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 DUSTIN MULVANEY

Sustainable
E n e r gy
TRANSITIONS
Socio-Ecological Dimensions
of Decarbonization
Sustainable Energy Transitions
Dustin Mulvaney

Sustainable
Energy Transitions
Socio-Ecological Dimensions of Decarbonization
Dustin Mulvaney
San José State University
San José, CA, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-48911-3    ISBN 978-3-030-48912-0 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48912-0
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
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 V

Acknowledgments

This book is dedicated to all my teachers, and our orange cat César (2002–
2020). There are a bunch of people to thank for helping me be a better
teacher. I took courses from some wonderful instructors, in high school,
college, and graduate school. In college, Professors Angelo J. Perna, R.P.
Thompkins, and Trevor Tyson were major influences. Some of my teaching
mentors include Professors Melanie Dupuis, David Goodman, Margaret
FitzSimmons, Eric Katz, Ronnie Lipschutz, Roberto Sanchez-Rodriguez,
Donna Haraway, Nancy Jackson, Ali Shakouri, and Ben Crow, all of whom
I was a teaching assistant for, or who I took classes from. I learned and
continue to learn a tremendous amount from my fellow graduate students
in Environmental Studies at University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC).
Thanks to Daniel Press, who hired me to develop and teach my first energy
course at UCSC in 2008. I had an amazing teaching-focused interdisciplin-
ary postdoctoral experience in Electrical Engineering and at College 8 (the
Rachel Carson College) at UCSC where I really began to refine pedagogy. I
owe a debt of gratitude to the Switzer Foundation and the Silicon Valley
Toxics Coalition, two organizations that helped me commit time to learn
about this industry. Many thanks also to Professor Alastair Iles at the Uni-
versity of California, Berkeley, who became a critical mentor to me very
early as I developed research questions around energy transition. This text-
book is intended for my sustainable energy strategies course at San José
State University (SJSU), where there is a deep commitment to sustainable
energy in the Environmental Studies Department, Frank Schiavo, dating
back to the early 1970s. The enthusiasm of the students at SJSU is a major
motivation for this work. My colleagues in Environmental Studies also
have been very supportive—Professors Lynne Trulio, Rachel O’Malley,
Gary Klee, Costanza Rampini, Will Russell, Bruce Olzewski, Katherine
Cushing, Beniot Delaveau, Terry Trumbell, and Pat Ferraro.
There is also a vibrant community of people studying energy transitions
that deserves acknowledgment and thanks. There is a great teaching resource
I have used for quite a few years hosted by Chris Nelder and produced by
Justin Ritchie; it’s a podcast called The Energy Transition Show. It is a won-
derful resource for students, and I recommend trying to integrate it into
lesson plans around this book. Another similar set of resources were devel-
oped over the years by Stephen Lacey, starting way back with Inside Energy
News and now The Energy Gang and The Interchange shows, which I also
learned much from. Finally, our professional associations and graduate
school colleagues, and Twitter friends, are so important for shaping the way
we think so I want to thank a lot of friends from over the years—Jill Har-
rison, Max Boykoff, Mark Buckley, Jill Harrison, Roopali Phadke, Matt
Huber, Jenn Bernstein, Damian White, Timmons Roberts, Costa Samaras,
Hanjiro Ambrose, Jason Douglas, Paul Robbins, and Morgan Bazilian.
Great work all around people. We can make sustainable energy happen.
About This Book

Systems that produce, deliver, and consume energy all around us are under-
going a transition. This is a textbook that I hope reaches people interested
in learning about the socio-ecological dimensions of energy system transi-
tions from multiple disciplinary perspectives, including ideas and concepts
from engineering, economics, and life-cycle assessment to sociology, polit-
ical science, anthropology, policy studies, the humanities, arts, and some
interdisciplinary thinkers that defy categories. One prominent voice in cur-
rent debates about energy transitions are argue to act on decarbonizing
energy systems to mitigate climate impacts from carbon pollution from
energy supplies. But other socio-ecological systems will be transformed
and may benefit from shifts in energy use and production patterns. In 2020,
80% of global energy is still supplied from fossil fuels. Many places have
taken great strides toward decarbonizing some aspects of life in 2020, but
there are many miles to go to make a sustainable future.
The adjective “socio-ecological” refers to the set of human and non-
human systems interweaving the biophysical world and its ecologies with
the metabolism of human civilization. Socio-ecological systems tied to our
energy use are complex and often across great geographical distances, so
the book aims to draw case studies from around the world to bring into
perspective the various ways that human ingenuity is working to provide
renewable and clean energy, and tackling its side effects.
The multiple disciplines presented in this textbook aim to build bridges
across the social and natural sciences and humanities to introduce readers
to the development of energy and efforts and prospects of an energy tran-
sition. I designed this book with students with a sustainable energy focus
in mind, borrowing from our concentrations in energy in Environmental
Studies at SJSU. I have integrated case studies, figures and tables, exercise
problem sets, pictures and diagrams of different energy systems, and links
to further resources for further exploration of energy questions. In my own
courses, I aim to use this book as the bedrock for a project-oriented course,
with lots of class discussions and group projects. But it can be read and
taught page by page at whatever pace. The book is also written in a way
that can be structured around slides and conventional lectures. The lecture
slides that accompany these chapters are available on the web.
 VII

Contents

1 Energy Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 
Energy Transitions and the Anthropocene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Major Debates about Energy Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3 Degrowth Versus High-Energy Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4 Low-Carbon Resources: Clean Energy Versus Renewable Energy . . . . . . . . . 13
1.5 Distributed Versus Centralized Energy Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.6 Deployment Versus Breakthrough Technologies? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.7 Natural Capitalism or Ecological Socialism? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.8 Socio-Technical Systems and Multi-Level Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.9 Supply-Side Strategies: Keep it in the Ground, Divestment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.10 Demand-Side Strategies: Changing Behavior and Social Norms . . . . . . . . . 25
1.11 Just Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

2 Fundamentals of Energy Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

2.1 Power and Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.2 Electromagnetic Induction and Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.3 Laws of Thermodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.4 Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.5 Photon Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.6 Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.7 Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.8 Exercise Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

3 Energy and the Social Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

3.1 Energy’s Impacts on People, and Peoples’ Impact on Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.2 Environmental Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3 Energy Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.4 Resource Curse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.5 Behavior and Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.6 Theories of Social Change: Ecological Modernization
and Social Movements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.7 Political Ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.8 Global Production Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.9 Social Acceptance of Energy Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.10 Science and Technology Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

4 Energy and the Environment I: Fossil Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

4.1 Energy and Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.2 Coal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
VIII Contents

4.3 Natural Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

4.4 Petroleum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.5 Tar Sands, Oil Sands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
4.6 Oil Shale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

5 Energy and the Environment II: Nuclear and Renewables . . . . . . . 109

5.1 Uranium and Nuclear Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.2 Wind Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.3 Solar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.4 Hydropower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
5.5 Bioenergy: Biofuels, Biomass, Biogas, and Biochar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.6 Geothermal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
5.7 Wave Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.8 Tidal Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

6 Sustainable Energy Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

6.1 Industrial Ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
6.2 Sustainability Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6.3 Carbon Footprints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
6.4 Life-Cycle Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
6.5 Energy Return on Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
6.6 Energy Payback Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
6.7 Water Footprints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
6.8 Cradle-to-Cradle Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
6.9 The Transition to Sustainable Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
6.10 Green Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6.11 Political-Industrial Ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

7 Low-Carbon Electricity Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

7.1 
The Electricity Grid System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
7.2 Levelized Cost of Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
7.3 Power Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.4 Designing Electricity Systems for Flexibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
7.5 Energy Storage and Integrated Resource Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
7.6 Smart Grids, the Internet of Things, and Artificial Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . 180
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

8 Low-Carbon Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

8.1 Transportation in 2020 Is Powered Mostly by Petroleum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
8.2 Electric Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
8.3 Well-to-Wheel Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
8.4 Hydrogen Fuel Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
 IX
Contents

8.5 Ethanol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

8.6 Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
8.7 Low-Carbon Drop-in Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
8.8 Vehicle-to-Grid Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
8.9 Autonomous Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
8.10 Public Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
8.11 Urban Planning for Walking and Biking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
8.12 Decarbonizing Aviation, Long-Range Travel, and Flying Less . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

9 Low Carbon Industries and the Built Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

9.1 Energy Efficiency and Green Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
9.2 Water and Wastewater Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
9.3 Cement Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
9.4 Major Alloys and Metals: Steel, Copper, Aluminum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
9.5 Chemical Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

