Glossary of Terms

Climate Justice: Climate justice is the remediation of the impacts of climate change on poor people and people of color, and compensation for harms suffered by such communities due to climate change.130

Community Energy/Solar: Community energy is short for community renewable energy and refers to cooperatively generating renewable energy such as solar.

Distributed Generation: “Distributed generation, also called on-site generation or decentralized generation, is the term for generation of electricity from sources that are near the point of consumption, as opposed to centralized generation sources such as large utility-owned power plants…. Distributed generation systems, which can include on-site renewable energy systems and combined heat and power (CHP), reduce the amount of energy lost in transmitting electricity because the electricity is generated near the point of consumption, often even in the same building or facility.”131

Distributive/Substantive Justice: Distributive or substantive justice is outcome focused, and speaks to whether all equally share in the benefits and burdens of the energy system.

Energy Democracy: Energy democracy is the notion that communities should have a say and agency in shaping and participating in their energy future.132

Energy Justice/Equity: The goal of energy justice or energy equity is to achieve equity in both the social and economic participation in the energy system, while also remediating social, economic, and health burdens on those historically harmed by the energy system.

Environmental Justice: Environmental justice is the recognition and remediation of the disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on communities of color and low-income communities.133 The key principles of the movement include fair distribution of the burdens of development, and involvement in all aspects of “the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.”134

Environmental Justice Communities: Environmental justice communities “are commonly identified as those where residents are predominantly minorities or low-income; where residents have been excluded from the environmental policy setting or decision-making process; where they are subject to a disproportionate impact from one or more environmental hazards; and where residents experience disparate implementation of environmental regulations, requirements, practices and activities in their communities. Environmental justice efforts attempt to address the inequities of environmental protection in these communities.”135 Some state and local governments define environmental justice communities by specific metrics including, the percentage of the population below the poverty line,136 the rate of toxic cancer among the community,137 and the makeup of the community by race and ethnicity.138

Equity/Justice: Equity or justice “refers to achieved results where advantage and disadvantage are not distributed on the basis of”139 social identities. “Strategies that produce equity must be targeted to address the unequal needs, conditions, and positions of people and communities that are created by institutional and structural barriers.”140

Frontline Communities: Frontline communities are the communities experiencing the first and worst of climate change consequences, specifically those most impacted by the energy system and the resulting pollution. Frontline communities include, but are not limited to communities of color, low-income communities, indigenous communities, and communities surrounded by extractive energy production.

Just Transition: The just transition refers to a transition away from the fossil-fuel economy to a new economy that provides “dignified, productive, and ecologically sustainable livelihoods; democratic governance; and ecological resilience.”141

Marginalized Communities/Populations/Peoples: Marginalized communities are communities denied involvement in mainstream economic, political, cultural and social activities. Marginalization or social exclusion deprives a group from access to basic rights and participation in decision making. Marginalized communities include, but are not limited to, frontline communities, low-income and/or working class communities, and those historically disenfranchised by racial and social inequity (e.g., minority identities based on race, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexual orientation, and ability status).

Net Energy Metering: Net Energy Metering refers to an on-site renewable energy system’s accounting “for the value of the electricity produced when production is greater than demand. Net metering allows customers to bank this excess electric generation on the grid, usually in the form of kilowatt-hour (kWh) credits during a given period. Whenever the customer’s system is producing more energy than the customer is consuming, the excess energy flows to the grid and the customer’s meter ‘runs backwards.’ This results in the customer purchasing fewer kilowatthours from the utility, so the electricity produced from the renewable energy system can be valued at the retail price of power.142

Power Purchase Agreement: A Power Purchase Agreement “is an agreement between a wholesale energy producer and a utility under which the utility agrees to purchase power. The [Power Purchase Agreement] includes details such as the rates paid for electricity and the time period during which it will be purchased.”143

Procedural Justice: Procedural justice concerns who is at the decision-making table, and whether, once at the table, everyone’s voice is heard.

Virtual Net Energy Metering: “[V]irtual net metering allows net metering credits generated by a single renewable system to offset load at multiple retail electric accounts within a utility’s service territory. As with traditional net metering, credits appear on each individual customer’s bill.”144

Appendix A: An Overview of Energy Justice in Academic Literature

How do Social Scientists Conceptualize Energy Justice?

