La modernisation écologique vue sous le prisme du nexus technologie-société-environnement : le cas de l’électricité solaire à Tucson (Arizona, États-Unis)

Abstract

Ecological modernization, when it comes to the generation of electricity, supposes a transition towards renewable primary energy sources, like wind or sun, and transition processes are in general analyzed in terms of technical advances and gaps. They are however at the center of a larger scene structured by three poles often considered as independent but entertaining dense relationships with one another: technology, society, and the environment, which form a “nexus”. The study of energy transitions must therefore consider the three dimensions and their interactions simultaneously. In this paper, we look at the energy transition process which has started in Tucson (Arizona), where fossil fuel powerplants should be replaced with solar farms. Such a move corresponds to the ecological modernization framework, especially in so far as the ultimate goal is to maintain the same level of final energy consumption while minimizing the environmental impact through technological solutions. Applying the Nexus approach to this process allows us to show how there are other crucial variables in the equation besides technical progress, and to observe new locks and triggers that are revealed when browsing between the three dimensions and their interactions.

Keywords

• energy transition
• United States
• solar generation
• nexus
• Arizona