10 Sustainable and Just Energy Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

10.1 Food-Energy-Water Nexus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
10.2 Sustainability and Justice Concepts for Solar Energy Futures . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
10.3 Developing Decarbonization Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
10.4 Critical Concepts for Sustainable Energy Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
10.5 Techno-ecological Synergies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
10.6 Moving Forward on an Energy Transition Toward Decarbonization . . . . . . 231
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Supplementary Information
 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
About the Author

Dustin Mulvaney
is a Professor in the Environmental Studies Depart-
ment at San José State University (SJSU). He
received his doctoral degree from the Environmental
Studies Department at the University of California,
Santa Cruz, and obtained a Master of Science in
Environmental Policy Studies and Bachelor of Sci-
ence degree in Chemical Engineering from the New
Jersey Institute of Technology. He started at SJSU
after an appointment at the University of California,
Berkeley, where he was a National Science Founda-
tion Science and Technology Studies Postdoctoral
Scholar in the Department of Environmental Sci-
ence, Policy, and Management. His contributions
to research include work on environmental justice,
solar energy commodity chains, and public lands
and energy development in the American West.
His book Solar Power: Innovation, Sustainability,
Environmental Justice, published by the University
California Press in April 2019, reveals extensive
research on photovoltaic sustainability, chemical
stewardship, and recycling management, including
participation in the development of the e-Stewards
recycling standard for photovoltaics with the Basel
Action Network and as a member of the Joint Com-
mittee for a sustainability leadership standard for
photovoltaics at the National Standards Founda-
tion International. He previously worked for a bio-
remediation start-up as a project engineer, designing
cleanup strategies for soil and water contamination.
Prior to that, he was a chemical process engineer for
a Fortune 500 chemical manufacturer.
 XI

Abbreviations

AC Alternating current EE Energy efficiency

ACEEE American Council for an EGS Enhanced geothermal
Energy-Efficient Economy systems
AI Artificial intelligence EIA U.S. Energy Information
AV Autonomous vehicles Administration
EJ Environmental Justice
BAU Business-as-usual EPAct U.S. Energy Policy Act
BEV Battery electric vehicle EPR Extended producer
BWR Boiling water reactors responsibility
EROI Energy Return on Investment
CAFE Corporate average fuel EV Electric vehicle
economy
CARB California Air Resource FAME Fatty Acid Methyl Esters
Board FAO United Nations Food and
CCS Carbon capture and Agriculture Organization
sequestration FERC U.S. Federal Energy Regula-
CDC U.S. Centers for Disease tory Commission
Control FIT Feed-in-tariff
CdTe Cadmium Telluride
CEC California Energy Commis- GHG Greenhouse gases
sion GRI Global Reporting Initiative
CIGS Copper indium gallium HFC Hydrofluorocarbon
diselenide HVAC Heating, ventilation, air-
CITES Convention on Interna- conditioning
tional Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and ICE Internal combustion engine
Flora IEA International Energy Agency
CPP Critical peak pricing IEEE Institute of Electrical and
CPUC California Public Utilities Electronics Engineers
Commission INDC Intended National
CSR Corporate social responsi- Determined Contributions
bility IoT Internet of things
ISO Independent system
DC Direct current operator
DG Distributed generation
DLC Direct load control LCA Life-cycle assessment
DOE Department of Energy LCFS Low-carbon fuel standard
DR Demand response Li-ion Lithium ion
XII Abbreviations

LNG Liquefied natural gas SDG Sustainable Development

LWR Light water reactors Goal
STS Science and technology
Mox Mixed oxide fuel studies
MSW Municipal solid waste
TOU Time of use
NHTSA U.S. National Highway and TSS Total suspended solids
Transportation Safety
Administration U.S. EPA U.S. Environmental
NREL National Renewable Energy Protection Agency
Lab UIC Underground injection
control
OPEC Organization of Petroleum UNCED United Nations Confer-
Exporting Countries ence on Environment and
OTEC Ocean thermal energy Development
conversion UNFCCC United Nations Frame-
work Convention on
PURPA U.S. Public Utilities Climate Change
Regulation Policy Act
PV Photovoltaics V2G Vehicle-to-grid
VOC Volatile organic com-
RCP Representative Concentra- pound
tion Pathways
REDD Reduced Emissions from WEC Wave energy converter
Deforestation and WTW Well-to-wheels
Degradation WWS Wind, water, sunlight
RoHS Restriction on Hazardous strategy
Substances WWTF Wastewater treatment
RTP Real-time prices facility
 XIII

List of Figures

Figure 1.1 Diagram of major axes of debates in energy transitions�������������������9

Figure 1.2 Entropy and ecological economics���������������������������������������������������13
Figure 1.3 Embodied energy injustice (Healy et al. 2019)���������������������������������27
Figure 1.4 The Navajo generating station near Page, Arizona,
brought about US$30 million in revenues to Navajo
Nation annually �������������������������������������������������������������������������������28
Figure 1.5 Might Moss Landing Power Plant was once Califor-
nia’s largest and soon will be home to its largest
lithium-ion battery���������������������������������������������������������������������������29
Figure 2.1 Watt’s 100 kW steam engine versus modern steam
turbine, which can be as large as 1.5 GW, or a million
times more powerful�������������������������������������������������������������������������38
Figure 2.2 Electromagnetic induction and the demonstration of
Ampere’s law by Michael Faraday���������������������������������������������������41
Figure 2.3 Bandgaps of semiconductor materials used in photo-
voltaics ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������44
Figure 2.4 Color wheel of light absorbed and color�����������������������������������������45
Figure 2.5 GHG emissions factors for different sources of energy �����������������47
Figure 2.6 US energy consumption in 2018 described by a Sankey
Diagram�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������49
Figure 3.1 Divided views on the California wind farm�������������������������������������72
Figure 3.2 Ocotillo Express Wind Farm under construction. Note
the spools of copper wire in the foreground in a
temporary staging area���������������������������������������������������������������������76
Figure 4.1 A coal seam from the Kaiparowits Plateau in southern
Utah�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������86
Figure 4.2 Open-pit strip mining in the Powder River Basin,
Wyoming from space. (Image courtesy NASA)�������������������������������88
Figure 4.3 Half of US coal mines operating in 2008 were closed
by 2017���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������91
Figure 4.4 Natural gas production over time and share of shale
gas, tight gas, and other unconventional sources�����������������������������93
Figure 4.5 Diagram of the hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”
process ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������96
Figure 4.6 A natural gas field in Jonah, Wyoming�������������������������������������������98
Figure 4.7 Fracking has drawn widespread protest and environ-
mental concern related to production processes and
climate�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������99
Figure 4.8 Petroleum refining in Anacortes, Washington�������������������������������102
Figure 5.1 Protest in Berlin by farmers against the siting of a
nuclear waste dump near the border with Poland�������������������������112
Figure 5.2 The size of wind turbines continues to grow���������������������������������115
XIV List of Figures

Figure 5.3 Swanson’s effect �����������������������������������������������������������������������������118

Figure 5.4 Cumulative PV installations from 1992 through 2018�������������������119
Figure 5.5 The pn-junction is the interface between the n-Type
semiconductor and the p-Type semiconductor�����������������������������120
Figure 5.6 The photovoltaic effect raises the energy level of the
electrons when exposed to light. Note there is a an
energy level where the electron is forbidden�����������������������������������121
Figure 5.7 Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, Desert Center, and Topaz
Solar Farm in California Valley, both are in California ���������������122
Figure 5.8 The energy spectrum from sun to Earth and the
bandwidths available for solar power���������������������������������������������124
Figure 5.9 California renewable energy generation, 2010–2017���������������������124
Figure 5.10 A concentrated solar power tower uses heliostats to
produce steam���������������������������������������������������������������������������������125
Figure 5.11 Solar power tower in Ivanpah Valley, California.
(Photo: Mulvaney)�������������������������������������������������������������������������126
Figure 5.12 CSP parabolic troughs produce steam by using large
curved mirrors �������������������������������������������������������������������������������126
Figure 5.13 Flat plate solar hot-water heater. Note: This is a
simplified diagram of a drainback-type solar water
heating system. (Source: U.S. Energy Information
Administration) �����������������������������������������������������������������������������127
Figure 5.14 Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. (Photo:
Mulvaney)���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������131
Figure 5.15 Different platforms for biofuels to energy�������������������������������������133
Figure 5.16 Types and principals of wave power devices���������������������������������140
Figure 6.1 The key steps in LCA briefly summarized in this
chapter are iterative steps that always require thought-
ful reflection and interpretation�����������������������������������������������������151
Figure 6.2 LCA systems boundaries for an integrated solar
greenhouse project�������������������������������������������������������������������������156
Figure 6.3 Supply chain for photovoltaics������������������������������������������������������157
Figure 6.4 Value potential from recycling end-of-life photovoltaics �������������158
Figure 6.5 Industrial-Political Ecology integrates social science
research with the study of policy frameworks, norma-
tive goals, and tools used in sustainability science and
ecological modernization discourse�����������������������������������������������162
Figure 7.1 An electricity substation near Amboy Crater, Califor-
nia, in the Mojave Desert���������������������������������������������������������������171
Figure 7.2 Siting transmission infrastructure can pose its own
challenges especially in high fire-risk or wilderness
areas �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������173
Figure 7.3 Swanson’s effect suggests that every doubling of
production results in a 20% decline in cost �����������������������������������174
Figure 7.4 California’s duck curve shows the need for a significant
power ramp up�������������������������������������������������������������������������������178
 XV
List of Figures

