Energy security Flashcards
What is energy security?
Energy security is achieved when there is an uninterrupted availability of energy at a national level and at an affordable price.
What are the four key aspects of energy security?
Availability
Accessibility
Affordability
Reliability
The importance of energy security stems from the fact that energy is vital to the functioning of a country. How?
Powers most forms of transport
Lights settlements
Is used by some types of commercial agriculture
Warms or cools homes and powers domestic appliances.
Is vital to modern communications
Drives most forms of manufacturing.
What is the energy mix?
Energy mix is the combination of different energy sources available to meet a country’s total energy demand.
What is primary energy?
Primary energy is any form of energy found in nature that has not been subject to any conversion or transformation.
Primary energy can be renewable (water and wind power) or non-renewable (coal, oil and gas).
What is secondary energy?
Secondary energy refers to the more convenient forms of energy, such as electricity, which are derived from the transformation or conversion of primary energy sources.
Most energy today is consumed in the form of what?
Electricity
What are the main primary energy sources used to generate electricity?
Non-renewable fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas.
Recyclable fuels, such as nuclear energy, general waste and biomass.
Renewable energies, such as water, wind, solar, geothermal and tidal.
The consumption of energy is measured in what two ways?
In per capita terms. In general, this measure rises with economic development.
By a measure known as energy intensity, which is assessed by calculating the units of energy per unit of GDP.
What are some of the factors affecting per capita energy consumption?
Physical availability Cost Standard of living Environmental priorities Climate Public perceptions Economic development Technology
How do public perceptions affect per capita energy consumption?
Public perceptions of, or attitudes towards, energy differ. For some consumers, energy is perceived almost as a human right and there to be used with little or no regard for the environmental consequences.
Others give priority to minimising the wastage of energy and maximising sustainability.
How does climate affect per capita energy consumption?
Climate is a very significant factor. Very high levels of consumption in North America, the Middle East and Australia reflect the extra energy needed to make the extremes of heat and cold more comfortable - in the home, at work and in public places.
How do environmental priorities of governments affect per capita energy consumption?
For some, the energy policy will be one of taking the cheapest route to meeting the nation’s energy demands, regardless of the environmental costs.
Others will seek to increase their reliance on renewable sources of energy; while still others will have in place policies that raise energy efficiency and energy saving.
What is an energy pathway?
An energy pathway is the route taken by any form of energy from its source to its point of consumption. The routes involve different forms of transport, such as tanker ships, pipelines and electricity transmission grids.
What is the role of TNC’s in the world of energy?
The big names in the oil and gas business include Gazprom, ExxonMobil, PetroChina and Royal Dutch Shell.
Nearly half of the top 20 companies are state-owned (all or in-part) and, therefore, very much under government control.
Because of this, strictly speaking they are not TNC’s.
Most are involved in a range of operations: exploring, extracting, transporting, refining and producing petrochemicals.