Key Terms:
  • Energy Justice
  • Energy Democracy
  • Energy Insecurity
  • Energy Burden

Northern European scholars currently dominate the energy justice academic landscape, producing over one hundred articles on the topic since 2014. In particular, four scholars have made the biggest impact on the field: Benjamin Sovacool, Darren McCauley, Raphael Heffron,145 and Kirsten Jenkins. Over the past seven years, these authors have come to define energy justice as “a global energy system that fairly disseminates both the benefits and costs of energy services, and one that has representative and impartial energy decision-making.” 146 Energy justice is also comprised of a triumvirate of tenets that include distributional justice, procedural justice, recognition justice147 and, more recently, restorative justice. All of the tenets should apply across the life cycle of the energy system.148 Sovacool has also advanced the concept of “eight core principles” of energy justice: availability, affordability, due process, transparency and accountability, sustainability, intra-generational equity, inter-generational equity, and responsibility.149

As Heffron and McCauley note, these “defined concepts of energy justice compete with each other and at the same time complement each other.”150 Further, a “major limitation of the approaches outlined above—the triumvirate of tenets, energy life-cycle (systems) approach, and the principle-based approach—is that there is little reflection of how these transfer into practice and are ‘enforced’ in practice, i.e. energy justice becomes a delivered outcome through policy.” 151 Despite these shortcomings, it is useful to review the key aspects of the foregoing frameworks.

In McCauley et al.’s assessment, distributional justice is concerned with the spatial dimensions of energy, in particular, the “physically unequal allocation of environmental benefits and ills and the uneven distribution of their associated responsibilities.”152 Procedural justice “manifests as a call for equitable procedures that engage all stakeholders in a non-discriminatory way.” 153 Recognition justice relates to procedural justice, but contains additional elements. According to McCauley et al., recognition justice is “more than tolerance, and states that individuals must be fairly represented, that they must be free from physical threats and that they must be offered complete and equal political rights.” 154 Further, recognition justice “includes calls to recognise the divergent perspectives rooted in social, cultural, ethnic, racial and gender differences[.]”155 Restorative justice “aims to repair the harm done to people (and/or society/nature).”156 The concept applies when “applying energy justice decision-making forces decision-makers to engage with justice concerns and consider the full range of issues, as any injustice caused by an energy activity would have to be rectified.” 157

Applying these complex conceptual frameworks within policy-making and real-world scenarios poses a challenge. Heffron and McCauley suggest that, in “looking at the energy justice conceptual framework, one begins with looking at the core tenets of the energy justice [framework] to see if they are present before then broadening their scope to see where the issues fits within the energy life-cycle (or energy system) in the context of having a world-view, i.e. a cosmopolitan perspective. They then look at how to apply energy justice in practice and look for how the problem, issue, and/or challenge they are researching can be addressed (or not) by the [eight] principles.”158  Diagram 13, below, reflects this analytical approach.

 

Diagram 13: Heffron and McCauley (2017).

 

Before moving into the legal literature, three related concepts, energy democracy, energy insecurity, and energy burden, deserve discussion, as they also fit under the broad umbrella of energy justice.

Energy Democracy

As with environmental justice and climate justice, energy democracy exists both as an organizing principle for activists as well as an area of increasing scholarly engagement.159 Energy democracy, the movement, “seeks to create opportunities for destabilizing power relations, reversing histories of dispossession, marginalization and social and environmental injustices, and replacing monopolized fossil fuel energy systems with democratic and renewable structures.”160 Borrowing from the Trade Unions for Energy Democracy approach to energy democracy, scholars Matthew Burke and Jennie Stephens note that the energy democracy goals include: (1) resisting the dominant fossil fuel agenda in order to shift to 100% renewable energy resources; (2) reclaiming public control of the energy sector; and (3) restructuring the energy sector to “better support democratic processes, social justice and inclusion, and environmental sustainability.” 161

For some, energy democracy does not always incorporate equity-based principles or a historical analysis,162 and the use of the term, “democracy” can actually mask inequality. Under this approach, energy democracy could simply mean democratizing the energy system to allow for participation in energy production and ownership. Such participation may, by design, privilege those with access to financial resources and other types of capital that flow from an unequal society. This ahistorical, equity-blind approach to energy democracy threatens to replicate the injustices in the existing energy system by “democratizing” the grid and opportunities for self-generation of electricity only for those who can afford it, rather than emphasizing broader grid access for those whose voices have traditionally been excluded from energy decisions affecting their communities.163 Policymakers and advocates should thus use caution and be clear when using this term to reflect more meaningful opportunities to participate in the energy system.