Figure 7.5 There are proposals to turn Hoover Dam—a twentieth-

century powerhouse for the American West—into a
pumped storage project �����������������������������������������������������������������180
Figure 8.1 The PV here is not enough to charge these EVs, but the
shade is nice and every drop helps�������������������������������������������������203
Figure 8.2 Micro-mobility solutions like e-scooters may help solve
the final mile problem���������������������������������������������������������������������204
Figure 8.3 E85 fueling station in Las Vegas ���������������������������������������������������204
Figure 8.4 Solar power aircraft like these may find niche markets,
but large passenger jets need higher-density fuels�������������������������205
Figure 8.5 Taxpayer investments like Tesla have helped create jobs
and clean energy devices�����������������������������������������������������������������205
Figure 9.1 The Rosenfeld effect in California, graphic from
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory���������������������������������������210
Figure 9.2 Schematic of the industrial symbiosis at the Kalund-
borg complex in Denmark�������������������������������������������������������������214
Figure 9.3 Bioplastic packaging made from corn that is a biode-
gradable material ���������������������������������������������������������������������������214
Figure 9.4 Petrochemical industries are important to renewable
energy industries but also rely on extractive industries�����������������215
Figure 9.5 Pulp and paper is a promising area for circular
economy�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������215
Figure 10.1 The US EPA repowering America’s land initiative
offers opportunities to restore damaged land with solar
farms�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������221
Figure 10.2 Photovoltaic canopy on a parking garage at the
University of Arizona �������������������������������������������������������������������221
Figure 10.3 This mesa contains cobalt, an important ingredient for
batteries for energy transitions�������������������������������������������������������222
Figure 10.4 Agrivoltaics are an example of a techno-ecological
synergy. Here, rice is grown under a canopy of
photovoltaics ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������227
Figure 10.5 Concepts and goals of different collectives of energy
solutions�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������230
Figure 10.6 Communities dependent on fossil fuels are routinely
exposed to industrial pollution �����������������������������������������������������232
Figure 10.7 Communities losing big electricity generating infra-
structure still have valuable ­transmission access���������������������������232
 1 1

Energy Transitions
Contents

1.1 Energy Transitions

and the Anthropocene – 3

1.2  ajor Debates about Energy

M
Transitions – 8

1.3 Degrowth Versus High-Energy

Society – 11

1.4 L ow-Carbon Resources: Clean

Energy Versus Renewable
Energy – 13

1.5 Distributed Versus Centralized

Energy Systems – 17

1.6 Deployment Versus

Breakthrough
Technologies? – 20

1.7  atural Capitalism or Ecological

N
Socialism? – 21

1.8 Socio-Technical Systems

and Multi-Level
Perspectives – 22

1.9  upply-Side Strategies: Keep it

S
in the Ground,
Divestment – 23

© The Author(s) 2020

D. Mulvaney, Sustainable Energy Transitions,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48912-0_1
1.10 Demand-Side Strategies:
Changing Behavior and Social
Norms – 25

1.11 Just Transitions – 26

References – 29
1.1 · Energy Transitions and the Anthropocene
3 1
nnLearning Goals
By the end of this chapter, readers will have:
55 a broad understanding of historical patterns of energy transitions;
55 an introduction to theoretical frameworks and debates about energy transi-
tions;
55 an appreciation for how histories of energy transition manifest today, and
55 a roadmap for the rest of the book.

Overview
The way energy is extracted, transported, used, and disposed of is changing right
before our eyes, again. Many say we are witnessing a major energy transition to
renewable energy, or maybe several energy transitions at the same time. It is not
the first time. Energy transitions recur throughout human civilization. For much
of human history, energy access, resource development, and the accompanying
technological changes improved quality of life, albeit some more than others, for
most of the human population. Putting biomass energy to use led to sedentary
human communities, agriculture, metallurgy, and so on; it powered most of human
history. By the mid-nineteenth century, fossil fuels provided many of the modern
conveniences of life—food, electricity, transportation, cities, and industries.
Widespread social and environmental damages and concerns about climate
change raise questions about the wisdom of using polluting energy sources for
light, heat, and motion. How could we hasten an energy transition toward provid-
ing access to those in energy poverty and decarbonization conditions—making
low-carbon energy systems with the fewest environmental impacts? How can we do
this in a way that reflects concerns for labor, waste, air pollution, soils, fish, wildlife,
and water use? This chapter introduces readers to the key concepts, unanswered
questions, and critical debates about energy transitions.

Definition
Energy transitions are socio-technical processes that reshape the nature or patterns
of use of energy resources and/or technologies.

1.1 Energy Transitions and the Anthropocene

The environmental crises and global changes that characterize the Anthropocene—
climate change, biodiversity loss, air pollution, water use and pollution,
defores­tation, nitrification, pollution and habitat loss in our oceans, and soil qual-
ity degradation, to name a few—have spurred interest in the socio-­ecological
 4 Chapter 1 · Energy Transitions

1 Energy Use and the Coronavirus Pandemic

The novel coronavirus pandemic interconnectedness of energy systems
revealed many immediate changes on several time scales. Falling gaso-
related to global public health mea- line consumption has impacted com-
sures such as shelter-in-place and social munities that produce ethanol and
distancing orders that severely curtailed petroleum. Supply chains for electric
normal economic activity. Satellite data vehicles, photovoltaics (PVs), and bat-
presented by the National Aeronautics teries all have faced disruptions. Then
and Space Agency (NASA) and the there are questions about the response
European Space Agency on air pol- to repair the economy. Will there be
lution revealed steep declines from investments in new housing, clean
reduced transportation and smog pol- energy infrastructure, and green jobs?
lution in the short term. What hap- The coronavirus-caused COVID-19
pened next? The moment provides pandemic could have lasting implica-
an opportunity to think about the tions for energy transitions.

connections that link human activities to natural resource use and environmental
change. The question so many are grappling with is how to shift economies and
societies toward more sustainable use of natural resources and land, while mini-
mizing waste and pollution. Questions about air and water pollution have long
been linked to energy systems, as have questions about hastening the evolution of
energy systems and access to them more generally. Increased attention to questions
of energy and climate have taken on great urgency in recent years, owing to con-
cerns about exceeding climate budgets and talk of runway warming scenarios for
our planet—a hothouse Earth (Steffen et al. 2018). Research on the social lives that
experience the extraction, transportation, and generation of energy generally find
improvements in quality of life for the many benefits energy brings us (Smil 2010).
Energy infrastructure and extraction can also be experienced as environmental
degradation, worker exploitation, and other environmental inequalities, links that
are sometimes masked because of the multiple nodes connecting consumers to
natural resources. Today, human influences on the Earth’s ecosystem and processes
are more apparent. Narratives about the undisputed benefits of mass consumption
have shifted from an unquestioned modernist ideal to a major driver of global
environmental change (Adger et al. 2001).

Definition
A socio-ecological system describes human and Earth-system interactions as
dynamic, interconnected, and co-produced by nature and society.

How do social processes cause environmental change? Can green production be

achieved by technology to make stuff with fewer impacts? Or is it about how we
act? Should we consume less of what we do today? These are key questions fac-
ing civilization as it thinks about sustainability—the idea that human impacts on
ecosystems can be minimized and natural resources be made available for future
1.1 · Energy Transitions and the Anthropocene
5 1
generations. Dematerialization and sustainable development are two competing
frames to displace consumption as the modernist ideal of consumption, meaning
“what it takes to live and thrive” (Yates 2012). Early reports focused on environ-
mental resources include The Limits to Growth (Meadows et al. 1972) and Our
Common Future (Brundtland 1987). These reports legitimated sustainable develop-
ment as a global concern and set out frameworks to advance an international dia-
logue among nations on environmental responsibility, poverty alleviation, and
planetary stewardship. International frameworks to manage, or at the very least
evaluate, the multiple social and environmental challenges emerging from this early
work included the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer, Agenda 21, and the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Thinking about Coronavirus

2020 saw the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic, causing severe disruption to
energy systems. Reflect on the changes that you noticed in your everyday routines
during the global public health measures. What images related to energy do you
remember from television, news, or social media? How did the public health measures
affect your own patterns of energy use? What were the short-term implications for
energy industries? How might it shape our relationship to energy in the long term?

