<div dir="ltr">hi George,<br><br>if you decide to write on energy, this report and the previous one from corner house could be very useful,<br><br>Michel<br><br><br><div><div><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>
From: <b class="gmail_sendername">The Corner House - new postings</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:notification-l@thecornerhouse.org.uk">notification-l@thecornerhouse.org.uk</a>></span><br>Date: Mon, Apr 28, 2014 at 6:22 AM<br>
Subject: Energy, Work and Finance -- new report from The Corner House<br>To: <a href="mailto:notification-l@thecornerhouse.org.uk">notification-l@thecornerhouse.org.uk</a><br><br><br>-- apologies in advance for cross postings --<br>
<br>
-- please circulate --<br>
<br>
'Energy, Work and Finance'<br>
a new 124-page report from The Corner House<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/energy-work-and-finance" target="_blank">http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/energy-work-and-finance</a><br>
<br>
<br>
Politicians and environmental activists often make it seem as if a<br>
transition to a green, climate-friendly energy future were primarily a<br>
matter of finding and deploying trillions of dollars to replace fossil<br>
fuels, improve energy efficiency, solve energy poverty, and so on.<br>
<br>
But they seldom ask just what these 'trillions' might consist of, what ATM<br>
they might come from -- and what damage attempts to harness them might do<br>
to the goal of equality and subsistence for all.<br>
<br>
Progressive energy campaigns cannot succeed unless they take such issues<br>
seriously.<br>
<br>
This report, 'Energy, Work and Finance', aims to understand how both<br>
energy and finance have been constructed and contested during stormy<br>
transformations in industry, livelihood and exploitation over the past two<br>
centuries.<br>
<br>
The report first traces the ways in which modern energy practices were<br>
shaped by 19th-century industrial elites struggling to accumulate as much<br>
as possible from the work of ordinary people.<br>
<br>
It shows how thermodynamics helped untangle different energies -- heat,<br>
mechanical, electromagnetic, chemical -- from their social and natural<br>
contexts, before combining them into a single commodifiable whole.<br>
<br>
It relates how the steam-coal combination enabled capital to concentrate<br>
labour at any urban location it chose, disentangle it from place and the<br>
cyclical time of days and seasons, and make good on its perennial threat<br>
to discard and impoverish workers who did not come up to proper standards<br>
of obedience while micromanaging them at minimal cost.<br>
<br>
The report then follows some of the connections that have linked energy to<br>
finance ever since energy supply networks and a distinguishable 'energy<br>
sector' first emerged in the 1800s. It describes how financial<br>
institutions have made possible infrastructure for transferring<br>
high-quality energy from hinterland to metropolis.<br>
<br>
It also also touches on the ways in which energy and financial speculation<br>
are linked; an oil-based pattern of house ownership, particularly in the<br>
US, became integral to the growth of speculative real-estate-based credit;<br>
and the ways in which finance is pushing other sectors, including<br>
infrastructure development, into exaggerated forms of plunder in order to<br>
attain unrealistic rates of profit.<br>
<br>
Throughout, the report stresses the destructive creativity and innovation<br>
of today's financial sector, with its plethora of investment banks,<br>
private equity firms, mutual funds, development banks, hedge funds,<br>
sovereign wealth funds, master limited partnerships, climate funds, oil<br>
companies and real estate investment trusts.<br>
<br>
In this context, the report finds, small-scale, decommodified energy<br>
projects, controlled by and for local people, are extremely unlikely to<br>
attract pension funds and other institutional investors. The most that can<br>
be expected is that investors will try to siphon off a portion of<br>
publicly-funded contracts intended for off-grid village electrification or<br>
university or hospital schemes for their own benefit.<br>
<br>
As energy mining and energy consumption climbs, ordinary people's<br>
opportunities for provisioning themselves, getting about independently, or<br>
learning autonomously, are closed out in both extraction and production<br>
zones. A 'green' or 'democratic' energy on the thermodynamic model<br>
developed during the 19th century is virtually a contradiction in terms.<br>
<br>
The report concludes that looking at energy and finance not as static<br>
'things' but as political processes in motion is crucial to strategies for<br>
a green, democratic, liveable energy future. Effective energy activists<br>
will challenge dominant notions of both energy and finance, and join<br>
existing oppositional forces in struggles already being waged over a wide<br>
variety of arenas, from science to feminism to labour rights and race.<br>
<br>
For such activists, the deeper, more pertinent question about evolving<br>
struggles over energy -- in which bitterly antagonistic social groups are<br>
constantly responding and adjusting to their opponents -- is not 'what is<br>
your alternative?' but rather 'whose side are you on?'.<br>
<br>
<br>
'Energy, Work and Finance'<br>
a new 124-page report from The Corner House<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/energy-work-and-finance" target="_blank">http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/energy-work-and-finance</a><br>
<br>
Note: A limited number of paper copies of this report are available.<br>
Please contact The Corner House for more information.<br>
<br>
email: enquiries AT <a href="http://thecornerhouse.org.uk" target="_blank">thecornerhouse.org.uk</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
This report builds on two previous reports:<br>
<br>
'Energy Security For Whom? For What?'<br>
<a href="http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/energy-security-whom-what" target="_blank">http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/energy-security-whom-what</a><br>
<br>
<br>
'Energy Alternatives: Surveying the Territory'<br>
<a href="http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/energy-alternatives" target="_blank">http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/energy-alternatives</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
We hope you find it useful and stimulating<br>
with best wishes from all at The Corner House<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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</div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><div><b>Please note an intrusion wiped out my inbox on February 8; I have no record of previous communication, proposals, etc ..</b></div><div><br></div>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a> - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br>
<br><a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank"></a>Updates: <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</a><br>
<br>#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href="http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/" target="_blank">http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/</a> <br></div>
</div></div></div>