ABSTRACT
The introductory chapter is an introduction to the aims, methods, structure, and major issues in the book. The book is the outcome of a study of ethics in practice combining three disciplinary approaches: ethics, history, and planning. The study has three major aims: (1) to reinterpret 50 years of energy planning and policy with a particular focus on the role ethical concerns and justifications play on six different levels (from the individual consumer and citizen to the global community), (2) to rethink ethical obligations in complex situations, with a particular focus on balancing ethical intentions and commitments, and (3) to map the ethical landscape of energy planning and policy, with a particular focus on conflicting ethical considerations. The ethical/historical study includes considerations on both intra- and intergenerational justice as well as questions of partial commitments versus impartiality on various levels.