There are a number of ways that the concept of energy transitions is used. In the
1970s, the phrase was mainly used to describe the challenge of hastening energy
access to the parts of the world in energy poverty, moving households and commu-
nities up the energy ladder to higher quality energy that would improve the relative
well-being of those populations (Leach 1992). Around this time it was also used to
describe the growing demand for coal resources in the rapidly growing cities of
the southwestern United States. Today, the phrase “energy transition” is used to
describe the move toward a low-carbon economy (Geels et al. 2017). Acknowledging
the need for a just transition refers to how to design and the process of decision-
making that results in an energy system that benefits all, while remaining within
environmental, natural resource, or economic constraints. Social scientists and tech-
nological futurists explain why social transitions happen or do not take hold with
nearly one hundred theories on social change according to energy and technology
scholars Ben Sovacool (2013) and David Hess (Ryghaug et al. 2018; Hess 2012).

Characteristics of the Anthropocene

Humans are a dominant global force on the so-called golden spike—to mark the
planet Earth. The extent to which the transition to this human-dominated geo-
period deserves a name is a matter of logic time from the Holocene, the period
debate among geologists and anthropolo- that defines the past 12,000 years of geol-
gists. One somewhat academic question ogy, to one dominated by humans. Some
about the Anthropocene is where to place golden spike contenders include the first
 6 Chapter 1 · Energy Transitions

1 major imprints on the atmosphere from see the time of the 2019–2021 pandemic
fossil fuels—emissions of methane and as the viro-cene. A few other contend-
carbon dioxide—which have clear anthro- ers for the marker of human influence
pogenically derived signals in isotopes in include large-scale deforestation, major
the balance of carbon 12 to carbon 14. anthropogenic shifts in patterns of soil
The date that marks the start of atmo- erosion, extensive wetland reclamation
spheric nuclear testing—the plutonium for global rice production, and crop
239 line layered down in the early 1950s— domestication—all of these activities left
is currently another leading candidate. permanent marks on the history of
Other “-cenes” have emerged as Earth, clearly caused by humans. Inci-
well, such as the “plasto-cene” (Langlois dentally, many of these transitions began
2018), “petro-­ cene,” “capital-o-cene” long before the fossil fuel period. Some
(Moore 2015), “chthulucene” (Har- scientists argue that rather than try to
away 2015), “pyrocene” (Pyne 2015), establish a benchmark line to define the
“Anthropo-obScene” (Swyngedouw & start of the Anthropocene, it would be
Ernstson 2018), and the “its-too-late- better to have an informal use depending
o-cene” (White 2019). Perhaps we will on the context (Ruddiman 2018).

Energy transitions can be represented by significant changes or divergences from

the “business-as-usual” (BAU) trends for energy use. Energy historian and interdis-
ciplinary researcher Vaclav Smil calls energy transitions fundamental processes in
the evolution of societies, and underscores their glacial pace, pointing to key trans-
formations in prime movers like the steam turbines. There are many different pro-
jections for energy use by 2050; the International Energy Agency (IEA) (2010)
suggests power demand will increase from 18 trillion watts in 2020 to somewhere
between 25 and 30 trillion watts by 2050. Yet, things are changing. Starting in 2015,
the world started to build more renewable energy than energy infrastructure to
burn fossil energy (Platts 2017).
Anticipating what our energy future looks like is the task of energy modelers
and analysts, but also designers, social scientists, ethicists, artists, and a whole
number of people whose ideas, creativity, and expertise could significantly influ-
ence it substance. While colloquially the terms forecast and projection are used
interchangeably, there is a critical distinction between the two. Projections are
trends taken into the future, based on existing trends or some BAU scenario.
Forecasts are made by taking these projections and modifying them with assump-
tions about the future that might change rates of change or adoption of a technol-
ogy. These might include assumptions about driving forces—new market
developments, regulations, innovations, demands for new stuff, and/or behavioral
changes—that are pushing one sector of technologies, like renewables, over oth-
ers that will shift energy use in the future.
To begin to understand our energy systems is helpful to distinguish between
primary energy resources and final fuel products, energy carriers, and energy end
uses.
1.1 · Energy Transitions and the Anthropocene
7 1
Definition
Primary energy sources are the natural resources taken from the Earth: coal,
“wet” natural gas (wet because it contains water, methane, ethane, and other
gases), petroleum, solar and wind power, uranium, and other direct sources of
energy harvested.

Primary energy sources are converted, transported, and made into final fuel prod-
ucts and energy carriers, which provide energy services like light, heat, and motion.
Final fuel products include gasoline, “dry” natural gas (dry because it mostly con-
tains methane), wood for a stove or campfire, hydrogen, and electricity. Energy car-
riers include electricity, hydrogen, and steam.

Definition
Final fuel products and energy carriers are the energy resources that directly
provide energy services.

The unsustainable use of natural resources is the critical consideration in the proj-
ect of energy futures. Dialogues on how to these never resolved the inherent con-
tradictions in the concept of sustainable development, such as whether degrowth
was needed to fully satisfy sustainability goals, or to develop, sustainably. Agenda
21—a United Nations program—intended to help developing countries tackle
poverty and environmental issues, opened up connections between concepts in sus-
tainability and to the managerial discourse and business of corporate social
responsibility (CSR) (Sadler & Lloyd 2009). CSR is an approach to sustainability
that emphasizes the triple bottom line, with a theory of social change that sees the
goal as encouraging private sector responses to market-­based approaches (Milne &
Gray 2012). Voluntary standards, industry benchmarks, and environmental and
social disclosures favored by CSR make some of these spaces governable by getting
companies to respond to concerns from shareholders or about reputational risk.
Resolving questions of what is sustainable development, and how to foster it in
energy transitions, will continue to be a critical conversation.
Amory Lovins (1976), E.F. Schumacher (1973), and Vaclav Smil (2004) are just a
few of the early writers on energy transition, all providing big-picture views over the
long arc of energy in human history. But as we will see, the topic of energy systems and
change is much broader. Through the work of Elizabeth Shove, we learn about the
social construction of comfort and how influences on energy use are shaped by expec-
tations of comfort. Energy transitions are also represented by social movements that
are motivated more by climate change, innovation policy, racial justice, and the cre-
ation of green jobs. Wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) strategies are blueprints to
replace energy systems with one run entirely on electrification and renewables (Jacobson
& Delucchi 2011). Another team developed a so-called solar grand plan, a plan to
harvest solar energy from the US southwest in a major electricity energy transition
(Zweibel et al. 2008). Some entrepreneurs proposed an ill-fated plan called DESERTEC
 8 Chapter 1 · Energy Transitions

to power Europe with solar power from North Africa. Many critics noted with skepti-
1 cism the irony of exporting electricity away from places that need it most.

>>Geographer Martin Pasqualletti describes energy problems as social problems

with a technical component, not the other way around like it tends to be treated.

Geographer Scott Jiusto (2009) notes that the “paradox of conventional energy sys-
tems is that they are, at present, essential to economic productivity and social well-
being and yet enormously destructive, crisis-prone and unsustainable” (p. 547). Energy
transitions can be conceived of at several scales and across several different domains
of energy services. Shifting the current global energy system from fossil fuels to one
powered on biofuels and electricity from intermittent renewables could be “necessarily
a prolonged, multi-decadal process” (Smil 2010). Specific energy resources, or devices
that use energy, turnover relatively quickly so long as they are available globally.
Today, energy supplies available are diverse as ever, and, at the same time, changes
to the larger energy system may move at a glacial pace. If energy transitions are really
social changes, there are numerous social theories that offer insights. It may be appro-
priate to consider social movement theory, institutional theories, and also others from
the social science areas to suggest alternative explanations for social and technical
change, or the absence of change. These are explored in more detail in later chapters.

