About
8
Publications
4,649
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254
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
I am an Urban Energy Researcher focusing on the transactional spaces at the intersection of energy studies and social sciences. I am passionate about an energy future that is economically equitable, socially just in addition to being environmentally sustainable. My research efforts are devoted towards identifying and examining innovative strategies and creative approaches to achieve a clean energy future for all. I draw on action-oriented research methods to grasp the material and social realities confronting ongoing energy transitions, which increasingly involve a diversity of stakeholders ranging from utility executives, system designers and regulators to consumers, community organizers and clean energy advocates.
Additional affiliations
May 2019 - December 2019
Hyderabad Urban Lab
Position
- Consultant
August 2018 - March 2019
Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute
Position
- Research Associate
January 2016 - May 2018
Education
August 2013 - June 2018
September 2009 - December 2010
September 2005 - June 2009
Publications
Publications (8)
The growth of Decentralized Energy Systems (DES) signals a new frontier in urban energy planning and design of local energy systems. As affordability of renewable energy technologies (RET) increases, cities and urban regions become the venues, not only for energy consumption but also for generation and distribution, which calls for systemic and par...
The first known use of the term “resilience” was in the study of natural properties of physical objects (Klein et al. 2004; McAslan 2010). Tredgold (1818) used it to refer to timber’s “stiffness, strength and its power to resist a body in motion”(p. 216). In its subsequent use in physics of materials and engineering, resilience conveyed the notion...
The advent of civil society in the traditionally state-sponsored and market-oriented energy sector carries a transformative potential, not only for sustainable outcomes but also to promote equity through redistributive justice. The importance of civil society in ongoing energy transitions is implicated in the adoption of renewable energy technologi...
The existing systems of energy production, delivery and consumption face critical vulnerabilities as the threat of climate change catastrophes draws near. The systemic transformation from this undesirable state of vulnerability towards a more desirable state of resiliency is theorized from two distinct, yet highly similar conceptual and analytical...
Owen Zinaman is with the 21st Century Power Partnership and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Questions
Questions (3)
I am using ANT approach to study a local community and am proposing interviews and participant observation to identify network elements and associations etc., My concern relates to the influence I may end up having on the network under study.
In what ways can the analyst mitigate his/her/their influence whilst engaging with the network elements?
Human geography in particular acknowledges the relativist, constructed view of space in that ‘activities and objects... define spatial fields of influence’ (Harvey, 1969, p. 208). On the other hand, energy geographies (which itself draws heavily on multiple sub-disciplines within geography and outside), in so far its contemporary resurgence is concerned(Calvert, 2015), still views space as contextual, absolute; affected by and affecting changes within the energy domain. There is, as such, a need to introduce a constructed, relativist view of space, in the conduct of energy geography sub-discipline.
Do you think this insight makes sense?
Harvey, D. (1969) Explanation in geography. Edward Arnold, London.
Calvert (2015), From energy geography to energy geographies: Perspectives on a fertile academic borderland
In his 1970 article "Social processes and spatial form: An analysis of the conceptual problems of urban planning", (from book: Social Justice and the City) David Harvey discusses the two lens (sociology and geography) for analyzing city problems, arguing that the gap has not been bridged between them. Essentially, accusing urban analyses to resort either to "space-less social science" or "space-centered geography".
Is this still true? If not, what leading frameworks can I seek to explore the bridging of this gap between the said theoretical perspectives of the urban?