“An ahistorical, equity-blind approach to energy democracy threatens to replicate the injustices in the existing energy system by “democratizing” the grid and opportunities for self-generation of electricity only for those who can afford it, rather than emphasizing broader grid access for those whose voices have traditionally been excluded from energy decisions affecting their communities.”

Energy Insecurity and Energy Burden

Diana Hernández’s work has explored the concept of “energy insecurity,” which “reflects hardships with the cost and quality of household energy” and is “defined as ‘the inability to meet basic household energy needs.’”164 Energy insecurity also “describes the interplay between physical conditions of housing, household energy expenditures and energy-related coping strategies.”165 Energy insecurity frequently appears alongside “energy burden,” a term that reflects the amount of overall household income spent to cover energy costs.The concerns of low- to moderate-income communities fit under both conceptual frameworks, as studies indicate that such communities consistently find themselves making difficult choices that balance energy expenditures against other household expenses, and simply pay a greater portion of their overall income to cover energy costs. An energy justice approach to energy policy would aim to remediate such burdens by making access to clean energy affordable to those most burdened under the existing energy system.

“An energy justice approach to energy policy would aim to remediate the financial burdens of energy by making clean energy affordable and accessible to those most burdened under the existing energy system.”

 

In sum, social scientists have attempted to create a conceptual framework for energy justice that includes procedural, distributive, and recognition justice, as well as restorative justice, across the life cycle of the energy system. The framework also includes a consideration of certain principles of energy justice: availability, affordability, due process, transparency and accountability, sustainability, intra-generational equity, and inter-generational equity. Participation (energy democracy), burden of energy costs relative to other household expenditures and income (energy burden), and ability to meet energy needs (energy insecurity), also form a part of the broad picture of energy justice as conceptualized by social scientists in the field.

As noted above, this mix of terms and definitions create challenges for      practitioners and policymakers seeking deeper understanding of a coherent framework for energy justice. The Workbook addresses this difficulty in Section 1.3, where the different approaches to energy justice and related concepts are synthesized into a coherent frame. Further, although social scientists have developed a robust energy justice literature, it is largely separate from the legal academics discussing energy justice and related terms. This disconnect also illustrates the need for a synthesized approach to energy justice within the policy arena. Below we provide an overview of the discussion legal scholars around concerns of equity and fairness within the energy system.

How is the Concept of Energy Justice used in Legal Literature?

Key Terms:
  • Energy Justice
  • Clean Energy Justice
  • Clean Energy Equity
  • Energy Democracy
  • Energy Poverty
  • Energy Insecurity

Although the first mention of energy justice in scholarship appears in a 2010 article, Energy Justice and Sustainable Development, by legal scholar, Lakshman Guruswamy,166 with few exceptions,167 legal scholars have done little to advance a concrete understanding of the field of energy justice. In fact, at least one scholar suggests that there is no need for a “uniform definition of what energy justice means or what it seeks to achieve.”168 Such a dearth of “energy justice” scholarship is ironic in a field like law, which is committed to justice and equity, but rather than make explicit mention of “energy justice” through a series of self-referential debates (as we see in the social science literature), in legal scholarship, discussions of energy justice have generally evolved to include scattered discussions of “energy poverty,”169 “energy democracy,”170 “clean energy justice,”171 “clean energy equity,”172 and “fairness.”173 Moreover, legal scholars go a bit further than social scientists by, in some cases, attempting to discuss equity across a range of policy areas, such as distributed energy generation policy.

While the term, “energy justice” is used rarely and is often not fully fleshed out, there is at least some consensus in legal scholarship that energy justice closely relates to environmental justice and should, at the very least, build upon its key principles of distributive and procedural justice.174 Unlike practitioners, however, legal scholars do not center the concerns or voices of frontline communities or advocates. The following discussion provides an overview of the varying viewpoints of legal scholars. Our overview illustrates that there is no singular vocabulary concerning energy justice, but the concepts elaborated by scholars tend to align along the axes of procedural and distributive justice.