1.2 Major Debates about Energy Transitions

Several key themes and debates re-emerge consistently in the energy transitions
literature. Many of them are about technological choices, or strategies to pursue
technologies or policies to drive decarbonization. Several countries have engaged
in strong efforts to transition their energy systems, with several northern European
countries claiming to be fossil fuel free or 100% renewable by 2040 or earlier. In the
US, efforts to decarbonize the electricity grid have led states to set targets, with
some targets set at 100% clean energy. Other debates in energy transitions are less
about specific technologies and policies and more about organization forms or
ethical questions such as who gets to decide what these energy futures look like or
who owns future energy systems (. Fig. 1.1).
Research into renewable energy transitions became popular in the late twenti-
eth century around the oil shocks that affected the global transportation fuel econ-
omy. The upshot for some energy scholars is to underscore the slow pace of energy
transitions, pointing to the 1940s as the last new prime movers to become domi-
nant energy sources (Smil 2004). Amory Lovins (1976) distinguished between hard
and soft paths in energy transitions. The hard path refers to coal and nuclear power,
while the soft, which he advocates, is led by renewables and appropriate technolo-
gies. Lovins also suggested that distributed energy can reshape energy geopolitics,
whereas centralized energy resources reinforce business as usual.
While he most typically put solar on the soft path, Lovins (1976, p. 81) warned
that “not all solar technologies are soft.” This focus on distributed energy reso-
nated with Schumacher in Small is Beautiful, where he emphasized distributed
1.2 · Major Debates about Energy Transitions
9 1

..      Fig. 1.1 Diagram of major axes of debates in energy transitions

energy generation as an instance of “appropriate technology”—small-scaled,

decentralized, efficient, and locally controlled. Political scientist Langdon Winner
argued that some forms of energy production like nuclear energy rely on authori-
tarian forms of social organization to protect nuclear fuel and waste (Winner
1989). Uranium in the supply chain for nuclear fuel and plutonium in the waste (or
some fuels) require militarization and heavy security as nuclear power plants
because of vulnerability to meltdown accidents or occasional releases of low-level
radiation. Winner argues that technologies are not neutral but can have inherent
politics. Many of the claims about scale and appropriate technology made in this
vain are in line with claims from those seeking pathways toward degrowth. STS
scholar Donna Haraway makes a similar point, but emphasizes that technolo-
gies are not neutral because they are connected to people, things, and other species,
and the types of, and outcomes from, those connections matter because they are
most definitely not neutral in how they change the world.
Lovins—the founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute based in Colorado, a
premier renewable energy and energy efficiency research and advocacy organiza-
tion—detailed these different options in 1976, in the wake of the energy crisis.
Lovins’ (1976) article in Foreign Affairs—which incidentally remains the periodi-
cal’s most widely distributed article—warned against the US plans to increase its
reliance on nuclear power as a path toward reducing dependence on imported oil.
Not only would a large nuclear program—an order of magnitude more nuclear
plants then are in operation in the US today—raise significant safety and security
risks, argued Lovins, preventing the theft of weapons-grade nuclear materials
would require a highly centralized and authoritarian infrastructure, with corrosive
effects on American democracy and individual freedom (Ayres 1975).
Energy transitions are about more than just energy systems and economic mod-
els. There are also critical opportunities to reshape changes in household behaviors
with green technology adoption, or pro-environmental behavior. It is incumbent on
energy scholars to delve into questions that challenge and be reflexive about core
 10 Chapter 1 · Energy Transitions

assumptions. Chappells and Shove (2005) show clearly the importance of social
1 constructionism perspectives and the social evolution of human expectations of
things like comfort. Assumptions about occupant expectations of temperature and
humidity range currently feeds into building design standards, particularly heating,
ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system designs. It turns out human behav-
iors and how user use things we make are important. But there are also debates
about how well energy-saving behaviors “stick” and whether energy savings are just
spent elsewhere on other energy-­consuming activities—the so-called rebound effect.
Some technologies deployed in an energy transition could be accompanied by
spillover benefits, especially if targeted for deployment-specific ways. Photovoltaic
(PV) adoption by homeowners could have impacts on other environmental behav-
iors such as energy economy of vehicle purchase to outright reductions in energy
use (Hondo & Baba 2010). The rebound effect described earlier—where energy
efficiency adoption leads to increased energy use or energy service demand—is not
well characterized for homeowners who install PVs and is an understudied topic.
The integration of PV with smart grids may mark a fundamental reconfiguration
of the relationship between consumers and utilities, and promises to rearticulate
energy use as a social practice as consumers respond to new information and
self-govern their consumption of electricity (Bulkeley et al. 2016). The term “pro-
sumer,” or producer-consumer, attempts to describe new ways in which distributed
energy generation, the grid, and the built environment are integrated.
Inquiries into energy transitions—shifts in the nature or pattern of energy uti-
lization and resources—are motivated by a host of reasons, most recently climate
change. But there have also been instances where risks from price volatility, innova-
tion policy, national security, and/or job creation were the primary motivations
(Araújo 2014). Powerful cultural and political economic currents in some instances
explain or constrain energy transitions (or lack thereof) as many conventional
energy systems are vested with social and economic power that entrench energy
pathways or block transitions, warranting an examination of the uneven geogra-
phies of energy (Juisto 2009). Incumbent energy sectors can lobby to shut down
reforms. Another potential obstacle would be if the public mounted a populist
revolt in response to the rising costs of energy from decarbonization efforts.
The collection of research and analysis that falls under the rubric of “social plan-
ning for energy transitions” is focused on questions about energy futures, energy
policy designs, and institutions to enhance public participation, behaviors, and social
acceptance (Miller & Richter 2014). There is a long history of energy, petrochemical,
and infrastructure projects with very negative impacts. The general idea of this schol-
arship is that as energy transition will require making old industries better, and
greener, newer industries and infrastructure will be required, and it will be important
to have participation from the community of locals to minimize potential
worker exposures, mining impacts, land use changes, and generation of waste.
Energy geographers are providing spatial and qualitative data to support deci-
sions and evaluate impacts of alternative energy futures (Calvert 2016). Geographic
research can understand the ways that a particular spatial distribution of renew-
able projects in, say, South Africa led to positive impacts on rural economies
(Lombard & Ferreira 2015). Planning and policy must forefront the distributive
1.3 · Degrowth Versus High-Energy Society
11 1
impacts of energy transitions to ensure that some do not bear most of the burden
from our collective response (Newell & Mulvaney 2013). This includes ensuring
that even if the impacts of a renewable energy source are much less than its fossil
fuel counterpart, that some people and places are not overburdened by renewable
and low-carbon energy projects and impacts.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is the question of indigenous and First
Nations’ peoples and their role and position in energy transition (Whyte 2017).
This raises questions about recognition, consent, and cooperation in energy transi-
tion, particularly where resources or land, which are owned, managed, or signifi-
cant to these communities, are at stake. There are also opportunities to utilize
traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in the sustainable use and management of
resources. These management opportunities seem to operate best when led by
tribes and First Nations, or whichever groups are most historically familiar with
how to live with the land.

1.3 Degrowth Versus High-Energy Society

How much energy is needed by human civilization? Some parts of the world do not
have access to modern energy, other parts of the world waste more energy than they
need for the services they require. What is the population of humans in 2050 we
should plan for, and how will we acquire energy for them? Will future energy demands
look more like the average American consumer in the early twenty-first century, or
will it more closely resemble energy use in Europe? There is some minimum threshold
of energy to ensure that human well-being and quality of life needs are met.
The 2,000-watt society is one vision put forth by the Swiss to describe a target
for a lower energy use society (Notter et al. 2013). 2,000 watts of power is about
48 kilowatt-­hours (kWh) of energy per day, and the Swiss argue this target is bal-
ancing basic human needs against overconsumption of energy. One thing is for
certain, if there is less energy consumed on aggregate, it makes meeting climate and
air pollution goals much easier and also lowers impacts from the energy sources
that unseat fossil fuels.
Trends suggest that energy demand globally is still increasing, however. Data
available from International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook (cf. IEA 2016)
annual reports and BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy (2019) confirm this
point. 1990 is often considered a milepost year in climate benchmarking because
the first major global climate policy of the Kyoto Protocol used this date to mea-
sure emissions reductions. The world population was 5.3 billion in 1990, and
annual electricity consumption per capita was 2.07 MWh per person. By 2015, the
world population increased to 7.3 billion and electricity consumption per capita
was 3.05 megawatt-hours (MWh) per person, roughly 50% more per capita, with
overall electricity demand around 18,000 terawatt-­ hours (TWhs) (IEA 2016).
Human civilization could depend on increasing amounts of energy in the future.
In parts of underdeveloped countries like China and India, and across regions
of sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and southeast Asia, access to energy ser-
vices is an urgent matter of increased living standards. China comprises 19% of the
 12 Chapter 1 · Energy Transitions

