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From Biopower to Energopolitics in England’s Modern Waste Technology

Alexander, C.; Reno, J.O.

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Authors

J.O. Reno



Abstract

Two energy-generating technologies in Britain which transform waste into a resource are compared. One is the (in)famous Combined Heat and Power incinerator in Sheffield, the other a forgotten biological digester in Devon utilizing anaerobic microbes. Both sites are early exemplars of experimental and biopolitical waste disposal technologies—incineration and anaerobic digestion—now regarded as leading alternatives for reducing the United Kingdom’s dependence on landfill and fossil fuel; both sites also inspired public resistance at critical moments in their development. The analysis here relates how activists and technicians struggle to demonstrate competing truths about alternative energy. Through comparison, it becomes clear that, beyond the validity of specific truth claims, energo-politics mediates the formation of technological legacies. Examining the traces energy facilities leave behind—whether in the landscape or online—we ask what it means that various claims made about some technical operations endure, while others fade into obscurity.

Citation

Alexander, C., & Reno, J. (2014). From Biopower to Energopolitics in England’s Modern Waste Technology. Anthropological quarterly, 87(2), 335-358. https://doi.org/10.1353/anq.2014.0023

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 18, 2013
Online Publication Date May 22, 2014
Publication Date 2014-05
Deposit Date May 23, 2014
Publicly Available Date Jan 26, 2017
Journal Anthropological Quarterly
Print ISSN 0003-5491
Electronic ISSN 1534-1518
Publisher The Catholic University of America Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 87
Issue 2
Pages 335-358
DOI https://doi.org/10.1353/anq.2014.0023
Keywords Energy, Science and technology, Waste, Britain, Demonstration, Memory, Legacies.

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