Energy Poverty

Lakshman Guruswamy is credited with introducing the concept of energy justice to the academic community. His 2010 law review article concerns itself with the “energy oppressed poor, defined as people “devoid of life sustainable energy.” In the article, he brings together two terms, energy and justice, to suggest that, as a single term, “[e]nergy justice seeks to apply basic principles of justice as fairness to the injustice evident among” the energy oppressed poor” and that energy justice “is an integral and inseparable dimension of the universally accepted foundational principle, or groundnorm, of international law and policy.”175 Guruswamy’s later work evolves:  “energy oppressed poor” becomes the “energy poor” and “energy justice,” converts to “energy poverty.”176

Most legal scholars have diverged from this narrow focus on energy poverty to discuss the range of energy issues that face the most vulnerable populations. For example, in her article discussing energy justice, Joroff connects energy poverty concepts to the domestic U.S. sphere, referencing the “energy burdens” that force low-income families that face “disproportionately high energy costs relative to income” to make dangerous tradeoffs that “can jeopardize health, safety, and housing stability,” rendering children and the elderly particularly vulnerable.177 Others have tended to blend the conceptual approaches taken by leading social scientists to flesh out the term.

Energy Justice

Unlike Guruswamy, Shalanda Baker’s (a co-author of this Workbook) work on energy justice takes perhaps the broadest view of energy justice. In a 2012 article exploring energy justice within the context of Mexico’s transition away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy, Mexican Energy Reform, Climate Change, and Energy Justice in Indigenous Communities, Baker argues that energy justice incorporates climate justice, environmental justice, and energy democracy.178  Energy justice, she argues, “requires that development activities bear in mind the need to reduce vulnerability to climate change and enhance resiliency when possible.” 179 Further, certain communities should not be disproportionately burdened by development in the transition to renewable energy. Finally, referencing the indigenous right to free, prior, and informed consent in matters that affect them, Baker states that “[d]evelopment rooted in energy democracy thus allows for broader community participation.”180

In another departure from the social science literature, legal scholars exploring energy justice concepts and theories beyond energy poverty have tended to examine justice (or fairness) across a range of policy debates concerning the participatory grid (e.g., individual and community participation in electricity generation), including, for example, net energy metering, community solar, and community choice aggregation. Although fully-fleshed out discussions of energy justice are rare in the legal literature, Welton distinguishes “energy justice” from “clean energy justice,” by noting that, in each case, the focus is on distributive justice with respect to the energy system, whether that be a system powered by clean energy and smart technology, or one organized around fossil fuels.181 Further, Welton notes, electricity law has a “long-standing equity commitment,” which can help to guide the suite of justice-based challenges that have emerged with the clean energy transition.182

Energy Democracy

Defining energy democracy has proven more difficult. As Welton argues in Grasping for Energy Democracy, several competing definitions present a “troubling hurdle to the project of democratizing the field, as different conceptions of the term counsel for divergent legal reforms.”183 In the article, Welton outlines three concepts of energy democracy that have emerged in discussions of energy reform:

  • consumer choice, which suggests that “[e]nergy governance regimes should be redesigned to give consumers more choices in their energy purchasing decisions, including more control over their level of energy demand and the opportunity to generate, store, and sell their own electricity”;
  • local control, which decentralizes energy decision making to local communities “claiming ownership and control of energy resources and control over energy decision making”;
  • access to process, which urges regulators to “embrace procedural reforms that enable more citizens to participate in governmental decision making processes about energy policy across all levels of government.”184

Here, Welton makes a compelling argument for convergence of definitions and coherence within scholarship to adequately inform policymakers. She states that “[n]umerous other scholars are writing around the concept of energy democracy without labeling it as such: those embracing localism as a climate change strategy; those considering the evolving mandate and powers of public utility commissions; those exploring the relationship between federal energy markets and state policy objectives; and those focused on the opportunities and challenges posed by new, small-scale energy technologies.” 185 Further, she notes that energy democracy itself remains incoherent in scholarship, flying “under other reform banners, including those of consumer empowerment, consumer participation, local energy, and energy justice.186

