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Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Distancing and the Geographic Relationship Between Electricity Consumption and Production in Massachusetts *
Author(s) -
Luna Marcos
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2008.00578.x
Subject(s) - consumption (sociology) , distancing , social distance , electricity , context (archaeology) , agricultural economics , geography , demographic economics , socioeconomics , economics , sociology , covid-19 , social science , engineering , medicine , disease , archaeology , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , electrical engineering
Objective. Based on the concept of “distancing” and its implications for ecological feedback and environmental inequality, this article examines the influence of geographic distance from power plants on residential electricity consumption in Massachusetts. Methods. Mean geographic distance to all power plants in Massachusetts was calculated to a rasterized surface and aggregated by municipality for 243 cities and towns. Using stepwise regression, annual per household residential electricity consumption by municipality was regressed on mean distance to power plants, median household income, percent minority, median number of rooms, and median age. Results. Mean geographic distance to power plants and median number of rooms emerged as statistically significant predictors of per household residential electricity consumption. Conclusions. The findings lend support to the concept of “distancing” and its implications for consumption in a domestic context. This analysis offers evidence of scale‐independent similarity between global and local phenomena of environmental inequality and resource consumption.