Factors effecting energy security

Question 1

Energy security has a number of risks:

Answer 1

1) Physical – exhaustion of reserves or disruption of supply lines
2) Environmental – Protests about environmental change caused by exploitation of energy
resources
3) Economic – sudden rises in costs of energy forcing increased imports of higher-priced energy
4) Geopolitical – political instability in energy-producing regions

Question 2

The energy security of a country can be measured using the ‘Energy Security Index’ (ESI).
This is based upon:

Answer 2

• Availability – the amount of a country’s domestic oil and gas supplies and its level of reliance on imported resources
• Diversity – the range of energy resources used
• Intensity – the degree to which the economy of a country is dependent on oil and gas
  The higher the index, the lower the risk and therefore the greater the energy security