Additional discussions of justice-related concerns within the legal literature concerning energy policy argue for less “polarizing” and politically fraught approaches to transitional policy, arguing for equity-based approaches rooted in the familiar cost-benefit analysis framework.187 Although cost-benefit analysis in policy has done little to advance the aims of deep justice in poor and low-income communities of color, Felix Mormann argues that equity, framed in cost-benefit terms, “offers a reliable metric of socio-economic impact.”188 That said, however, Mormann ultimately calls for deeper participation in the formation of clean energy policies (feed-in tariffs, tender regimes, net energy metering, tax credits, and renewable portfolio standards), in order to avoid unintended negative distributional problems.

In sum, although the current legal approach to energy justice is somewhat scattered and even internally inconsistent, the legal field contributes to the overall understanding of energy justice by hewing closely to the principles of distributive and procedural justice. Operationalizing these concepts across a suite of policies, however, poses a key challenge. Section 1.3 of the Workbook synthesizes the practitioner and academic approaches to energy justice with the goal of providing a condensed framework to guide energy policymaking. 

Appendix B: Library of Advocate Terminology

We developed this Library of Advocate Terminology to get a general sense of the use of the terms “energy justice,” “energy democracy,” and “energy equity” in the advocacy sphere, specifically relating to how the groups themselves define them and characterize their work using the terms. The analysis revealed that for most groups, energy democracy includes a component of community empowerment through transitioning control of energy generation and distribution to the public. Energy democracy also includes equitably distributing both the benefits and harms of energy infrastructure across all communities and stakeholders, which will remedy the current disproportionate harm being done to low-income and minority groups. The analysis also showed that while few groups use the term “energy justice,” many include a justice component in their work, which is often framed in terms of social, racial or environmental justice.

 

Organization Location Key Word Definition of Energy Justice/Democracy/Equity
Center for Social Inclusion / Race Forward New York, NY energy democracy

“Energy democracy means that community residents are innovators, planners, and decision-makers on how to use and create energy that is local and renewable. By making our energy solutions more democratic, we can make places environmentally healthier, reduce mounting energy costs so that families can take better care of their needs, and help stem the tide of climate change.” 189

 

“Energy democracy means ensuring that local communities are innovators, planners, and decision-makers on how to use and create energy that is local and renewable and moves us closer to racial justice.” 190

Institute for Local Self-Reliance MN, ME, DC energy democracy

“Energy democracy means both the sources and ownership of energy generation are distributed widely.

Energy democracy means that the management of the energy system be governed by democratic principles that allows ordinary citizens to have a say. This means that communities that wish greater control over their energy system should have minimal barriers to doing so.

 

Energy democracy means that the wide distribution of power generation and ownership, and access to governance of the energy system be equitable by race and socioeconomic status.” 191

Trade Unions for Energy Democracy New York, NY energy democracy “Energy democracy must include a decisive shift in power over energy transition activities towards workers, communities and the public. A transfer of resources, capital and infrastructure from private hands to a democratically controlled public sector will need to occur in order to ensure that a truly sustainable energy system is developed in the decades ahead.” 192
Energy Justice Network Philadelphia, PA energy justice “We seek to ensure that all members of our global society share the same rights to protect and democratically determine the sustainable use of our air, land, food, water and energy resources, so that future generations may thrive.” 193
New York Energy Democracy Alliance New York energy democracy “Our work to promote energy democracy is designed to move the state toward a better system, one in which residents have the right and the authority to determine their own energy future, to protect our most vulnerable populations, and to prevent the wholesale destruction of our precious ecosystems. Putting ownership and control over the means of sustainable energy production into the hands of everyday people, into the hands of municipalities, and into the hands of local businesses.” 194
Soulidarity Highland Park, MI energy democracy “Energy Democracy is the idea that the people most impacted by energy decisions should have the greatest say in shaping them.” 195
Partnership for Southern Equity Georgia energy equity “Against the backdrop of global climate change, ‘energy equity’ translates into the fair distribution of benefits and burdens from energy production and consumption.” 196
Kentuckians for the Common Wealth Kentucky just transition

“The term Just Transition describes an all-in, inclusive, and place-based process to build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative one.

