Grounding the energy justice lifecycle framework: An exploration of utility-scale wind power in Oaxaca, Mexico

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102017Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Empirical evidence is used to corroborate the Energy Lifecycle Framework.

  • Limitations of the framework are identified and discussed.

  • The need for contextual understandings of energy justice is illustrated.

  • Social, environmental and economic impacts of Utility-scale wind power are discussed.

Abstract

Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) are often portrayed as inherently just forms of energy production due to their role in climate change mitigation. This paper argues, first and foremost, that this overlooks the contextual struggles associated with renewable energy projects. We do so through critical engagement with an ‘Energy Lifecycle Framework’ approach to understanding claims of energy (in)justice in Oaxaca, Mexico. This framework for energy justice scholarship promises to enable whole systems interpretations related to the potential synergies and manifestations of injustice, existing at stages from resource extraction to waste, as well as opportunities for achieving more holistic forms of justice. Offering the stages of manufacturing and construction as crucial phases of any systemic approach to RETs and discussing the stage of consultation (an obligatory step in Mexico for energy projects in indigenous territories), the paper challenges and questions our ability to generate abstract interpretations of the relationship between energy lifecycles and their associated, contextually grounded, injustices. To do so, we draw upon extensive ethnographic fieldwork around the development of utility-scale wind power (USWP) projects undertaken in Oaxaca, where a number of regional peasant and indigenous groups have led sustained resistance to USWP on the basis of environmental, political and socio-economic impacts. Demonstrating how pre-existent and embedded cultural and environmental relationships determine the way in which energy justice is understood and constructed, the paper demonstrates tension as it simultaneously corroborates the usefulness of the Energy Lifecycle Framework and urges caution towards universalistic and staged approaches to assessing injustices in energy systems.

Introduction

The transition to sustainable energy systems is increasingly backed by global discourses around climate and environmental justice. In this context, Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) are often portrayed as a more socially just form of energy, and not least because of the emphasis on decarbonisation and a societal transition away from reliance on fossil fuels, which, amongst their many argued “failings”, are often located physically and psychologically far away from the communities that ultimately consume the energy they produce [1]. Renewable energy systems are also posited to offer a platform for parts of the world which, in the past, have been exploited for their abundance of natural resources; offering to re-balance the scales by capitalising their equally abundant supply of renewables. Forming the first contribution of this paper, we seek to build upon the literature that challenges these assumptions arguing, first and foremost, that they are overly simplistic.

We give particular attention to a case study of utility-scale wind power (USWP), which, in reflecting upon the long history of energy acceptability within social science research, is considered one of the most contested RET to date [2], [3], [4]. As Fortier et al. [5] highlight, while RET may differ from their fossil fuel counterparts, the systems themselves invariably emerge within the same political and cultural economies. In this context, the academic literature on USWP has highlighted its tendency to reproduce unjust distribution patterns, including by frequently burdening vulnerable groups [6], [7], [8], [9]. Indeed, Monyei et al. [10] argue that planners around the world need to be cautious, pragmatic and realistic when attempting to decarbonize energy systems given that large scale renewables integration does not necessarily lead to cheaper electricity, the strengthening of energy security or the enhancement of economic equity, despite claims to that effect. Yet for USWP, mainstream interpretations of the injustices behind these burdens frequently assume simplistic and reductionist discourses, blaming mainly visual impacts or noise during the power production stage [11], [12], [13]. Through a grounded case study of USWP development in Oaxaca, Mexico, our second substantive contribution is therefore to unpack the complexity of energy (in-)justice manifestations with regards to USWP developments. We do so with recognition that the transition from a fossil-fuel based energy systems to low carbon renewable one represents a crucial moment for the identification and addressing of energy injustice.