world’s total population. Such a large population and industrial production requires
1 an immense amount of energy. In 2003, 31% of the world’s coal was consumed by
China, eventually increasing to 50% by 2013 (Bloch et al. 2015). As a result of burn-
ing so much coal among other things, China has the highest rates of lung cancer in
the world. From about 2008 to 2013, China was building a new coal-fired power
plant every week. Yet, even this trend seems to have receded. Not only has coal-fired
generation slowed, China added more solar than the US ever installed for each of
three consecutive years 2015–2017, and was already the world’s leading generator of
wind power. One energy future scenario anticipated reduced overall global energy
demand by 40% in 2050, about 245 exojoules (6.8 × 1013 or 68 trillion kWh), even
with population growth, economic activity, and increased well-being (Grubler et al.
2018).
While these trends toward a higher-energy society continue to march forward,
there are some that contend these trends should be reversed. Building on many
decades now of work in ecological economics and political ecology, Giorgos Kallis
(2011) is a leading writer and thinker on the question of degrowth. The basic idea
underlying degrowth is that human civilization needs to discontinue its ties to an
economy where the growth imperative drives much of the economic decision-mak-
ing and underlies measures of economic and social well-being. The degrowth
movement aims to redesign economies so that they are more compatible with a
reality that is subject to the laws of entropy. The fundamentals of degrowth may
seem heretical to mainstream economics, namely, the idea that growth, measured
by increased gross domestic products (GDPs), is the best measure of the health of
the economy. Instead, degrowth thinkers look for examples of energy systems and
economies that are steady-state, that are consistent with the avoidance of waste
implied by the entropy laws, and that exhibit more democratic, anti-racist, and
decolonial tendencies. Degrowth in its contemporary form rejects population-­
based arguments of neo-Malthusianism, though older, less careful writing sug-
gested more connections between the philosophies. The basic ideas underlying
degrowth were first developed by Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, a Romanian eco-
logical economist, and popularized by his contemporaries Herman Daly, Kallis,
and others. Entropy laws mean that conversions of energy result in less useful work
available with each conversion. This is why the laws of thermodynamics dictate
that the end of the universe will be a cosmic heat death. The total amount of
energy will be the same as it always has, but none of it will be available to do work.
That means no light, no movement, and no heat.
A key principle of ecological economics is to avoid production systems that
convert low-entropy resources inefficiently into high-entropy waste. This often
means harnessing energy resources that rely on renewable flows: sunlight, wind,
plant growing cycles, or heat from below ground. This is important because instead
of cycles of capital investments producing widgets and circulating human, finan-
cial, natural, and manufactured capital, entropy laws suggest production is more
linear in nature as natural resources are extracted, degrading the quality of energy
available, produced, distributed, and then disposed of as waste. Since natural capi-
tal and low-entropy resources are the limiting factors of economic development,
any effort to incorporate sustainability needs to break these flows and instead make
1.4 · Low-Carbon Resources: Clean Energy Versus Renewable…
13 1
Solar energy

Energy Degraded energy

NATURAL The Economic
WASTE
RESOURCES System
Materials Degraded materials

Recycled Materials

Low grade thermal energy

..      Fig. 1.2 Entropy and ecological economics

a truly circular economy. This means the outputs from some economic activities
are recycled as inputs to other activities (. Fig. 1.2).

1.4  ow-Carbon Resources: Clean Energy Versus

L
Renewable Energy

Energy transition debates at some point will encounter questions about whether
nuclear power and/or natural gas should be considered as sustainable energy
resources or whether a renewables-only approach is warranted. A system based on
renewables could be produced a number of different ways, including across great
distances, with more energy storage, and by pursuing extensive demand response.
There are good arguments on both sides that argue that their take is the most
important. The reality is that there are a number of different ways low-carbon
energy resources can be developed, deployed, and integrated, and the degree to
which they include nuclear or natural gas may be geographically dependent.
Some natural gas power plants can be operated in a flexible manner, whereas
most nuclear power plants (older plants in general) cannot be ramped up and
down. Others find that nuclear power has opportunities to ramp up, and has
already used this method in a number of electricity grids (Jenkins 2018). Although
some nuclear power plants could be reconfigured to other tasks such as desalinat-
ing water or pumping water for pumped storage, another method to displace
 14 Chapter 1 · Energy Transitions