A Just Transition requires solutions that ensure the well-being of workers and communities; address racial, economic and gender injustice; protect our health, environment and climate; and create meaningful, good jobs and a thriving and sustainable economy.” 197

Climate Justice Alliance National energy democracy “Energy Democracy represents a shift from the corporate, centralized fossil fuel economy to one that is governed by communities, is designed on the principle of no harm to the environment, supports local economies, and contributes to the health and well-being for all peoples.” 198
Centre for Sustainable Energy UK energy justice

“Achieving a degree of ‘fairness’ or ‘justice’ in climate policy may therefore be key to initiating public action on climate change. It is also a core component of sustainability.

We’ve been exploring this subject – which we call ‘energy justice’ – to establish a clearer picture of how to achieve a socially just climate policy within the UK.” 199

California Environmental Justice Alliance California environmental justice “CEJA is working to build democratic, equitable solutions to pollution, poverty and racism that do not reproduce ecologically and socially harmful systems.” 200
Local Clean Energy Alliance California energy democracy “Energy Democracy: maximizing community ownership and control of energy resources, with shared leadership and decision-making authority that involves all stakeholder communities.” 201

 

130 Maxine Burkett, Just Solutions to Climate Change: A Climate Justice Proposal for a Domestic Clean Development Mechanism, 56 Buff. L. Rev. 169, 170, 192-93 (2008).

131 Distribution Generation, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, https://aceee.org/topics/distributed-generation (last visited Nov. 21, 2019).

132 Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy, Cecilia Martinez, & Shalini Gupta, Climate Justice & Energy Democracy: A Platform Vision, Climate Just. Alliance (2015) https://climatejusticealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Climate-Justice-_-Energy-Democracy-Platform-Vision_Final-2015-1.pdf.

133 Robert D. Bullard & Glenn S. Johnson, Environmental Justice: Grassroots Activism and the Impact on Public Policy Decision-Making, 56 J. of Soc. Issues 555, 558 (2000).

134 Raphael J. Heffron & Darren McCauley, What is the ‘Just Transition’?, 88 Geoforum 74, 74 (2018).

135 Environmental Justice, Cal. Energy Commission, https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/public_advisor/environmental_justice_faq.html (last visited Nov. 21, 2019).

136 Industrial Economics, Incorporated, Defining Environmental Justice Communities & Distributional Analysis for Socioeconomic Analysis of 2016 SCAQMD Air Quality Management Plan 1 (Nov. 30 2016), available at https://www.aqmd.gov/docs/default-source/clean-air-plans/socioeconomic-analysis/scaqmdfinalejreport_113016.pdf?sfvrsn=6.

137 Id.

138 Environmental Justice Communities in Massachusetts, Mass. gov, https://www.mass.gov/info-details/environmental-justice-communities-in-massachusetts#what-is-an-environmental-justice-community?- (last visited Nov. 21, 2019).

139 About Us, Race Matters Institute, https://viablefuturescenter.org/racemattersinstitute/about-us-2/ (last visited Nov. 21, 2019).

140 Id.

141 Just Transition, Climate Just. Alliance, https://climatejusticealliance.org/just-transition/ (last visited Nov. 19, 2019).

142 Jason Coughlin et al., A Guide to Community Shared Solar: Utility, Private, & Nonprofit Project Development 4 (May 2012).

143 Jason Coughlin et al., A Guide to Community Shared Solar: Utility, Private, & Nonprofit Project Development 5 (May 2012).

144 Jason Coughlin et al., A Guide to Community Shared Solar: Utility, Private, & Nonprofit Project Development 34 (May 2012).

145 Raphael J. Heffron holds a law degree, but publishes mainly in non-legal journals.

146 Benjamin K. Sovacool & Michael H. Dworkin, Global Energy Justice: Problems, Principles, and Practices 13 (Cambridge University Press 2014).

147 Raphael J. Heffron & Darren McCauley, The Concept of Energy Justice Across the Disciplines, 105 Energy Pol. 658, 659 (2017).

148 Raphael J. Heffron & Darren McCauley, The Concept of Energy Justice Across the Disciplines, 105 Energy Pol. 658, 659 (2017).

