Die Krise des Fortschritts und der Traum von der sauberen Energie

The dream of clean energy has yet to be realized. For the transition into the post-fossil age, however, not only technical innovations, but also far-reaching transformation processes are required. The book rolls up the sustainability discourses of the present from the point of view of cultural history. The hopes that have been directed towards electricity as an energy close to nature since the 19th century are concentrated in all their radiance in the image of the "fairy of electricity". This contrasts with the imagery of the "Promethean Age", which formulates the consequences of a concept of progress that has fallen into crisis. Sybille Heidenreich shows that in the narrative of the light bearers, from the aurora in Ph. O. Runge's "Morgen" to the light fairies in poster art and the android of the present, ideas of new relationships with nature as well as an ethical embedding of technologies and Unfold the economy.