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is taking waste heat from natural gas or nuclear
1 power plants and using it for district hot water heating.
Around 2007, when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the IPCC, there was a
nuclear renaissance brewing. The US for the first time was planning to develop new
nuclear reactors, and there was great interest in making nuclear power a key tool in
the response to climate change. Two reactor technologies, light water reactors (LWR)
and boiling water reactors (BWRs), are the primary nuclear plants operating in the
world. But the US had not ordered a new nuclear power plant since 1978. Some
attribute this stoppage to the accident at Three Mile Island. But the reality is that
huge cost overruns, lengthy delays, flattening demand for electric power, and expen-
sive maintenance led to quite difficult economic challenges to the nuclear power
industry in the US.
The 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Japan
changed all of this. Germany already was planning to abandon its nuclear power
plants, but the earthquake and tsunami had the immediate result of taking nearly all
nuclear power plants in Germany and Japan offline, and hastening plans for their early
retirement. Germany has taken quite a bit of criticism for closing nuclear power plants,
while coal-­fired generation still operates there (Steinbacher & Röhrkasten 2019). Japan
replaced much of its lost power generation with liquified natural gas (LNG).
Many advocates of nuclear power and energy analysts embrace the idea that
modular reactors could be cheaper and safer to operate than those still in use today
because they would be manufactured in mass production facilities and can be
designed with passive cooling (cooling the reactor core does not require external
energy inputs in these schemes). Some proposed future nuclear power plant designs
include combined heat and power or desalination applications in by design order
to utilize all energy, including waste heat, and to make plants operate more effec-
tively. Old challenges like nuclear weapons proliferation and high-level radioactive
waste disposal, and hopes to use nuclear to mitigate GHG emissions, produce next-
generation passively safe reactors, and to turn nuclear warheads into electricity—
swords to plowshares—will shape continued debates on nuclear power.
A somewhat cornucopian vision for natural resources, eco-pragmatists assume
high-energy society is here to stay, directly challenging to the notions of scarcity
underlying the Limits to Growth (Meadows et al. 1972). In the Eco-Modernist
Manifesto, they posit that “a new generation of nuclear technologies that are safer
and cheaper will likely be necessary for nuclear energy to meet its full potential
as a critical climate mitigation technology” (p. 23). They point to France and
the long history of relatively safe operation of the US nuclear fleet, which has
exceeded expectations in terms of plant age and capacity factor (percentage of
time the plant operates). They argue that nuclear power is the only low-carbon
energy technology capable of fully meeting the urgent response needed to climate
change.
Advocates for incorporating natural gas into energy transition strategies point
to it as the lowest carbon fossil fuel and most efficient to combust. The lowest
GHG emissions factor associated with fossil fuel combustion without carbon cap-
ture is a combined cycle natural gas (CCNG) turbine. When CCNG plants displace
old, inefficient coal-fired generation, there is a considerably lower amount of GHG
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
 THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 97 Q. Of course, it is
desirable for you not to be held for the greater offence ? A. I
certainly don't want to be held for murder. While I am bad enough
on smaller things, I am not guilty of that and I certainly can prove in
Philadelphia by records, etc., they would remember because I was
sick at the time, fees to porters, etc., prove that I was out of
Philadelphia ; that he was seen alive after that, if I am allowed a
chance to do it. Q. (By Mr. Cornish.) I understand you to say, that
you had previously had connections with his doctor in New York ? A.
Yes, that is the greatest reason why at this time Q. Of a criminal
nature ? A. Well, I cannot be expected to answer that, I don't think.
It was not an insurance arrangement hardly, but any way, we both
profited by it. This statement it will be observed, leaves obscure the
whereabouts of the three children. He places them in South America
with their father, and describes one of the girls as being dressed as a
boy. The main purpose of the interview was to ascertain, whether
Pitezel was alive or dead, and
 98 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION. if alive, how the
substitution of a dead body, obtained in New York, had been
effected. The fate of the children was overlooked for the time. That
they had been murdered was not dreamed of ; in fact, the case was
too fresh, and opportunity had not yet arrived for either the police or
the detectives of the company to verify or disprove the statements
of the prisoner. The authoritie were yet groping in the dark.
 CHAPTER V, ] THE WAGES OF SIN. Mrs. Pitezel Questioned
by the Police— Her Pitiable Condition— Complicity in the Plot — Tries
to Shield Her Husband— Prepared for His Disappearance — Believed
Him Alive— Gives Holmes $7,000— Had Parted with Three Children
— Other Details of the Examination — The Prisoners Taken to
Philadelphia — Holmes Tries to Bribe Detective Crawford —
Committed for Trial — Howe Brought from St. Louis — H. H. Holmes,
Benjamin F. Pitezel, Carrie A. Pitezel and Jeptha D. Howe Formally
Indicted by the Grand Jury. Poor Mrs. Pitezel ! What a wretched
plight she was in ! Her husband had disappeared ; Alice, Nellie and
Howard were in unknown hands, her other two children, Dessie, her
eldest daughter, and her year old infant, were witliout a protector,
and she was in prison, under suspicion of having been a party to a
conspiracy to cheat and defraud an insurance company. After
Messrs. Hanscom & Cornish had obtained the statement from
Holmes, given in full in the previous chapter, they turned their
attention to Mrs. Pitezel. She occupied a cell in the same (m
 100 3IES. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE. police
station in which Holmes was detained, and her grief and surprise
over her arrest and incarceration were so great, that the hearts of
the officers were moved to pity. It is to be regretted, that in this
interview, Mrs. Pitezel was not as truthful and as frank as she
subsequently became with the authorities in Philadelphia. She was
evidently inspired by a desire to shield her husband, whom she then
believed to be alive, notwithstanding her statement to the contrary.
Her denial of her complicity in the scheme to cheat and defraud the
insurance company by the substitution of a body, was untrue. She
had been informed of the scheme from its inception, both by Holmes
and her husband, and although at first she earnestly and sincerely
advised against it and pleaded with her husband not to join Holmes
in such a nefarious piece of business, she ultimately acquiesced in it,
and was quite prepared for the disappearance of her husband for a
time, in accordance with an understanding between them. When
Howe paid to her, her share of the money, about 17200, she
believed the plot had been successfully carried out ; that her
husband was alive, and would ultimately
 THE WAGES OF SIN. 101 disclose his whereabouts to her
and would, when prudent, return to his home. This much may be
said for her. She was leading a miserable existence in poverty, with a
large family of five children. She was in ill health, and tied by
marriage to a crook, a man whose instincts were low and criminal,
— much given to drinking alcoholic stimulants excessively, and who
had been for j^ears a close associate and companion of Holmes'.
Her participation in the crime, however, was without excuse, and she
was properly apprehended and charged with conspiracy. It was her
plain duty to have prevented the consummation of the scheme at all
hazard, — even if a bold stand for truth and honor had caused a
separation from her husband. Her punishment, however, has been
severe, much more dreadful than any that could have been inflicted
by the law, and while some may condemn her, many will not hesitate
to pity one, who now carries with her such a weight of woe. Upon
being questioned by the officers, she answered as follows : Q. (By
Mr. Hanscom.) Where is your home ? A. My home is in Galva, 111.
Q. Now this matter about the death of your
 102 3IBS. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE. husband
and the identification of the body, the collection of the insurance,
etc., when was the matter first brought to your attention? A. Why, I
saw it in the paper first. Q. You saw that a death had occurred? A.
Yes. Q. The death of whom ? A. B. F. Perry. Q. And did you
understand at the time that your husband was living in Philadelphia
under the name of Perry ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you know what street
and number he had located on ? A. No. 1316, I think, Callowhill
Street. Q. Before the time that you got this news from the press or
in some other way, had you known anything about this scheme ? A
Q A Q you' A Q A No, they did not tell me anything about it. Nothing
had been said to you about it ? No, they did not tell me anything
about it. Have you one of your daughters here with Yes, sir. Is she
the eldest daughter? Yes.
 THE WAGES OF SIN. 103 Q. Is she the one that went to
identify her father ? A. No, slie is not the one. Q. After seeing the
death in the paper, who was the first to speak to you about it'^ A.
Mr. Becker was tlie first one that I spoke to. He saw tlie account in
the paper, of course, and he was our groceryman and I talked to liim
about it. Q. Where were you living then? A. In St. Louis. Q. What
street and number? A. It is Carondelet; it is a part of St. Louis. Q.
How long had you been living there? A. Oh, we moved there in May
; about the first of May. Well^ maybe it was the middle of May. Q.
Did 3Ir. Holmes come to your Jiouse soon after the annou7icem('nt
of the death to see you ? A. J think it was a week after. Q. Now what
did he say to you about it ? He then told you the scheme, did he,
tliat 3'our husband was not dead? A. Why, I told him that I saw
something in the paper in regard to my husband and I wanted to
know if that was my husband and if it was true, and he said, " You
need not worry about it,
 104 3IES. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE. there is
no use in worrying about that," and he would not say much more
about it. He went and talked with the children and only stayed a
little while that evening and went away. Q. Up to that time had you
mourned your husband as dead ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you believe he
was dead ? A. Yes, I believed he was dead. Q. Had you taken any
steps in the matter? A. I spoke to Mr. Becker and he went down to
the police, and then there had been one or two reporters out. Q. But
a week had elapsed ? A. I think it was about a week, I won't be
positive about that. Q. Had you sent any word to Philadelphia? A.
No, I had not. Q. Had you written ? A. No, I did not try it, I did not
know what to do. Q. What did Mr. Becker tell you to do ? A. He
thought I had better employ an attorney and have it attended to. Q.
Did you employ an attorney ? A. I did not just then, not right that
day.
 THE WAGES OF SIN. 105 Q. Did you make any
arrangements to recover the body ? A. No, I did not. Q. Had you
received a telegram or any word from Holmes before he called upon
you ? A. No, I did not. Q. Had it been talked over w^ith you that
such an occurrence might take place, that is, that your husband
might absent himself and let the report go out that he was deacl?
Had such a report ever reached you ? A. No, not up to this time. Q.
Never had been talked over with you ? A. No. Q. Had you no
intimation, not the slightest sign that it had been talked over ? A.
Not before that, I had no knowledge of what was to be done. Q.
Had you any money by you at the time this occurred ? A. No, I did
not have but little. Q. How much did you have ? A. Five or six
dollars, I think. Q. He had not sent you much money ? A. No. Q.
Well, on this first visit that Holmes, or
 106 3IBS. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE. Howard,
whoever he is, made to you, did he tell you before lie went out that
your husband was living, that you need not worry about it? A. Well,
he spoke to that effect, I don't know as those were the exact words.
Q. Did he ease your mind regarding the death of your husband
befoi'e he went away, telling you that your husband was not dead?
A. Yes. Q. Did he go into tke story that your husband was insured ?
A. No, he did not go into the story then. Q. Did you know that your
husband had an insurance on his life ? A. I knew he had an
insurance on his life, but I did not know whether it was all paid or
not. It was not paid up, and I did not know even when I heard of
the death, whether it was all paid up. Q. Did you know the amount
of the insurance ? A. I did at the time he insured. Q. How much? A.
$10,000. Q. Who collected that money? A. Mr. Howe.
 777^ WAGES OF SIN. 107 Q. As your attornej ? A. Yes. Q.
Did he turn that money over to you? A. Well, most of it was turned
over to me. Q. What did you do with it ? A. Well, Mr. Howard had
some of it. Q. How much did Mr. Howard have of the 110,000? A. I
don't know exactly that. Q. You understood they paid the full
amount, 110,000? A. Yes, Q. After Mr. Howe had made the payments
then you turned over a large portion of that money? This is not an}^
effort to entrap you. We simply want to get at the facts. A. Well, I
understand you, and am trying to give you the facts as well as I can.
Q. How much of that $10,000 did you turn over to Howard,
(Holmes) ? A. I don't know as I can tell you the exact amount. Q.
Can you remember ? A. No, I can't. Q. Was it 17,000? A. It must
have been pretty well on to that.
 108 3IES. riTEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE. Q. He
States it was about $7,000. A. Well, that is correct, I think. Q. Did
you turn over that money to any other person than him ? A. No, no
person only what the attorney and the expenses were, that was all.
Q. How much did that amount to, the attorneys and the expenses?
Can you remember that ? A. No, I can't. They made out a
memorandum of it, Mr. Howe did. He just made it out, and I don't
know, they got into a kind of fussing about it, and, by the way, they
did not give me the statement of it. Q. You did not get that ? A. No,
I have no statement of it at all. Q. After having paid the expense and
$7,000 more or less that 3^ou gave Howard, what portion of the
$10,000 had you left ? A. Well, I guess about $500. Q. You had
really about $500 out of the whole business? A. Yes. Q. Do you know
how much of it your husband had? A. No, that is something I can't
answer, for I don't know.
The text on this page is estimated to be only 24.71%
accurate