149 Benjamin K. Sovacool, Raphael J. Heffron, Darren McCauley & Andreas Goldthau, Energy Decisions Reframed as Justice & Ethical Concerns, 1 Nature Energy 1, 5 (2016).

150 Raphael J. Heffron & Darren McCauley, The Concept of Energy Justice Across the Disciplines, 105 Energy Pol. 658, 659 (2017).

151 Raphael J. Heffron & Darren McCauley, The Concept of Energy Justice Across the Disciplines, 105 Energy Pol. 658, 659-60 (2017).

152 Darren McCauley, Raphael J. Heffron, Hannes Stephan, and Kirsten Jenkins, Advancing Energy Justice: The Triumvirate of Tenets, 32 Int’l L. Rev. 107, 108 (2013).

153 Darren McCauley, Raphael J. Heffron, Hannes Stephan, and Kirsten Jenkins, Advancing Energy Justice: The Triumvirate of Tenets, 32 Int’l L. Rev. 107, 108 (2013).

154 Darren McCauley, Raphael J. Heffron, Hannes Stephan, and Kirsten Jenkins, Advancing Energy Justice: The Triumvirate of Tenets, 32 Int’l L. Rev. 107, 109 (2013).

155 Darren McCauley, Raphael J. Heffron, Hannes Stephan, and Kirsten Jenkins, Advancing Energy Justice: The Triumvirate of Tenets, 32 Int’l L. Rev. 107, 109 (2013).

156 Raphael J. Heffron & Darren McCauley, The Concept of Energy Justice Across the Disciplines, 105 Energy Pol. 658, 660 (2017).

157 Raphael J. Heffron & Darren McCauley, The Concept of Energy Justice Across the Disciplines, 105 Energy Pol. 658, 660 (2017).

158 Raphael J. Heffron & Darren McCauley, The Concept of Energy Justice Across the Disciplines, 105 Energy Pol. 658, 660 (2017).

159 Matthew J. Burke & Jennie C. Stephens, Energy Democracy: Goals and Policy Instruments for Sociotechnical Transitions, 33 Energy Res. & Soc. Sci. 35, 36 (2017).

160 Matthew J. Burke & Jennie C. Stephens, Energy Democracy: Goals and Policy Instruments for Sociotechnical Transitions, 33 Energy Res. & Soc. Sci. 35, 36 (2017).

161 Matthew J. Burke & Jennie C. Stephens, Energy Democracy: Goals and Policy Instruments for Sociotechnical Transitions, 33 Energy Res. & Soc. Sci. 35, 37 (2017).

162 See generally Eleanor Stein, Energy Democracy: Power to the People?, in Energy Justice: US And International Perspectives 258 (Raya Salter et al., eds., 2018).

163 Shelley Welton, Grasping for Energy Democracy, 116 Mich. L. Rev. 581, 585 (2018).

164 Diana Hernández & Eva Siegel, Energy Insecurity and its Ill Health Effects: A Community Perspective on the Energy-Health Nexus in New York City, 47 Energy Res. & Soc. Sci. 78, 78 (2019).

165 Diana Hernández, Understanding ‘Energy Insecurity’ and Why it Matters to Health, 167 Soc. Sci. & Med. 1, 1 (2016).

166 Lakshman Guruswamy, Energy Justice and Sustainable Development, 21 Colo. J. Int’l Envtl. L. & Pol’y 231 (2010).

167 Shalanda H. Baker, Mexican Energy Reform, Climate Change, and Energy Justice in Indigenous Communities, 56 Nat. Resources J. 369, 379-80 (2016); Shelley Welton, Clean Electrification, 88 U. Colo. L. Rev. 571 (Apr. 10, 2017).

168 Aladdine Joroff, Energy Justice: What it Means and How to Integrate it into State Regulation of Electricity Markets, 47 Envtl. L. Rep. News & Analysis 10927, 10927 (2017).

169 Lakshman Guruswamy, Energy Justice and Sustainable Development, 21 Colo. J. Int’l Envtl. L. & Pol’y 231 (2010); Aladdine Joroff, Energy Justice: What it Means and How to Integrate it into State Regulation of Electricity Markets, 47 Envtl. L. Rep. News & Analysis 10927, 10927 (2017).

