ELECTRIFYING AFRICA: AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY WITH POLICY IMPLICATIONS

The European Union anticipates alleviating future energy shortages and fulfilling renewable energy mandates by importing “green” electricity from Africa. Historical precedent and environmental consequences have largely been ignored. This article presents an environmental history of African electricity generation at a continental scale, tracing its parallel developments with colonialism, as well as its pursuit in the independence eras of development assistance and neoliberalism. Initially electricity served European interests. Independent governments' development policies involved electrification primarily for industrial development; in North Africa, universal access was also a priority. Recurrent themes and cycles of environmental constraint, environmental disruption, and displacement of consequences from one ecosystem to another are addressed. Highlighted are inter‐relationships among electricity generation, fuel supplies, ecosystems, and water cycles. Late twentieth century technologies and globalized markets re‐valued African rivers and deserts as potential energy sources. Mega‐engineering projects were rejuvenated or proposed. Rural electrification was labelled uneconomic social welfare unrelated to economic development policies of selling power through national, regional, continental and intercontinental interconnections. Historical analysis suggests new areas of research for sustainable development and alternatives to declensionist narratives. Decentralized, small‐scale plants offer models of electricity supply for industrial and domestic needs, while investment in rural electrification produced measureable economic benefit at national levels. Will the EU renewable energy mandate simply displace Europe's environmental problems to Africa? Can Africa afford another water‐intensive export commodity? Will the New African Century follow well‐established patterns of exploitation, or take new, sustainable directions?     

亚洲溢价--中日能源的共同困境

由于中东石油输出国对同一时间出口到不同地区的同种原油采用不同的计价公式,使亚洲原油进口价格高于欧美等国的进口价格,形成亚洲溢价。进入21世纪以来,亚洲溢价程度加深,范围扩展。本文在介绍亚洲溢价基础上着重分析了亚洲溢价对中日两国的不利影响以及亚洲溢价的产生原因,提出通过培育亚洲原油定价中心、中日联合采购等途径削减亚洲溢价,能维护亚洲能源进口国的利益。     

日本“走入非洲”的石油能源战略

非洲石油经济的依附性发展是日本“走入非洲”石油能源战略出台和实施的重要原因之一。具体表现为：非洲产油国以石油开采和出口为主的依附性经济结构是石油资源极度匮乏的日本出台这一战略的主要原因;非洲产油国工业制成品严重依附发达国家,是以出口为制造业主导的日本出台这一战略的重要原因;非洲产油国对发达国家的财政依附及依附性的转化,则是这一战略出台和实施的重要条件。不考虑其他因素,单从非洲石油经济的依附性发展角度看,日本“走入非洲”石油能源战略的前景并非一片光明,而是喜忧参半,前途未卜。     

Confronting institutional boundaries to public participation: a case of the Danish energy sector

Although public participation has become an integrated part of planning practice, experience and documents literature still document difficulties in implementing participatory planning processes that provide arenas where citizens can truly influence planning. Based on a combination of institutional theory and action research methodology, this paper focuses on the institutional boundaries to introducing participatory practices by exploring openings and closures to the adoption of participatory planning processes by the Danish energy transmission system operator (TSO). Public participation in the Danish energy sector is characterized by complex institutional arrangements. The study shows how institutional boundaries are perceived by planners and how openings and closures can be identified and developed in an action research approach. The study reveals that citizen involvement has the potential to influence existing power structures but is highly challenged by an instrumentialised and sector-divided planning.     

Thinking without the ‘circle’: Marine plastic and global ethics

Marine plastic has received significant attention as a spectacle of consumer waste and ecosystemic fragility, but there has been little discussion of its ethical implications. This essay argues that marine plastic poses a direct challenge to the basic frameworks of global ethics. These frameworks are dominated by the image of the ‘circle’, an abstract boundary intended to separate ‘humanity’ from the rest of the universe and insulate it against harm. However, this article argues that marine plastic undermines the ‘circle’ in two ways. First, it embodies conditions of ‘hyper-relationality’, including entanglement and the properties of toxicity, that penetrate the boundaries of ‘the circle’. Second, it exerts ‘forcefulness’, but at scales that radically exceed the dominant spatio-temporal dimensions of ‘the circle’. By virtue of these features, marine plastic thoroughly penetrates the boundaries of ‘the circle’, making it impossible to expel harm beyond its boundaries. Although this essay focuses on marine plastic, its core argument can also be fruitfully applied to other phenomena that share similar material, scalar, spatio-temporal and relational features (for instance, atmospheric particulate, nuclear waste and nitrate pollution). The essay concludes by exploring the alternative ethical possibilities that marine plastic and similar phenomena prompt: in particular, a responsive ethos based on a sense of shared vulnerability and exposure.     

