Ensuring Energy Security

Abstract

old questions, new answers On the eve of World War I, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill made a historic decision: to shift the power source of the British navy's ships from coal to oil. He intended to make the fleet faster than its German counterpart. But the switch also meant that the Royal Navy would rely not on coal from Wales but on insecure oil supplies from what was then Persia. Energy security thus became a question of national strategy. Churchill's answer? "Safety and certainty in oil," he said, "lie in variety and variety alone." Since Churchill's decision, energy security has repeatedly emerged as an issue of great importance, and it is so once again today. But the subject now needs to be rethought, for what has been the paradigm of energy security for the past three decades is too limited and must be expanded to include many new factors. Moreover, it must be recognized that energy security does not stand by itself but is lodged in the larger relations among nations and how they interact with one another. Energy security will be the number one topic on the agenda when the group of eight highly industrialized countries (g-8) meets in St. Petersburg in July. The renewed focus on energy security is driven in part by an exceedingly tight oil market and by high oil prices, which have doubled over the past three years. But it is also fueled by the threat of terrorism, instability in some exporting nations, a nationalist backlash, fears of a scramble for supplies, geopolitical rivalries, and countries' fundamental need for energy to power their economic growth.

Climate change impacts on extreme events in the United States: an uncertainty analysis

“…They can destroy large infrastructure and private properties, and lead to severe human losses. Various studies have examined the impacts of extreme events on infrastructure (Penning-Rowsell and Wilson 2006;Wright et al 2012), air quality and human health (Leibensperger et al 2008;Mahmud et al 2012), terrestrial ecosystems (Parmesan et al 2000;Xiao et al 2009), agriculture and forestry (Rosenzweig et al 2001;Maracchi et al 2005), water demand (Strzepek et al 2010), as well as energy demand and production (Smoyer-Tomic et al 2003;Yergin 2006). For agriculture, single extreme weather events in the US can lead to economic damages that exceed $1 billion (Rosenzweig et al 2001).…”

“…The widespread drought and excessive heat conditions in the Midwest and Great Plains in the summer of 2012 contributed to sharp decreases in yields and the crop insurance indemnities for 2012 losses totaled $16 billion (Folger et al 2013). Hurricanes Katrina and Rita shut down 27 % of oil production in the US (Yergin 2006) and Hurricane Sandy inflicted approximately $65 billion in economic losses across the US, the Caribbean, the Bahamas and Canada (Aon Benfield 2013). Extreme events can also cause substantial loss of life, like in 1998, when flooding and landslides due to Hurricane Mitch resulted in more than 10,000 deaths in Central America (Easterling et al 2000) or like in 2003, when the European summer heat wave resulted in more than 70,000 deaths in 16 countries (Robine et al 2008).…”

Measuring energy security performance within China: Toward an inter-provincial prospective

“…This traditional definition of 5 energy security has been critiqued for being too narrow and for downplaying broader social and environmental factors such as climate change or community acceptance 34 . The "4A" framework of energy security (availability, accessibility, acceptability and affordability) proposed by APERC 35 is a more representative conception, one utilized by numerous scholars [36][37] .…”

Logistic security system of liquid fuel supply

“…Therefore, ensuring energy security has become one of the main existential and developmental goals of each country 8 . According to the Polish Energy Policy Until 2025, energy security means the state of the economy which allows you to cover both the current and prospective demand for fuels and energy, would be technically and economically justified, while minimizing the negative impact of the energy sector on the environment and living conditions of the society 9 .…”