- The Oxford Handbook of Energy and Society
- About the Editors
- Contributors
- A Time of Change, a Time for Change: Energy-Society Relations in the Twenty-first Century
- Part I Key Contemporary Dynamics and Theoretical Contributions
- Energy, Climate Change, and Global Governance: The 2015 Paris Agreement in Perspective
- Energy Consumption as Part of Social Practices: The Alternative Approach of Practice Theory
- Analyzing the Socio-Technical Transformation of Energy Systems: The Concept of “Sustainability Transitions”
- Part II The Persistent Material and Geopolitical Relevance of Fossil Fuels
- National Energy Signatures: Energetics, Money, and the Structure of the Global System
- Energy Markets and Trading
- Raw Materialism and Socioeconomic Change in the Coal Industry
- The International Political Economy of Eastern European Energy Security: Russia, Ukraine, and the European Union
- Part III Consumption Dynamics
- Energy Consumption Trends Across the Globe
- Shifts in Energy Consumption Driven by Urbanization
- Theorizing the Behavioral Dimension of Energy Consumption: Energy Efficiency and the Value-Action Gap
- Energy Cultures as Sociomaterial Orders of Energy
- The Limits of Household Change: Structural Influences over Individual Consumption
- Part IV Perspectives on Energy Equity and Energy Poverty
- Decreasing Supplies, Increasing Risks in Oil Development
- Industrializing Countries as the New Energy Consumers
- Energy Poverty: Energy Equity in a World of High Demand and Low Supply
- Energy Poverty and Climate Change: Elements to Debate
- Part V Energy and Publics
- Local Responses to Renewable Energy Development
- User Innovation and Peer Assistance in Small-Scale Renewable Energy Technologies
- The Role of Media Influence in Shaping Public Energy Dialogues
- Part VI Energy (Re)takes Center Stage in Politics
- Social Movements and Energy
- Nightmares and Dreams: Contested Framing of Unconventional Fossil Fuels
- Oil Opposition: Creating Friction in Energy Politics
- The Local at the Forefront of Energy Transition: The Example of the Development of Renewable Electricity in Germany and Sweden
- Part VII Emerging Trends in the Energy-Society Relationship
- Are We on the Cusp of a Global Renewable Energy Transition?
- Technological Optimism in Climate Mitigation: The Case of Carbon Capture and Storage
- Exnovation as a Necessary Factor in Successful Energy Transitions
- In Closing: From “energy” to “Energy”
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
Shale gas development rapidly transformed energy production when new techniques emerged in the late 1990s and 2000s. The combination of high-volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, or “fracking,” allowed development in vast, previously inaccessible, “unconventional” oil and gas deposits. Fracking has been welcomed by many national governments as a purportedly low-greenhouse-gas-emitting, energy-security-providing windfall. But it has simultaneously motivated vehement local opposition, to some surprising political effect. Many jurisdictions around the globe now have bans on the practice. This chapter explores shale gas development as a contested “sociotechnical imaginary,” an imagined form of social order reflected in technological projects. Drawing on the controversy in New York in the United States, it demonstrates how the “drill, baby, drill” imaginary was debunked as groups framed it as inherently risky and dangerous, and sought to empower institutions supporting an alternative imaginary.
Keywords: fracking, hydraulic fracturing, shale gas, sociotechnical imaginary, energy
Jennifer Dodge State University of New York, Albany
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- The Oxford Handbook of Energy and Society
- About the Editors
- Contributors
- A Time of Change, a Time for Change: Energy-Society Relations in the Twenty-first Century
- Part I Key Contemporary Dynamics and Theoretical Contributions
- Energy, Climate Change, and Global Governance: The 2015 Paris Agreement in Perspective
- Energy Consumption as Part of Social Practices: The Alternative Approach of Practice Theory
- Analyzing the Socio-Technical Transformation of Energy Systems: The Concept of “Sustainability Transitions”
- Part II The Persistent Material and Geopolitical Relevance of Fossil Fuels
- National Energy Signatures: Energetics, Money, and the Structure of the Global System
- Energy Markets and Trading
- Raw Materialism and Socioeconomic Change in the Coal Industry
- The International Political Economy of Eastern European Energy Security: Russia, Ukraine, and the European Union
- Part III Consumption Dynamics
- Energy Consumption Trends Across the Globe
- Shifts in Energy Consumption Driven by Urbanization
- Theorizing the Behavioral Dimension of Energy Consumption: Energy Efficiency and the Value-Action Gap
- Energy Cultures as Sociomaterial Orders of Energy
- The Limits of Household Change: Structural Influences over Individual Consumption
- Part IV Perspectives on Energy Equity and Energy Poverty
- Decreasing Supplies, Increasing Risks in Oil Development
- Industrializing Countries as the New Energy Consumers
- Energy Poverty: Energy Equity in a World of High Demand and Low Supply
- Energy Poverty and Climate Change: Elements to Debate
- Part V Energy and Publics
- Local Responses to Renewable Energy Development
- User Innovation and Peer Assistance in Small-Scale Renewable Energy Technologies
- The Role of Media Influence in Shaping Public Energy Dialogues
- Part VI Energy (Re)takes Center Stage in Politics
- Social Movements and Energy
- Nightmares and Dreams: Contested Framing of Unconventional Fossil Fuels
- Oil Opposition: Creating Friction in Energy Politics
- The Local at the Forefront of Energy Transition: The Example of the Development of Renewable Electricity in Germany and Sweden
- Part VII Emerging Trends in the Energy-Society Relationship
- Are We on the Cusp of a Global Renewable Energy Transition?
- Technological Optimism in Climate Mitigation: The Case of Carbon Capture and Storage
- Exnovation as a Necessary Factor in Successful Energy Transitions
- In Closing: From “energy” to “Energy”
- Index