Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Historical Geography of Electricity in Eastern North Carolina

这项博士论文改进基金是由科学、技术和社会项目以及地理和空间科学项目共同支持的。在北卡罗来纳州东部，一些城镇的电费几乎是附近城镇的两倍。这些差异是由服务于该地区的电力供应商拼凑而成的。这些电力公用事业可以分为三种所有制类型：投资者所有、市政所有和合作拥有。这项拟议的研究试图理解这种电力公用事业和不同价格拼凑而成的现象是如何以及为什么会出现的。它是由两个相互关联的假设指导的。首先，电力公用事业公司被迫克服一系列障碍，包括难以获得基础设施的资本投资；必须增加电力销售收入；以及持续努力避免固定资产贬值。其次，发展中的电力公用事业塑造了当地和地区的社会、经济和政治地理，也受到了这些地理因素的影响。随着电力公司开始在北卡罗来纳州东部运营，不同的联盟和配置损害了非裔美国人和工人阶级的利益。智力价值这项研究使用地理方法来研究电力公用事业，包括档案研究、地理信息系统绘图和对关键线人的采访，以考虑不同电力公用事业的所有权和融资模式是如何发展的，与进步时代和吉姆·克罗隔离的意识形态有关。它还考虑了美国南部的电力发展，这是一个以前没有被电力历史学家研究过的地区。广泛的影响这个项目提供了关于电力基础设施是如何发展的，以及它们如何影响他们供电的城市的发展的见解。这将为目前关于行业、州和基础设施之间关系的辩论提供信息，而在北卡罗来纳州东部，这将为正在进行的关于电价的辩论提供信息。项目成果包括一个历史发电厂信息的地理数据库，以及一个允许用户探索北卡罗来纳州几个城镇电力发展的交互式在线地图工具。

IntroductionThis doctoral dissertation improvement grant is jointly supported by the Science, Technology, and Society program and the Geography and Spatial Sciences program.In eastern North Carolina, some towns charge electricity rates nearly double those in nearby towns. These differences result from the patchwork of electricity providers that serve the region. These electric utilities can be grouped into three ownership types: investor owned, municipally owned, and cooperatively owned. The proposed research seeks to understand how and why this patchwork of electric utilities and varying prices emerged. It is guided by two interlocking hypotheses. First, electric utilities were compelled to overcome a series of obstacles, including difficulty obtaining capital investment for infrastructure; a necessity to increase revenues from electricity sales; and ongoing attempts to stave off the devaluation of fixed assets. Second, the developing electric utilities both shaped, and were shaped by, local and regional social, economic and political geographies. As electric utilities began operating in eastern North Carolina, varying alliances and configurations worked to undermine the interests of African Americans and the working classes. Intellectual meritThis research employs geographic approaches to research electric utilities, including archival research, GIS mapping, and interviews with key informants, to consider how the ownership and financing models of the different electric utilities developed in relation to the ideologies of the Progressive Era and Jim Crow segregation. It also considers electricity's development in the American South, a region previously unexamined by historians of electricity.Broader ImpactsThis project provides insights into how electricity infrastructures are developed, and how they influence the development of the cities they power. This will inform current debates over the relations between the industry, the state, and infrastructure, and in eastern North Carolina will inform ongoing debates over electricity prices. Project outputs include a geodatabase of historic power plant information, and an interactive online mapping tool that allows users to explore the development of electricity in several North Carolina towns.