2018 Conference

Poster Presentation

AESS Proposal 2018

            In my senior thesis project at Lewis & Clark, I am focusing on renewable energy projects in peripheral nations. Similar to water, shelter, and food as intimately interconnected functional “sectors” of economic life, energy is significant to the general development of society itself.  Currently residing at a historic “crossroads” of a global transformation away from carbon infrastructures, various agents are facing not only an intractable technical undertaking, but also monumental political and cultural challenges. I focus on renewable energy, as it specifically relates to this years theme of inclusion and legitimacy. Content analysis of energy journals reveals that only 3% of authors within these journals come from least developed countries.

            In response to this, I attempt to analyze renewable energy projects – promoted by the World Bank and other core-led development organizations as a “win-win” solution to climate change, a driver of economic growth, an alternative to more costly infrastructure development in core countries, and an enhancement to consumer trust  – from an environmental world systems theory perspective. Using World Bank and UNEP data sets, I analyze the quantitative relationships between renewable energy and indicators of economic and human development. In order to look at the nuances within renewable energy projects that might not be captured in the macroeconomic picture, I compare two projects that represent the spectrum of core funded-renewable energy projects in peripheral countries: the World Bank funded hydropower project of the Grand Inga and the privately funded Lake Turkana wind farm project in Kenya.  In analyzing the published rhetoric in comparison to the documented reality of these projects, with both development and profit motives, I have gained a sense of how they act as forces for and against social and economic development.