Questions of Fairness

摘要

This is a highly useful and aptly titled book, virtually a one-volume education in the array of normative challenges posed by the various aspects of our global energy regime. That "regime" is the interlocking structures and practices by which energy of all sorts is generated, distributed, and consumed. An "energy-just world," according to authors Benjamin Sovacool and Michael Dworkin, is one that "equitably shares both the benefits and burdens involved in the production and consumption of energy services, as well as one that is fair in how it treats people and communities in energy decision making." Inequity inevitably permeates this regime. Supply, cost, governance, and the hazards of extraction, generation, distribution, and use all create winners and losers. An "energy-justice" perspective attempts to grapple openly with these difficulties, acknowledging that technical and economic analyses alone cannot. A key problem-but one turned to an advantage by this volume's authors-is that centuries of philosophical endeavor have yielded many ways to slice the apple of "justice."