170 Shelley Welton, Grasping for Energy Democracy, 116 Mich. L. Rev. 581 (2018).

171 Shelley Welton, Clean Electrification, 88 U. Colo. L. Rev. 571 (Apr. 10, 2017).

172 Felix Mormann, Clean Energy Equity, Utah L. Rev. (2019 Forthcoming).

173 Uma Outka, Fairness in the Low-Carbon Shift: Learning from Environmental Justice, 82 Brook. L. Rev. 789 (2017); cf Troy A. Rule, Solar Energy, Utilities, and Fairness, 6 San Diego J. of Climate & Energy L. 115 (2014) (arguing against “general appeals to fairness” in policy debates concerning distributed solar energy).

174 Shalanda H. Baker, Mexican Energy Reform, Climate Change, and Energy Justice in Indigenous Communities, 56 Nat. Resources J. 369 (2016); Uma Outka, Fairness in the Low-Carbon Shift: Learning from Environmental Justice, 82 Brook. L. Rev. 789 (2017); Aladdine Joroff, Energy Justice: What it Means and How to Integrate it into State Regulation of Electricity Markets, 47 Envtl. L. Rep. News & Analysis 10927, 10927 (2017) (proposing that energy justice be defined as building on the “tenets of environmental justice, which provide that all people have a right to be protected from environmental pollution . . .energy justice is based on the principle that all people should have a reliable, safe, and affordable source of energy; protection from a disproportionate share of costs or negative impacts or externalities associated with building, operating, and maintaining electric power generation, transmission, and distribution systems; and equitable distribution of and access to benefits from such systems.”).

175 Lakshman Guruswamy, Energy Justice and Sustainable Development, 21 Colo. J. Int’l Envtl. L. & Pol’y 231, 233 (2010).

176 See International Energy and Poverty: The Emerging Contours, Lakshman Guruswamy, ed. (2016).

177 Aladdine Joroff, Energy Justice: What it Means and How to Integrate it into State Regulation of Electricity Markets, 47 Envtl. L. Rep. News & Analysis 10927, 10928 (2017).

178 Shalanda H. Baker, Mexican Energy Reform, Climate Change, and Energy Justice in Indigenous Communities, 56 Nat. Resources J. 369, 379-80 (2016).

179 Shalanda H. Baker, Mexican Energy Reform, Climate Change, and Energy Justice in Indigenous Communities, 56 Nat. Resources J. 369, 379 (2016).

180 Shalanda H. Baker, Mexican Energy Reform, Climate Change, and Energy Justice in Indigenous Communities, 56 Nat. Resources J. 369, 379-80 (2016).

181 Shelley Welton, Clean Electrification, 88 U. Colo. L. Rev. 571 (Apr. 10, 2017).

182 Shelley Welton, Clean Electrification, 88 U. Colo. L. Rev. 571, 610 (Apr. 10, 2017) (noting the energy system’s commitment to expanding its customer base requires a commitment of equity and efficiency. Welton argues moving to grid participation would allow for the energy system to maintain this goal, but would require “widening of the range of people able to participate in the grids.”).

183 Shelley Welton, Grasping for Energy Democracy, 116 Mich. L. Rev. 581, 585 (2018).

184 Shelley Welton, Grasping for Energy Democracy, 116 Mich. L. Rev. 581, 585 (2018).

185 Shelley Welton, Grasping for Energy Democracy, 116 Mich. L. Rev. 581, 588 (2018).

186 Shelley Welton, Grasping for Energy Democracy, 116 Mich. L. Rev. 581, 594 (2018).

187 Felix Mormann, Clean Energy Equity, Utah L. Rev. (2019 Forthcoming).

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195 Why Energy Democracy?, Soulardarity (2014), https://www.soulardarity.com/why_energy_democracy.

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197 Just Transition, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, http://kftc.org/campaigns/just-transition (last visited Apr. 10, 2019).

198 Energy Democracy, Climate Just. Alliance, https://climatejusticealliance.org/workgroup/energy-democracy/

(last updated 2018).

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Photo Credits (in order of appearance)

1) Tasi, Zoltan. Gray animals with windmill background. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/b3e1d_isQR8t. accessed 5 December 2019.