New Trends and Challenges for Energy Geographies: Introduction to The Special Issue

In 1961, the Canadian geographer John D. Chapman recognized the rapid growth in demand for inanimate energy and the role geographers could be playing in explaining its patterns and importance in the growing world economy (Chapman, 1961). Fifty years later, Karl Zimmerer (2011) introduced a Special Issue of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers by noting that not only had Chapman’s prediction come true but that geographers were studying even a wider spectrum of energy challenges than Chapman could ever have imagined (see e.g. Dorian et al., 2006; Florini, Sovaccol, 2009). Many of those energy challenges were underscored at last year’s G20 summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Particular attention was paid to four concerns considered as crucial for global energy (OECD, 2013): phasing out fossil fuel subsidies (which encourage wasteful consumption, disproportionately benefit wealthier countries and sectors, and distort energy markets); price volatility (understanding and reducing temporal fluctuations and regional differences in commodity prices); market transparency (a necessity for accurate and timely energy data); and – last but not least – options of mitigating climate change (as the source of two-thirds of global greenhouse-gas emissions, the energy sector is crucial for achieving any climate change goals).By 2035, the world is projected to consume one-third more energy than today, while electricity demand should increase even by more than two-thirds (IEA, 2013). The centre of gravity of global energy demand will move decisively towards emerging economies such as China, India or Brazil, which should account for more than 90% of net energy demand growth. At the same time, however, it is estimated there will still be one billion people without access to electricity and 2.7 billion without access to clean cooking fuels in 2035, mostly in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (ibid.). The current global energy market is characterized by rising differences in regional energy prices (depending on the availability of domestic resources and regional position within international energy flows), which have led to major shifts in energy and overall trade balances, as well as to energy expenditures taking a growing share of household income (IEA, 2013). The current political crisis in Ukraine and Russia´s chess operations with the supply of natural gas, have again emphasized the role of energy as an effective tool to influence international relations and maintaining political influence.During the last two decades, environmental and security concerns have led to a rapid and far-flung development of renewable energies. Modern wind power development, for example, now is found in over 100 countries, and solar power deployment is – in one form or another – in many more. Reaping the benefits of renewable sources has become a global ambition for several reasons, ranging from anxieties about climate change and energy security to the dangers of the atom. Indeed, the generous feed-in tariffs that Germany used to stimulate renewable energy development have been so effective that Chancellor Merkel was able to renounce Germany’s nuclear program after the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 (The Economist, 2011). Nonetheless, renewable energy development has been uneven around the world. Despite rapid and substantial growth in countries such as China, Germany, Spain and the United States, it still represents but a small amount of generation in most countries. For this reason, governments still need to consider other options, including cleaner use of fossil fuels, nuclear power, and new technologies such as shale gas fracking.All energy sources are characterized by potentially negative impacts, direct or indirect, manifesting themselves at different spatio-temporal scales. The economic costs of resources and the reliability of their supply are no longer the only criteria shaping political decisions and public opinions. Rather, perceptions of energy landscapes from renewable energy resources can be significant factors affecting: (1) national energy policies and their support by the general public (Leiserowitz et al., 2013); (2) acceptance of new energy facilities by local communities (Frantal, Kucera, 2009; Frantal, 2014; Pasqualetti, 2011a; Pasqualetti, 2011b; Soland et al., 2013, etc.); and even (3) customer loyalty in liberalized residential energy markets (Hartmann, Ibanez, 2007).The concept of what we call the “energy landscape” is one of the most intriging, important and challenging themes of the new geography of energy. Energy landscape is a term that has been commonly used for decades in physics and organic chemistry. In recent years, however, it has acquired a new meaning in the field of geography and landscape ecology (Pasqualetti, 2012). An energy landscape is a landscape whose images and functions (be they natural, productive, residential, recreational, cultural, etc.) have been significantly affected by energy development. Traditional energy landscapes include mines, canals, refineries and power plants, transmission lines, well fields and waste disposal sites, but more recently they have come to include expansive, whirling wind turbines and even the glare of solar central receivers in places like Ivanpah Dry Lake California (e.g. Nadai, Van der Horst, 2010; Zimmerman, 2014). In the broadest context, the range of what can be called an energy landscape is particularly expansive, though it may be used in the context of all branches of energy production and consumption with a geographic expression.Projects like wind farms, solar power plants, the cultivation of energy crops, biogas stations and other innovative technologies, have become effective means of realizing officially declared state-subsidized support for clean and sustainable energy. These projects, as well, can be objects of entrepreneurial interest among investors and developers, a potential source of income for communities involved (often located in less-favoured rural areas), and an alternative type of land use and source of profit for