Power Lines: The Human Costs of American Energy in Transition by Sanya Carley and David Konisky

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Here is a summary:

Chapter Title What’s Covered / Purpose
Preface Sets out the stakes: the promise of the energy transition, the existing inequities, and the risk that transition could replicate old injustices. (University of Chicago Press)
1 “An American Injustice” Provides broad framing about who benefits/loses from past energy policies and why justice must be central going forward. (University of Chicago Press)
2 “Sacrifice Zones” Details places with heavy environmental damage and how those zones are shaped by power, policy, and race/class divides. (University of Chicago Press)
3 “Beaten, Broken, Forgotten” Focus on broken infrastructure, places left behind, people unable to access reliable electricity or being disproportionately harmed. (University of Chicago Press)
4 “Life Without Energy” Looks at what happens when energy is unavailable or unaffordable — impacts on households, health, well‐being. (University of Chicago Press)
5 “Where New Technologies Don’t Go” Shows how even promising clean technologies often miss or exclude certain communities. (Energy Justice Lab)
6 “Backyards and Ballots” Explores how local politics, land use, and civic participation affect whether people’s lives are improved or harmed by energy transitions. (Energy Justice Lab)
7 “The Life Cycle of an Injustice” Examines the full cycle of energy systems — from extraction, production, deployment, to disposal — and where injustices show up. (University of Chicago Press)
8 “The Uneasy, Uneven Future” Looks forward: where energy transitions could go better, what policies might help, lessons to avoid repeating past mistakes. (University of Chicago Press)