Past and Present Energy Societies : How Energy Connects Politics, Technologies and Cultures

Abundant, salutary, problematic-energy makes history. As a symbol, resource, and consumer good, it shapes technologies, politics, societies, and cultural world views. Focusing on a range of energy types, from electricity and oil to bioenergy, this volume analyzes the social, cultural, and political concepts and discourses of energy and their implementation and materialization within technical systems, applications, media representations, and consumer practice. By examining and connecting production, mediation, and consumption aspects from an international and interdisciplinary perspective, the book offers an innovative view on how energy is imagined, discussed, staged, and used.