A historical review of energy topics in German geographical literature from 1950 to 2008

Abstract

The article quantitatively and qualitatively evaluates German textbooks and articles in popular German geography journals, discussing patterns of local and thematic tendencies. The analysis shows a growing number of articles on renewable energy, while fossil and nuclear fuels are continuously discussed. Energy plays a minor role in German textbooks, while it is a persisting issue in journals. Nonetheless, a structured energy discussion is hardly visible in geographical journals; instead a large variety of single, unconnected papers has been published. A common theoretical framework does not exist in geographical energy research. As a result, current energy questions are not connected with geography, although geography can massively contribute to the challenges of climate change and decreasing fossil resources.