Conceptually, our paper is informed by a whole systems approach [14] to energy justice, which has more recently been repackaged by Heffron and McCauley (2017) as the ‘Energy Lifecycle Framework’. This framework for energy justice scholarship promises to enable whole systems interpretations related to the potential tensions and trade-offs in manifestations of injustice, existing at stages from resource extraction to waste, as well as opportunities for achieving more holistic forms of justice [14], [15]. Offering the stages of manufacturing, construction and latterly consultation as crucial phases of any systemic approach to the Lifecycle Framework of renewable energy systems, thispaper challenges and questions our ability to generate universalistic and de-contextualised interpretations of the relationship between energy lifecycles and their associated injustices. It does so mindful of the context that whilst lifecycle approaches to energy justice have been widely theoretically conceptualized, empirical explorations of their manifestation in practice are still comparatively limited.

To develop our arguments, we draw upon ethnographic fieldwork around the development of USWP projects undertaken in Oaxaca, Mexico, between 2017 and 2019, where a number of regional peasant and indigenous groups have led sustained resistance to USWP projects on the basis of their environmental, political and socio-economic impacts. Over the last years a growing literature has been built around the case of USWP in Oaxaca Mexico, including monographs and duographs drawing from ethnographic methods, that focus on the politics and the socio-environmental issues related to this case study [16], [17], [18]. The case study has also been analysed recently from a justice perspective, including discussions around the social and environmental justice concerns related to issues of recognition of indigenous and agrarian rights, formal and informal processes for negotiation and the unfair distribution of benefits [19], [20], [21]. The relevance of USWP in the Tehuantepec Isthmus as a case study has been increasing in energy justice literature, through papers exploring potential opportunities to develop alternative and inclusive models for indigenous communities renewable power generation in the Isthmus in a post Mexican energy reform context [6], or that analyse the capabilities approach to extend energy justice framework and advance understanding of social acceptance [22].

Demonstrating how pre-existent cultural, political, socio-economic and environmental relationships determine the way in which energy justice is understood and constructed, the paper therefore makes a third, empirically rich contribution to the growing academic literature related to justice and RETs. In order to do so, this paper elaborates injustices identified during the lifecycle stages of manufacturing, construction and latterly consultation, not previously incorporated into the lifecycle framework of Heffron and McCauley [15].

Our paper proceeds as follows. The following section provides an overview of the energy justice literature focusing, in particular, on the move to establish lifecycle-based frameworks for assessing (in)justices. We argue that whilst energy justice lifecycle frameworks take a systemic perspective rooted in solid theoretical foundations, they also open up a series of empirical questions regarding the intersection of the various identified ‘stages.’ We then progress to a detailed background to wind energy developments in our Mexican case, the Tehuantepec Isthmus in Oaxaca, before the following section offers a methodological elaboration of the research. Here, the paper addresses the call from Jenkins [23] for empirical insights that can critique the theoretical and conceptual frameworks being debated within energy justice scholarship. It does so in reference to ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2017 and 2019 where, as part of the main author’s doctoral research, 10 different communities in the case study region were visited, spending a significant time within two of these communities (Juchitan and Union Hidalgo). In the subsequent section, empirical data generated through the ethnographic fieldwork was analysed so as to facilitate critical engagement with the Energy Lifecycle Framework. Closing the loop on our empirical and conceptual lenses, the discussion and conclusion then use the empirical evidence presented to critically engage with the Energy Lifecycle Framework and how this – and other research carried out on renewable energy systems in various contexts [24], [25] –, serve to challenge siloed or staged interpretations of (in)justice as well as the portrayal of RETs, like USWP, as inherently sustainable or just energy systems [26], [27], [28].

Our main claim is that pre-existent cultural, political, socio-economic and environmental relationships determine the way in which energy justice is understood and constructed and that such a finding creates tension within energy justice scholarship as it simultaneously corroborates the usefulness of the energy Lifecycle Framework and urges caution towards universalistic and staged approaches to assessing injustices in energy systems.

