Chapter
Published:
Energy Transition and Social Movements: The Rise of a Community Choice Movement in California
Summary:
This chapter examines the rise of a community choice movement in California. Here local governments launch community choice aggregation programs, one after the other, that promise higher renewable energy content than the existing investor-owned utilities. I view the movement as an expression of local climate interests fused with anti-utility resentment, and use the three lenses from social movement theory—political opportunities, mobilizing structures and framing processes—to analyze the emergence and development of the movement. This bottom-up process unfolds in a state that has some of the most ambitious climate policies and renewable energy goals in the US. The effectiveness of the community choice model as a climate policy tool is contested. However, the movement’s aim is not only to decarbonize the electricity system but to build an electricity system that utilizes more local renewable energy resources.
- Published year: 2019
- Full version: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-14207-0_4
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DOI:
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-14207-0_4
- Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
- Page count: 39
- Language: English
Written by
Ida Dokk Smith
Senior Research Fellow