The general equilibrium effects of high-occupancy vehicle lanes on congestion,sprawl, energy use,and carbon emissions

High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes have been promoted to encourage carpools, reduce traffic congestion, and improve air quality. At the partial equilibrium level, commuting with three workers per automobile clearly reduces highway congestion, lowers carbon emissions, and saves energy compared with three single drivers. This paper develops a numerical urban simulation model to generate the general equilibrium effects of HOV lanes on urban spatial structure, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. The major findings are that while HOV lanes reduce traffic congestion and improve welfare, the fall in transportation cost leads to urban sprawl, which results in higher dwelling energy use and a larger carbon footprint. Overall, the HOV lane policy has little effect on total energy consumption and carbon emissions. This is another classic case of general equilibrium effects reversing the partial equilibrium effects of an urban policy. In contrast, a gasoline tax policy leads to less urban sprawl but is less effective at lowering energy consumption and carbon emissions. Imposing congestion tolls is a more effective tool at reducing traffic congestion, saving energy, and lowering carbon emissions.     

Russia’s energy relations with China: passing the strategic threshold?

This article examines Russian energy policies toward China over the past decade as reluctant engagement changed into a priority energy partnership. From 2008 to 2016 Russian and Chinese companies signed several major oil and gas agreements, a period in which Moscow reassessed China as a future energy consumer and lifted bilateral cooperation to a new level. The article utilizes the strategic partnership concept as an analytical framework and finds traditional realist concepts and hedging inadequate for this particular case. The study illuminates Russian geopolitical considerations and acceptance of vulnerability, which combined make long-term Russian energy policies more China dependent. Officially, Russia seeks diversification among Asian energy buyers, but its focus has increasingly been on China. Western sanctions imposed in 2014 for Russia’s role in Ukraine accelerated this trend. Moscow’s energy policies toward Beijing with its pipelines and long-term agreements are permanent arrangements that resemble strategic partnership policies. China is eager to increase energy relations with Russian companies, but Beijing also ensures that it does not become too dependent on one supplier. Russian concern over its increased dependence on China in the East is deemed secondary to expanding Russia’s customer base beyond the still-dominant European market.     

我国能源强度区域差异影响因素的实证研究——以陕西和广东为例

本文通过完全因素分解法,对陕西省和广东省1997-2006年能源强度差异的影响因素进行了实证研究。研究结果表明陕西各产业能源强度过高是陕西能源强度高于广东的主要因素,而工业结构中高耗能产业比重较大是其次要因素。因此,陕西要达到国家提出的五年内单位GDP能耗降低20%的战略目标,一方面需要运用价格、税收和财政补贴等综合的调控手段推动节能技术的开发和利用,建立合理的能源价格体系以有效的降低各产业部门的能源强度,另一方面应根据陕西的要素禀赋进行适当的产业结构调整。     

The Effects of Climate and Socio‐Demographics on Direct Household Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Australia

Household CO₂ emissions are a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions and consequently climate warming. Despite this, there has been little consideration of how household CO₂ emissions may be affected by changes in climate. The aim of the present study has been to investigate the way climate, as well as socio‐demographic characteristics, may affect household CO₂ emissions produced from energy use. A national online survey was conducted to determine current household CO₂ emissions in Australia as well as capture the ownership and use of household appliances and installations. Electricity and gas‐based emissions as well as the ownership of a variety of household appliances and installations were found to be strongly associated with temperature. Electricity and gas emissions were found to decrease as annual average temperatures increase. However, as temperatures continue to rise under climate change this pattern may be reversed owing to increased reliance on air conditioners. One option for preventing this from occurring is to encourage houses to adopt more solar‐passive installations. Although this may be expensive, households with higher emissions tend to have higher incomes, indicating that they may have the capacity to pay for such installations.     

20世纪中美两国"专家政治"的缘起与演变--科学介入政治的一个历史比较

20世纪30年代专家政治的浪潮在美国达到一个峰巅。技术统治论的思潮与运动以物理学原理深刻反思资本主义制度，罗斯福新政时期也大量吸收专家参与政权。在此前后。《东方杂志》、《国闻周报》等将技术统治论作为新的思潮与运动加以介绍，一些参政知识分子则更多地从美国政府的政策调整中吸取经验。南京政府一定程度地吸收专家参政，在行政技术化、立法科学化等方面有一定改进，但未改变蒋介石专制政权的性质。美国的技术统治论经历复杂的转变，其中一部分为主流社会所吸收，一部分则趋向偏激，进一步产生对美国社会的深刻怀疑，成为当今美国社会的另类选择。美中两国历史发展说明，科学进入政治领域，有利于技术层面的科学化；科学主宰政治。却是技术乌托邦之梦。