Transition, 1938–1955

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Perspectives Issue 2014/5

This essay considers how the Kaprun project launched by Germany drove two critical but neglected energy transitions in postwar Austria.

Hydropower: The Unlikely Economic Base for the Complete Sovereignty of Greenland

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Perspectives Issue 2014/5

About eight percent of Earth’s freshwater is located in Greenland. Theoretically, this would mean that Greenland has some of the greatest potential for hydropower in the whole world. However, nearly all its freshwater is permanently frozen.

"Balancing Hydropower and Environmental Values: The Resource Management Implications of the US Electric Consumers Protection Act and the AWARE(TM) Software"

Bartholow, Douglas, and Taylor review the AWARE(TM) software distributed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

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