The Concept of Energy Security - Essay Example

? number: The unit & Essay: Due Word count: 2024 Topic: Question one - To what extent can renewable energy be a viable alternative for established energy sources such as oil, gas, coal and nuclear power? Link your answer to the concept of energy security. Energy security has been a rising concern for most of the world’s countries as prolonged disruptions in the supply of energy could potentially result to serious economic upheavals. Energy security, as defined by the International Energy Agency (IEA), entails energy supply that is reliable, affordable and adequate (Olz, Sims, and Kircher, 2007, pp.13). Over the years there have been rising concerns with regard to the ability of fossil fuels, which constitute the main source of energy, in ensuring energy security. In Australia for instance, high reliance on fossil fuels as the core source of energy has been noted to be increasingly unviable since it is more economically marginal. This is because of the high dependence on foreign regimes which control supply and pricing of oil and gas (Jones, 2009, pp.3). Such rising concerns have resulted to increased attention on other potential alternative energy sources. This paper argues that renewable energy sources, to a large extent, are viable alternative sources of energy, and play a critical role in ensuring energy security. The world consumes about 13 trillion watts (terawatts, TW) of energy, with 85% of this representing energy from fossil fuel such as coal, gas and oil, while 2% of this representing renewable energy forms such as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and hydro energy (Lewis, 2007, pp.808-809; Valentine, 2011:4573). Indeed, fossil fuels still remain the king pins in energy supply due to various advantages such as availability and high energy content that it possesses. However, fossil fuels have core disadvantages that make it a threat to both current and future energy security. Not only is it exhaustible, but it is also detrimental to the environment, and is undependable since countries have to depend on a few controlling regimes which regulate the supply of oil and gas (DiPeso, 2011, pp.97; Valentine, 2011). From historical evidence, oil and gas which currently form the major part of fossil fuel have had the tendency to fluctuate in prices with most countries’ ability to control such prices limited. This makes it in the long term unreliable, unaffordable and inadequate (Riesz and Tourneboeuf, 2011). The high dependency on fossil fuels, and the fact that such fossil fuels do not guarantee energy security to most of the world’s countries, has necessitated a look at various alternative sources that would ensure energy security. For most of the world’s countries, the response to energy risks posed by fossil fuels has been diversification of energy sources. Renewable sources of energy have been widely recognised as potential sources of energy and expected to comprise a bigger part in future energy generation portfolio to ensure energy security (Valentine, 2011). Renewable sources of energy are often indigenous to a country hence tends to reduce high dependency on energy imports (Olz, Sims, and Kircher, 2007, pp.23). Hence, can be exploited locally where by the variations in availability and capacity of such energy sources in various regions, ensures that energy security is site specific, with regions increasingly becoming self sufficient. Although renewable energy sources incur higher capital costs in terms of development , installation and per unit capacity, this high cost, to some extent, can be offset by the low to zero cost of fuel over the life of the installed system which make renewable more competitive (Olz, Sims, and Kircher, 2007, pp.16). Furthermore, the long cited constraints of renewable energy sources such as intermittency and availability can be resolved through energy storage technologies which make energy available when needed and stores energy when it is available (Evans, Strezov, & Evans, 2012). There are six main sources of alternative renewable energy to established energy sources such as coal, gas, oil and nuclear power. These include solar, wind, hydroelectric, tides/oceans, biomass, and geothermal energy. Each of these energy sources are at different stages both in technological development and evolution, which restricts any one of them to be fully capable of replacing the established energy sources (Brown, Muller, and Dobrotkova, 2011, pp.8-9). Variability in output of each renewable sources of energy can be a constraint to secure and reliable energy supply. However, used together in a portfolio of energy sources, their viability to meet major energy requirements as well as promote energy security is highly increased (Olz, Sims, and Kircher, 2007, pp.23). Different renewable energy sources can complement each other to meet the overall energy demand, by meeting overall energy supply. Hydroelectric energy is one of the core renewable energy resources derived from water energy. It is clean, relatively inexpensive, relatively reliable, benign and fairly abundant since a bigger portion of the world comprises of water. The total energy potential from all water resources is approximated to 4.6 TW with only 1.5 TW technically feasible for extraction (Lewis, 2007: 815). Despite this low energy generation relative to the world energy needs of 13 TW, Energy Industry Report (2010:11) notes that modern hydro turbines have the capacity of converting about 90% of the water energy into usable power, unlike fossil fuel which is half as efficient. This can further be improved with technological enhancement and infrastructural upgrades. Since water can be stored in large reservoirs, the production of hydropower is more predictable. However, a core constraint is that hydropower is highly dependent on climate and weather patterns; with prolong dry spells potentially grossly impacting energy generation. Within the portfolio of renewable energy, hydropower presents a more stable source of energy due to the ability of water to be stored in large reservoirs. This is unlike other energy sources which face the challenge of intermittency. The large reservoirs enable fast response to energy needs in case of any fluctuations in demand or in cases where the established energy sources such as coal, gas, oil and nuclear power