A Say in the Carbon Content of Our Energy
Summary
By combining theoretical concepts and ethnographic fieldwork, this research gives insight to a local effort to decarbonize and democratize energy systems by means of municipalization. The city of Boulder (Colorado) in the US is provided with electricity by regulated-monopoly company Xcel Energy. Due to the nature of regulated monopolies and the business management of Xcel Energy in particular, Boulder found itself not able to reach their commitments in terms of renewable energy. I look at this problem using the concept energopower , which helps analyze the role of energy systems in configuring power; in this case to be mostly in hands of Xcel Energy and the state government. This power dynamic is perceived as an impossibility for the group in Boulder; therefore the concept cramped space is helpful to understand how impossibilities fuel creation and contestation, which in this case is the attempted creation of a municipal utility and all imaginaries that come with the attempt. This attempt is carried out by a broad group of people that can be seen as heterogeneous, relational, productive and dynamic in their organization and boundaries. Therefore, the group can best be understood using the concept assemblages . This concept helps the group to be understood as dynamic by attracting different people with various insights and opening up for allies, political space and public debate and as productive, by its contestation and creation.