Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: I.The Argument -- 1.Introduction -- 1.1.Renewable Energy: Political and Economic Challenges -- 1.2.Summary of the Argument -- 1.3.Ideas, Implications, and Contributions -- 1.4.Plan of the Book -- 2.Renewable Energy: Past, Present, and Future -- 2.1.Renewable Energy: Opportunities and Challenges -- 2.2.Historical Energy Transitions -- 2.3.The Early Years of Renewable Energy -- 2.4.Localized Expansion -- 2.5.Globalizing Renewable Energy -- 3.Policy Responses to External Shocks: A Theory -- 3.1.External Shocks -- 3.2.Politicization -- 3.3.National Lock-In and Global Convergence -- 3.4.Research Strategy -- II.A Political History of Renewable Energy -- 4.External Shocks: Destabilizing the Carbon Economy -- 4.1.The 1973 and 1979 Oil Crises: Of Shocks and Policy Responses -- 4.2.Summary of Comparative Case Studies -- 4.3.Frontrunners in Key Industrialized Countries: United States and Germany -- 4.4.Why Did France and the United Kingdom Not Respond?

Note continued: 4.5.Contrasting the Danish and Finnish Cases -- 5.Politicization: When the Stakes Grow Too High -- 5.1.Renewable Energy Growth and Policies across Nations -- 5.2.Summary of Comparative Case Studies -- 5.3.Politicization of Renewable Energy in the United States -- 5.4.The German Case -- 5.5.Limits to Politicization and Opposition in Denmark -- 5.6.The Dogs That Did Not Bark -- 6.Lock-In: An Era of Rapid Growth -- 6.1.A Global Boom in Renewable Energy Investment -- 6.2.Summary of Comparative Case Studies -- 6.3.Rapid Growth in Pioneer Countries: Denmark and Germany -- 6.4.The Comeback of an Early Leader: The United States -- 6.5.Renewables Arrive in France and the United Kingdom -- 6.6.The Case of Spain -- 6.7.The Global Diffusion of Renewable Energy -- 6.8.Renewables in Emerging Giants: China and India -- 6.9.Beyond China and India -- III.The Road Ahead -- 7.Improving National Policy -- 7.1.Seizing the Opportunity: Tailored Policy Responses

Note continued: 7.2.Creating Winners and Advocacy Coalitions -- 7.3.Managing the Lock-In of Renewables -- 7.4.Guiding International Cooperation -- 7.5.Promoting Renewables across Borders -- 8.Conclusion -- 8.1.Renewables and Global Energy Futures -- 8.2.Implications for Energy -- 8.3.Implications for International and Comparative Political Economy -- 8.4.Powering the Future with Renewables.

Wind and solar are the most dynamic components of the global power sector. How did this happen? After the 1973 oil crisis, the limitations of an energy system based on fossil fuels created an urgent need to experiment with alternatives, and some pioneering governments reaped political gains by investing heavily in alternative energy such as wind or solar power. Public policy enabled growth over time, and economies of scale brought down costs dramatically. In this book, Michaël Aklin and Johannes Urpelainen offer a comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy analysis. Aklin and Urpelainen argue that, because the fossil fuel energy system and political support for it are so entrenched, only an external shock - an abrupt rise in oil prices, or a nuclear power accident, for example - allows renewable energy to grow. They analyze the key factors that enable renewable energy to withstand political backlash, and they draw on this analysis to explain and predict the development of renewable energy in different countries over time. They examine the pioneering efforts in the United States, Germany, and Denmark after the 1973 oil crisis and other shocks; explain why the United States surrendered its leadership role in renewable energy; and trace the recent rapid growth of modern renewables in electricity generation, describing, among other things, the return of wind and solar to the United States. Finally, they apply the lessons of their analysis to contemporary energy policy issues. --