Section snippets

Energy justice and the energy lifecycle framework

Energy systems are traditionally portrayed as a set of technocentric or techno-economic stages, including resource extraction, energy production, energy supply, energy consumption and the disposal of waste products in order to accomplish energy service provision [29]. However, the engagement of social scientific enquiry with existing debates on energy has proliferated in recent years [30]. As a result, substantial recognition is now given to energy production and consumption as a

Background to case study

The context of the Mexican region of Oaxaca, where this paper will orientate its empirical focus, offers a particularly powerful context through which to study justice concerns relating to USWP and therefore offer new contributions to the existing literature [28], [37], [38]. Here, with almost 2.8GW of productive USWP capacity currently installed, the region has faced sustained social resistance from different local indigenous and peasants groups campaigning against the environmental, political

Methodology

Due to both the context in question and the desire to bring rich, new empirical narratives to bear on theoretical frameworks developed largely within the ‘western’ academy [69] (namely that of the lifecycle approach to energy justice), ethnographic methods were selected. These enabled the immersive day-to-day interactions and experiences required for acquiring a better sensitivity regarding different local understandings of USWP development in the region [70]. In drawing from this

Results and discussion

The existing literature on wind power from a social science perspective is based primarily on studies undertaken in European countries. The not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) movement referred to in this literature mostly presents claims referring to the negative visual impacts during the power production phase of wind turbines [32], [75], [76], [77], [78]. However, as will be evident from the discussion that follows, the issues in the case of Oaxaca are arguably more substantive as a result of their

Conclusion

You did not install your wind farm in a lagoon, you installed it in an inhabited place, where people live, where this social dimension matters” (NGO, Juchitan)

The research demonstrates the usefulness of the energy Lifecycle framework [15] as a general technical layout through which injustices can be underpinned and understood, in this case, as they relate to USWP impacts over its different lifecycle stages. Such common understanding of energy systems lifecycle stages facilitate the exchange of

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

The corresponding author would personally like to thank all people involved in this work, either directly or indirectly. I mainly thank the trust and help shown by the people of the Isthmus, an example of tenacity and kindness. This research was possible thanks to the economic support of the Energy Ministry SENER and Mexican National Science and Technology Council during the first author PhD programme.

References (101)

  • Ezequiel Zárate-Toledo et al.

    Justice, social exclusion and indigenous opposition: a case study of wind energy development on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico

    Energy Res. Social Sci.

    (2019)
  • Paola Velasco-Herrejon et al.

    Energy justice from the bottom up: a capability approach to community acceptance of wind energy in Mexico

    Energy Res. Social Sci.

    (2020)
  • Kirsten Jenkins

    Setting energy justice apart from the crowd: lessons from environmental and climate justice

    Energy Res. Social Sci.

    (2018)
  • Vanesa Castán Broto et al.

    Energy justice and sustainability transitions in Mozambique

    Appl. Energy

    (2018)
  • Komali Yenneti et al.

    Distributional justice in solar energy implementation in India: The case of Charanka solar park

    Journal of Rural Studies

    (2016)
  • Marina Maier et al.

    Introduction of a spatiotemporal Life Cycle Inventory method using a wind energy example

    Energy Proc.

    (2017)
  • Benjamin K. Sovacool et al.

    Energy justice: conceptual insights and practical applications

    Appl. Energy

    (2015)
  • K. Jenkins et al.

    Energy justice: a conceptual review

    Energy Res. Soc. Sci.

    (2016)
  • Raphael J. Heffron et al.

    Achieving sustainable supply chains through energy justice

    Appl. Energy

    (2014)
  • Benjamin K. Sovacool et al.

    New frontiers and conceptual frameworks for energy justice

    Energy Policy

    (2017)
  • Gibrán S. Alemán-Nava et al.

    Renewable energy research progress in Mexico: a review

    Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev.

    (2014)
  • O.A. Jaramillo et al.

    Wind speed analysis in La Ventosa, Mexico: a bimodal probability distribution case

    Renewable Energy

    (2004)
  • F.K. Ameka et al.

    What if…? Imagining non-Western perspectives on pragmatic theory and practice

    J. Pragmat.

    (2019)
  • K. Yenneti et al.

