1st Edition
Southeast Asian Energy Transitions Between Modernity and Sustainability
Biography
Mattijs Smits researches and teaches in the fields of energy policy and politics, environment, sustainability, (rural) development and climate finance. During his academic and professional career, he spent extended periods living and working as a researcher and consultant in Southeast Asia, notably in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. He holds degrees from four different universities on three continents: a BSc and MSc from the University of Utrecht and Wageningen University, and PhD degrees from The University of Sydney and Chiang Mai University (as part of a cotutelle arrangement). He is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the Environmental Policy Group of Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
’Very interesting, worth reading for its synthetic conceptual take on energy transitions, worth reading again for the rich, comparative case studies.’ Benjamin K. Sovacool, Aarhus University, Denmark ’Expanding access to modern energy services like electricity can transform individual livelihoods and national development trajectories. Mattijs Smits’ creative and agile account documents the differentiated outcomes of this process of energy transition in the Greater Mekong region. Combining analysis at national, village and household scales - and encompassing technologies from domestic cooking appliances to large hydro-electric dams - this book provides a compelling case for understanding how energy systems and regional political economies evolve together. In short, its account of multiple energy modernities in Laos and Thailand demonstrates what critical geographies of energy transition have to offer.’ Gavin Bridge, Durham University, UK
