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Diverse Energy Infrastructure and Human Rights
It is undeniable that society’s dependence on energy has developed to the point where the resource has become a need, rather than a want. Illuminated symbols of power, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty, portray advancement, modernity, and success. On a less opulent scale, energy is used to complete remedial tasks of everyday life, and even assist in providing necessary resources such as water, food, goods, and services across the globe. The industrial revolution, an era in which our planet experienced its most rapid technological growth, was galvanized by the steam, coal, and gas powered engines. Without energy it would be impossible to power the Internet, which has become the primary mechanism driving information exchange and technological advancement within the past decade. Human rights, and their sustainment, are bound to the advantages that energy brings to society. Today our planet faces new challenges to energy production from both a changing climate and population increase, prompting a swell of political discourse around energy policy design, and global initiatives to meet these new challenges and the threat they pose to human rights.
Diversified energy infrastructure enhances the stability and spatial extent of access across time. The author posits a diversified energy infrastructure as being capable of producing at least 90% of a region’s…
