Power Lines: The Unequal Energy Transition

Join the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and Resources for the Future for a conversation with Sanya Carley and David Konisky, co-authors of Power Lines: The Human Costs of American Energy in Transition. Daniel Raimi of Resources for the Future will moderate the discussion unpacking the human‑centered complexities of America’s energy transition. A reception to follow, and books will be available for purchase before and after the talk!

In the United States, the promise of a green-energy future is complicated by its realities. The country’s legacy energy systems are decrepit; the rollout of new technologies is unequal and piecemeal; households find themselves increasingly without reliable or affordable access; and Americans are excluded from the decisions that shape their energy futures. Having power in America has become an exercise in race, class, and wealth—in more ways than one.

Power Lines is a sweeping portrait of American energy in the twenty-first century, rendered in terms of its increasing—and inevitable—human costs. Coal miners in West Virginia lose their livelihoods as energy markets change; historically marginalized households cannot easily access new technologies; children in “sacrifice zones” adjacent to mineral-mining sites suffer health problems and limited resources; and cities and towns are burdened by the production of alternative energies.

In the words of one reviewer, “In an era when far too many of us advocate simplistic ‘solutions’ and technofixes to address the climate and energy crises, Carley and Konisky offer a hard-hitting, much-needed dose of truth-telling that centers people, equity, and justice in how we imagine and realize decarbonized futures. The evidence, analysis, and conclusions in Power Lines are exceptionally strong and will stand the test of time.”

This discussion examines the human-centered challenges of America’s energy transition, highlighting how aging infrastructure and unequal access to clean technologies perpetuate divides across race, class, and wealth. It considers the disproportionate burdens faced by displaced workers, marginalized households, and communities in “sacrifice zones,” while stressing that past inequities and policy missteps must inform future strategies to ensure the clean energy shift is rooted in justice, equity, and community resilience.

Agenda

3:00 PM - 4:00 PM | Check-in and Networking

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM | Power Lines: The Unequal Energy Transition

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM | Reception

Speakers

Sanya Carley is the Mark Alan Hughes Faculty Director of the Kleinman Center. She is also Vice Provost for Climate Science, Policy, and Action at the University of Pennsylvania and Presidential Distinguished Professor of Energy Policy and City Planning at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design. Carley holds secondary appointments at the Wharton School and the School of Social Policy and Practice. She also co-directs the Energy Justice Lab and is a Resources for the Future (RFF) university fellow.

Carley’s research focuses on energy justice and just transitions, energy insecurity, electricity and transportation markets, and public perceptions of energy infrastructure and technologies. With the Energy Justice Lab team, she built and maintains the Utility Disconnection Dashboard. Carley is an author of the Fifth National Climate Assessment report and a member of the Innovation Policy Forum and the Roundtable on Macroeconomics and Climate-related Risks and Opportunities, respectively, for the National Academies.

David Konisky is the Associate Dean for Research and a Lynton K. Caldwell Professor at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. He received his Ph.D. in political science from MIT, has master’s degrees in environmental management and international relations from Yale University, and bachelor’s degree in history and environmental studies from Washington University in St. Louis.

Konisky’s research and teaching focuses on U.S. environmental policy and politics, with emphasis on environmental and energy justice, regulation, federalism, and public attitudes. Konisky is a founding co-director of the Energy Justice Lab, a research collaboration between Indiana University and the University of Pennsylvania to explore, measure, and improve the equity and justice dimensions of society’s ongoing energy transition.

Moderator

Daniel Raimi is a fellow at Resources for the Future and a lecturer at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He works on a range of energy policy issues with a focus on tools to enable an equitable energy transition. He has published in academic journals including Science, Science Advances, Environmental Science and Technology, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Energy Research and Social Science, and Energy Policy, in popular outlets including The New Republic, Newsweek, Slate, and Fortune, and quoted extensively in national media outlets such as CNN, NPR’s All Things Considered, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and many more. He has presented his research for policymakers, industry, and other stakeholders around the United States and internationally, including before the US Senate Budget Committee and the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee of the US House’s Natural Resources Committee. In 2017, he published The Fracking Debate (Columbia University Press), a book that combines stories from his travels to dozens of oil- and gas-producing regions with a detailed examination of key policy issues.

Event Information

Join us after the talk for a light reception. Books will be available for sale both before and after the talk.

Instructions for getting to the PennWashington offices will be provided via email after registration.

Please note this is an in-person event and advance registration is required. Registration closes one week prior to the event, on 12/2.

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Co-sponsored by Resources for the Future and the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.