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

介绍本博士论文改进资助项目由科学、技术与社会项目和地理与空间科学项目共同资助。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。这些差异是由为该地区服务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权类型：投资者拥有，共同拥有和合作拥有。拟议中的研究旨在了解这种电力公用事业和不同价格的拼凑是如何以及为什么出现的。 它受到两个相互关联的假设的指导。首先，电力公司不得不克服一系列障碍，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;以及正在努力避免固定资产贬值。第二，发展中的电力公司既塑造了当地和区域的社会、经济和政治地理，也被当地和区域的社会、经济和政治地理所塑造。 随着电力公司开始在北卡罗来纳州东部运营，不同的联盟和配置削弱了非裔美国人和工人阶级的利益。智力meritisemployees地理的方法来研究电力公司，包括档案研究，地理信息系统映射，并与关键线人的采访，考虑如何开发的进步时代和吉姆克劳种族隔离的意识形态的不同电力公司的所有权和融资模式。它还考虑了电力在美国南部的发展，这是一个以前没有电力历史学家研究过的地区。更广泛的影响这个项目提供了电力基础设施是如何发展的见解，以及它们如何影响它们所供电的城市的发展。 这将为当前关于行业、国家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。 项目输出包括历史发电厂信息的地理数据库，以及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.