Solarity

In the shadow of climate change, it is common to presume that solar energy is the big solution to our energy problems. It is a fuel source of infinite supply, resistant to commodification and speculation, and collectible and expendable without the destructive consequences of fossil fuels and nuclear energy. What remains to be understood is not the amount of energy solar power can produce or whether it is truly an adequate replacement for fossil fuels, but the conditions of social and political possibility solar might generate. The contributors to this special issue address the overlapping relationships, strategies, and conflicts that will attend this latest and perhaps last energy transition under the term "solarity." By approaching the social implications--and not just the technical ones--of the emergence of solar energy, they investigate whether and how it might avoid or reproduce the pathologies of existing capitalist and colonialist petrocultures. Contributors Joel Auerbach, Nandita Badami, Daniel A. Barber, Darin Barney, Amanda Boetzkes, Dominic Boyer, Jamie Cross, Gökçe Günel, Eva-Lynn Jagoe, Jordan B. Kinder, Mark Simpson, Nicole Starosielski, Imre Szeman, Rhys Williams, Sheena Wilson