Alternative energy development is a commonly proposed technological means to reduce
environmental pressure. Yet there is an unintended and paradoxical “energy boomerang
effect,” or, when decarbonizing the energy supply increases total energy use. This
paradoxical outcome presupposes a particular set of social-structural conditions: the
imperative to utilize energy to increase economic growth (and, thus, energy throughput) and
the use of energy production itself as a capital accumulation strategy. The energy …