Energy Security

Energy Security

1. Energy supply, demand and security

   • Energy Source
     • Coal - deep or opencast mining, environmentally damaging, emission of greenhouse gases, global warming
     • Oil and natural gas - often in environmentally sensitive areas, danger of oil spills and gas leaks, damage to vegetation and wildlife, emissions of greenhouse gase
     • Nuclear energy - key issue is safety, Chernobyl 1986, waste remains radioactive for thousands of years, difficult to process and store
     • Hydro-electric power - requires large area of land to be flooded for dams, vegetation drowned which decays and releases methane and carbon dioxide, silt deposits in lakes rather than enriching agricultural land (farmers have to use chemical fertilisers, danger of dam collapse
     • Geothermal energy - large scale use is limited to volcanic areas, always a risk of eruptions, earthquakes, emissions of sulphuric gases
     • Wind power - visually unappealing, affects wildlife, noise pollution
     • Solar energy - large areas of land needed
     • Tidal power - barrages destroy wildlife habitats
     • Biomass - greenhouse gases unless methane gas is used
     • Combined Heat and Power - environmental impacts depend on fuel used, greenhouse gases
   • Factors affecting demand
     • Location
     • Industrialisation
     • Increased consumption
     • Transport
     • Affordability
     • Traditions
     • OPEC - control prices
     • Quality of life/ standard of living
     • Threat of war
     • Reliance on foreign supply
     • Geopolitics
     • Population growth
     • Supply of reserves
     • Poverty
     • Technology
     • New pipelines
     • Seasonal fluctuations
     • Depletion of resources
   • Global Distribution
     • Big players - Middle East (Saudi Arabia accounts for 22% of oil reserves) - have energy surplus
     • Cultural preferences - tradition, technological preferences, changes in demand, changes in price, environmental factors/ public perceptions
     • Energy availability - local scale - less developed areas still have no access
     • Global availability - not evenly distributed, depends on geology, technology, cost of exploitation
     • Future trends - China and India expected to have largest rises, Western Europe may reduce demands ( improved efficiency and rising costs), deindustrialisation in MEDCs has resulted in a slight increase in demand
     • Physical factors - consumption is influenced by the climate - seasonal variation
     • Rising consumption - by 2050 demand is set to double due to population growth, economic development, rising standard of living
   • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
     • Provides an internationally accepted authority on climate change
     • Information on human induced climate change, impacts, options for adaption and mitigation
     • Trying to phase out fossil fuels by 2100, with most of the worlds energy from low carbon sources and the growth of renewables from 30% to 80% by 2050
   • Key Words
     • Continental shelf - the relatively shallow submarine platform that borders continents - extension of the continental land mass
     • Energy pathways - the flow of energy a producer to consumer - affected by natural/ env. issues e.g. mountains, earthquakes or political issues e.g. conflict
     • Energy surplus - countries with access to many energy resources
     • Geopolitics - ways in which political decisions and processes affect the way space and resources are used - relationship between geography, economics, politics
     • OPEC - Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the production and sale of petroleum
     • Tar sands - naturally occurring mixtures of sand or clay and water, and a very viscous form of petroleum called bitumen
   • California Case Study

2. Impacts of energy insecurity

   • OPEC
     • Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, Venezuela, Ecuador
     • Protects interests of member countries, stabilises oil prices, eliminating harmful price fluctuations,, ensures efficient, economic and regular supply
     • To maintain a fair price, OPEC can increase production to prevent a sharp increase if demand suddenly rises. Production can the be reduced if demand falls in order to maintain a constant price
     • Has 2/3 of worlds reserves and accounted for 36% of the worlds production in 2008

3. Energy security and the future