7
addition of solar energy to the electric grid supply mix. Only solar developers installing solar capacity in the Mega Watts (MW), with each MW
corresponding to close to a million dollar investment, find themselves able
to turn a tidy profit by trading on the wholesale market. This does help in
terms of climate change mitigation, as it enlarges the percentage of lowcarbon energy sources feeding the electric grid, and thereby lowers the
carbon emissions associated with electricity generation. But, current figures constitute nominal progress, gradual increments, that benefit a few
private developers; Portugal is not witnessing some disruptive revolution
in the energy sector that benefits tens of thousands of small households
and communities and moves rapidly towards a democratic, low-carbon
energy future (Camilo et al. 2017; Jaegersberg and Ure 2017; Sareen and
Haarstad 2018; see also Jacobson et al. 2017).
So, we find ourselves in a peculiar, but comprehensible, situation. Solar
energy is cost-competitive with dirtier energy sources, can be installed in
large parts of a country that does not have fossil fuels and, yet, continues
to struggle to comprise a significant chunk of Portugal’s energy mix. What
makes it understandable is the acceptance of a simple, horrifying fact: this
is a crisis of accountability, one that flies under the radar even as we animatedly debate sustainable energy transitions within a global system that
legitimates pathways of carbon capitalism (Mitchell 2011). Lisbon has
hosted some of the most prominent global meetings on such matters, such
as Sustainable Energy for All in 2018, and has even been awarded the label
of European Green Capital 2020. Do such overt public displays of commitment to the ideal of sustainable energy transition serve as a spectacle
that disguises or substitutes for a lack of ambition, action and implementation (Sareen and Grandin in review)? What other horrors lie in store if we
extend our gaze to various energy transitions elsewhere, and would it help
to call them out? What if we reframe energy transitions as a response to
accountability crises? In order to do so, we must articulate how such
accountability crises are upheld. What magic is this that keeps them going?
I argue next that this ‘magic’ manifests as discrete practices of legitimation.
1.2 DeconStructing accountability into practiceS
of legitimation
I claim above that we know what the problem is, that we know how to
solve it and yet do little about it, and that this disjuncture constitutes a
crisis of accountability. Commenting on our contemporary efforts to
1 REFRAMING ENERGY TRANSITIONS AS RESOLVING ACCOUNTABILITY…
addition of solar energy to the electric grid supply mix. Only solar developers installing solar capacity in the Mega Watts (MW), with each MW
corresponding to close to a million dollar investment, find themselves able
to turn a tidy profit by trading on the wholesale market. This does help in
terms of climate change mitigation, as it enlarges the percentage of lowcarbon energy sources feeding the electric grid, and thereby lowers the
carbon emissions associated with electricity generation. But, current figures constitute nominal progress, gradual increments, that benefit a few
private developers; Portugal is not witnessing some disruptive revolution
in the energy sector that benefits tens of thousands of small households
and communities and moves rapidly towards a democratic, low-carbon
energy future (Camilo et al. 2017; Jaegersberg and Ure 2017; Sareen and
Haarstad 2018; see also Jacobson et al. 2017).
So, we find ourselves in a peculiar, but comprehensible, situation. Solar
energy is cost-competitive with dirtier energy sources, can be installed in
large parts of a country that does not have fossil fuels and, yet, continues
to struggle to comprise a significant chunk of Portugal’s energy mix. What
makes it understandable is the acceptance of a simple, horrifying fact: this
is a crisis of accountability, one that flies under the radar even as we animatedly debate sustainable energy transitions within a global system that
legitimates pathways of carbon capitalism (Mitchell 2011). Lisbon has
hosted some of the most prominent global meetings on such matters, such
as Sustainable Energy for All in 2018, and has even been awarded the label
of European Green Capital 2020. Do such overt public displays of commitment to the ideal of sustainable energy transition serve as a spectacle
that disguises or substitutes for a lack of ambition, action and implementation (Sareen and Grandin in review)? What other horrors lie in store if we
extend our gaze to various energy transitions elsewhere, and would it help
to call them out? What if we reframe energy transitions as a response to
accountability crises? In order to do so, we must articulate how such
accountability crises are upheld. What magic is this that keeps them going?
I argue next that this ‘magic’ manifests as discrete practices of legitimation.
1.2 DeconStructing accountability into practiceS
of legitimation
I claim above that we know what the problem is, that we know how to
solve it and yet do little about it, and that this disjuncture constitutes a
crisis of accountability. Commenting on our contemporary efforts to
1 REFRAMING ENERGY TRANSITIONS AS RESOLVING ACCOUNTABILITY…