    Spatial justice and the land politics of renewables: dispossessing vulnerable communities through solar energy mega-projects

    Geoforum

    (2016)
  • H.P. Bedi

    ‘ Our energy, our rights ’ : National extraction legacies and contested energy justice futures in Bangladesh

    Energy Res. Soc. Sci.

    (2018)
  • S.S. Ryder

    Developing an intersectionally-informed, multi-sited, critical policy ethnography to examine power and procedural justice in multiscalar energy and climate change decisionmaking processes

    Energy Res. Soc. Sci.

    (2018)
  • A. Kontogianni et al.

    Planning globally, protesting locally: Patterns in community perceptions towards the installation of wind farms

    Renew. Energy.

    (2014)
  • M. Wolsink

    Wind Power and the NIMBY-Myth : Institutional Capacity and the Limited Signicance of Public Support

    Renew. Energy.

    (2000)
  • D. van der Horst

    NIMBY or not? Exploring the relevance of location and the politics of voiced opinions in renewable energy siting controversies

    Energy Policy

    (2007)
  • Y. Guo et al.

    Not in my backyard, but not far away from me: Local acceptance of wind power in China

    Energy.

    (2015)
  • M. Heinrich et al.

    Medicinal plants in Mexico: Healers’ consensus and cultural importance

    Soc. Sci. Med.

    (1998)
  • M. Garfinkel et al.

    Pest-removal services provided by birds on small organic farms in northern California

    Agric. Ecosyst. Environ.

    (2015)
  • S. Krohn et al.

    On Public Attitudes Towards Wind Power

    Renew. Energy.

    (1999)
  • J. Mclaren Loring

    Wind energy planning in England, Wales and Denmark: factors influencing project success

    Energy Policy.

    (2007)
  • G. Bridge et al.

    Geographies of energy transition: space, place and the low-carbon economy

    Energy Policy

    (2013)
  • N. Cass et al.

    Emotion and rationality: the characterisation and evaluation of opposition to renewable energy projects

    Emot. Sp. Soc.

    (2009)
  • M. Wolsink

    Contested environmental policy infrastructure: socio-political acceptance of renewable energy, water and waste facilities

    Environ. Impact Assess. Rev.

    (2010)
  • R.J. Heffron et al.

    Resolving society’s energy trilemma through the Energy Justice Metric

    Energy Policy.

    (2015)
  • S. Fast, Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy: Trends, Concepts, and Geographies, Geogr. Compass. 7 (2013) 853–866....
  • S.H. Baker

    Mexican energy reform, climate change, and energy justice in indigenous communities

    Nat. Resour. J.

    (2016)
  • R. Cowell et al.

    Wind Energy and Justice for Disadvantaged Communities

    Joseph Rowntree Foundation

    (2012)
  • M. Karydis

    Public attitudes and environmental impacts of wind farms: a review

    Glob. Nest J.

    (2013)
  • K. Jenkins et al.

    Energy Justice, a Whole Systems Approach

    Queen’s Polit. Rev. I

    (2014)
  • C. Howe

    Ecologics

    Duke University Press

    (2019)
  • A. Dunlap, Renewing Destruction - Wind energy development, conflict and resistance in a latin American context, Rowan...
  • D. Boyer, Energopolitics, 1st ed., Duke University Press Durham, Durham and London, 2019....
  • J. Ramirez

    Contentious dynamics within the social turbulence of environmental (In)justice surrounding wind energy farms in Oaxaca, Mexico

    J. Bus. Ethics.

    (2019)
  • P. Velasco Herrejon, A. Savaresi, Wind Energy, Benefit-Sharing and Indigenous Peoples: Lessons from the Isthmus of...
  • L. Crown, S. Hutchison, Enticed by the wind - A Case Study in the Social and Historical Context of Wind Energy...
  • A. Tabassum et al.

    Wind energy: increasing deployment, rising environmental concerns

    Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev.

    (2014)
  • Cited by (17)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text