The Poplar Street House, Cincinnati, Ohio. ( Wliere Holmes

intended to murder the children.)
 THE WAGES OF SIN. Ill Q. When did you last see your
husband ? A. I saw him last the 9th day of July, and I have not seen
him since. Q. The 9th day ? A. It was either tlie 8th or 9th of July
that he left home in the evening, and I went down to the Union
Depot and that was the last. Q. In St. Louis? A. Yes. Q. Did he
correspond with you after that ? A. Up to the time that I saw it in
the paper he did, but I have never heard from him since, only just
what Mr. Howard says, that is all. Q. Now, what has Mr. Howard said
to you about the whereabouts of your husband since that time ? A.
Well, the only place that I know of where he has been, is Montreal
and Toronto. Q. How do you know that he was in Montreal ? A. I
don't know for a certainty, I could not swear only as I have heard it.
Q. From whom ? A. From Mr. Howard. Q. That he was in Toronto and
Montreal ? A. Yes. 7
 112 MRS. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE. Q. Has
he told you that you would meet him at any other place ? A. He said
I might see him at Detroit, or Toronto, or Burlington, but I have
never seen him. Q. Then you had hopes when you went to
Burlington, that you might meet him ? A. Yes. Q. And failing to find
him in Burlington, where did you expect then to see him ? A. Well, I
don't know. I gave up all hopes of seeing him. Q. He has kept you
moving, hasn't he ? A. Yes. Q. I wish to ask you one question direct.
Do you believe now that your husband is alive ? A. Well, there must
be something in it. I am sure I could not swear to it for I don't know
for a fact that he is alive. All I know is, what you have been telling
me, and what he has been telling me, and that is all I know. Q. But
he has kept you moving from point to point ; I would like to have
you tell it in your own way. A. Well, I have been moving from one
point
 THE WAGES OF SIN. 113 to another. I have been just
heartbroken, that is all there is about it. Q. Yes, I know, we are sorry
for you. Can you tell me the points in the order of them, how you
have been moving about since you left home ? A. I went to my
parents, from there to Chicago, from Chicago to Detroit, and from
there to Toronto, from there to Ogdensburg, from there to
Burlington. Q. And that is where you were yesterday ? A. Yes,
Burlington. Q. Have you had confidence in Howard all the way
through, that he would finally take you to your husband ? A. Why, I
thought so. Q. Has your confidence ever been shaken ? A. Well,
sometimes I thought maybe he was fooling me or something. Q. By
the way, did you have a cipher, anything in the shape of a cipher, by
which your husband could communicate with you privately, any
system of communication, numbers, characters ? A. Oh no, we do
not write that way. Q. You never wrote that way ?
 114 3IRS. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY TEE POLICE. A. No. Q.
Did you ever expect to get any such letter from your husband,
written in any mysterious way, ciphers of any kind? A. No. Q. Did
Holmes ever read to you at any time since the money was collected,
say at the time you were in Detroit, did he ever read anything to
you, purporting to be a letter from your husband written in cipher,
did you receive something of that kind? A. Well, I think he did have
something of that kind that was written in that way, and said it was
from him. That is all I know. Q. Was it in any envelope ? A. No, I
guess not. Q. Did you see the paper that he had ? A. Why, it was
just a small piece of paper. Q. He read something to you from that
paper ? A. Yes. Q. Did you have the paper in your hand ? A. No. Q.
What did it say ? A. Why, just said that he was well and all right and
I need not be worrying all the time.
 THE WAGES OF SIN. 115 Q. You went to Detroit, expecting
to meet your husband there? A. Yes. Q. When he read that letter to
you, do you remember where you were then ? A. In Toronto, I think.
Q. You went to Detroit and from Detroit to Toronto ? A. Yes. Q. In
Detroit did you expect to meet your husband there ? A. I thought I
would see him, he said I would. Q. How many of the children had
you with you ? Just had the little girl and the babe ? A. Yes. Qo And
the other three children were with whom, so far as you know ? A.
They were at Covington. Q. With whom ? A. I don't know who they
were with. I asked him the name and he simply told me who they
were with, said she was a widow, a nice woman. Q. Now, how long
ago was it that you parted with these three children ?
 116 3fRS. PITEHEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE. A. I
have nut seen Alice for two months, and have not seen the others
for Q. Alice went awa}- first ? A. Yes sir. Q. She went to identify the
body of her father ? A. Yes, sir. Q. And you have not seen her since ?
A. No. Q. In whose keeping was she, into whose charge did you give
her at the time she went on to view the body ? A. Mr. Howe took
her. Q. Who is he ? A. He is the lawyer, the attorney. Q. That was
acting for you ? A. Yes, sir. Q. A St. Louis man ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do
you know where his office is in St. Louis ? A. Well, it is in the
Commercial Building. Q. Into his keeping you placed the girl? A, Yes,
they wanted me to go, but I was very .Mck at the time. Q. And Alice
went on with him?
 THE WAGES OF SIX Hi A. Yes. Well, he turned Alice over to
Mr. Holmes then, and he brought her on to Covington. Q. Did you
see her in Covington ? A. No, sir, I was not in Covington at all. Q.
Have you some friends in Covington ? A. No, sir. Q. You have not
seen her since she went on to view the body ? A. No, sir, I have not
seen her since. Q. Into whose custody did you place the other two ?
A. He took the other two, that is, Holmes, took them from St. Louis
to Covington, where Alice was. Q. You don't know whether they
actually went to Covington or not ? A. No, I am just telling you. Q.
That is right. What was his reason fur taking them ? What reason
did he give ? A. The only reason was he said he would take them
there and I could go home and make my parents a visit, and not to
be bothered with them, because my parents were getting along in
j^ears, and he would take the children and then I could go over
there when I got through visiting.
 118 3IES. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE. Q. He
was going to take them to meet Alice ? A. Yes, sir. Q. And that they
would all be stopping M'ith some widow lady. A. Yes. Q. Did he give
the name ? A. No, sir, I told you he did not. Q. Did he say anything
about that they were going to Covington to meet their father ? A.
No, sir, he did not say that. Q. Has he ever told you since then, that
they were with the father? A. No sir. Q. Then you still believe that
they are in Covington ? A. No, sir, he told me he took them to
Toronto, that is all I know about it. I don't know where they are. All I
know is that he said he would take them from Covington to Toronto.
Q. You understood from him that they are there ? A. At Toronto. Q.
With friends of his, or whom do you believe them to be with, your
husband ? A. No, he said he would give them to some friends there.
I don't know whether he has.
 THE WAGES OF SIN. 119 Q. We believe this man to be a
very bad man, and we want to get at all the truth. A. Well, that is as
far as I know. I can't tell you anything more, because I don't know.
Q. You did not understand then that these children were going to
join their father? A. No, sir. Q. Has he ever told you about dressing
one of the girls in boy's clothing ? A. No, sir. Q. He never told you
about those things? A. Well, I have one boy. Q. There is a boy and
two girls ? A. Whoever told you that ? Q. We have been talking with
him. We are not doing anything to undertake to make you feel bad,
we are trying to get at the matter and sift it. He has kept you
moving about the country from point to point, and you look as
tliough you had been through a good deal and we want to get all the
light we can. We don't believe in this man very much. That is why
we are asking you these questions. A. Do you know where the
children are ? Q. No, that is one of the things we want to find out.
We want to find them as much for your
 i20 iMHs. pitezeL quEsrtoMt) bT the PottcE. sake, as well as
for any other reason in the world. In fact, we may say that all these
questions that are being asked you now regarding these children are
in your behalf. Holmes is locked up in this very building, and we
have been talking with him. A. / thought maybe I ivould see the
children here. Q. Holmes is locked up, you knew that, didn't you? A.
I didn't know it until I came up here. Q. He has not given you to
understand that the children were with their father ? A. No. Q. Is
there anything else that you can think of that he has said about the
whereabouts of the children ? A. That is the last that I know about
it. Q. You have met him a number of times at these different points ?
A. Yes. Q. He has kept you moving on ? A. Yes. Q. (By Mr. Cornish.)
Have you heard from Alice since she has been away ? A. I have not
heard from her from Covington since I was home.
 THE WAGES OF SIK liJl Q. Have you received a letter from
her from Covington ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Had she written it herself ? A.
Yes, sir, she and Nellie had written it themselves. Q. Did you keep
the letter ? A. No, I did not keep the letter. Q. Do you remember
what they said ? A. Well, they said they were well and the woman
was real good to them, said she was an awful kind lady, that they
would like to see mama, and wanted to know how the baby was, if it
could talk yet and how grandma and grandpa were and they hoped
they would see mama soon. I think that is about the extent of it. Q.
That was sent where, to Galva ? A. Yes. Q. Did you receive any
letters from them from any other point except Covington ? A. No, I
think not. Q. Did you get any from them from Toronto? A. No, sir. Q.
The only correspondence you had from them was in Covington ? A."
Yes, sir.
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