are constrained. Even more importantly, hydropower systems and infrastructure do not require fuel to operate (Schiermeier, Tollefson, Scully, Witze and Morton, 2008, pp. 816). This implies that no energy is required to produce energy thus enabling efficiency in energy production. This ensures energy security and reduces dependencies in energy import. Wind is another critical resource of renewable energy with the potential of producing about 2 to 4 TW of energy (Lewis, 2007, pp.816). The core advantage of energy power like hydropower is that it is not dependant on fuel for extraction. However, capital costs for wind energy system are very high, with about 75% of the costs relating to turbines, grid connection, and power lines (Energy Industry Report, 2010, pp.11). However, over the years, there has been a downward trend in installation costs (Richards, Noble, & Belcher, 2012; Schiermeier, et al., 2008), even as technology improves, and the energy generation capacity increases. A key disadvantage of wind power is intermittency. Wind may not blow when energy demands are high and therefore may not be able to meet energy demands (Schiermeier, Tollefson, Scully, Witze and Morton, 2008, pp. 820). The fact that energy storage facilities of wind energy are still primitive makes wind unreliable as an energy source on its own (Evans, Strezov, & Evans, 2012). However, within the comprehensive portfolio of other energy resource, the geographical distribution of wind energy helps in dealing with some short term fluctuations in energy needs. Furthermore, potential future developments in wind energy storage could increase the role that wind energy plays within the energy sector. Solar energy is one of the highly utilised and fastest growing renewable sources of energy. The earth is supplied with about 120,000 TW of solar power, with energy hitting the earth in an hour being capable of meeting all of man’s energy needs (Lewis, 2007, pp. 816). The available solar technology (solar photovoltaic panel) can convert 12-18% of the solar energy into usable power (Schiermeier, et al., 2008). One of the core advantages of the sun as an energy source is that it is widely distributed, and presents an unlimited energy supply with no need of fuel costs. Although solar energy faces the challenge of intermittency due to variability in sunshine, and though the costs of high tech solar technology is highly prohibitive, enhancement in storage capacities of solar energy has the potential of revolutionising the energy supply (Lewis, 2007, pp. 816-817; Evans, Strezov, & Evans, 2012). Not only is solar energy, clean non exhaustible and high density, but the rising efficiency of photovoltaic technologies, concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, and solar storage capabilities is increasingly making solar energy a strong component with the renewable energy portfolio or ensuring energy security. The interior of the earth has vast amount of heat energy with the potential of producing 11.6 TW of sustainable geothermal energy. However, constraint of efficient geothermal heat engines and the fact that geothermal has yet to be fully tapped globally reduces the level of energy produced (Lewis, 2007, pp.816). The key role that geothermal energy plays with the renewable energy portfolio is its potential to provide consistent flow of energy with no variability. Despite the high capital cost in installing geothermal infrastructures, the potential of energy production through enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) is higher, with such systems capable of harvesting immense heat from hot rocks beneath the earth’s surface. Schiermeier, et al. (2008, pp. 820) acknowledge that geothermal boasts the higher energy capacity at 75% energy extraction among all renewable sources of energy. Unlike wind or solar energy, geothermal power plants provide energy round the clock and are highly stable, especially to provide base load energy needs. Furthermore, the role of biomass energy within the renewable energy portfolio plays an important role as it tends to be more reliable. Since biomass energy is mainly derived from organic waste products, the seasonal cycles of energy materials which are easily available (Prabakaran and Ravindran, 2012; DiPeso, 2011, pp.98-99), impact availability of biomass energy in all seasons thereby ensuring energy security. Even though biomass energy response is not fast, the storage capacity of biomass helps in reducing variability in energy supply and reducing the risk of shortages in energy supply (Olz, Sims, and Kircher, 2007, pp.25). This ensures a stable supply of energy. In essence therefore, a wider portfolio of energy supply mix from renewable sources can help in reducing the risks to energy security that is posed by other mainstream sources of energy. The fact that the established energy sources such as coal, gas, and oil are exhaustible and may increasingly be scarce in coming years does not imply that they will be completely depleted. Rather, when production peak is reached for such resources, the amount that can be extracted will start declining, making the products expensive, unaffordable, inadequate, and unreliable (Mulligan, 2010, pp.91). The problem in these established sources of energy is not about what reserves remain for what number of years, but rather the maintenance of the level of energy supply to meet energy demand. Although it will take some time before renewable energy meets a bigger portion of energy supply, increased reliance in renewable energy has been growing by about 10% globally year by year (UN Documents, n.d.). Investments into bettering the renewable energy sources have more than doubled over the past decade (DiPeso, 2011) implying that these energy sources offer potentially huge sources of energy for the earth’s nation, which are sustainable and easily available to all. In conclusion, a portfolio of renewable energy sources that have different capabilities and cycles has the potential of satisfying energy demands. Geothermal energy source is not variable and hence provide a more stable energy supply as well as a good energy supply back up. Except where biomass depends on seasons organic materials, this energy source is also fairly stable. Hydropower and solar energy on the other hand may be variable depending on climatic conditions and weather patterns. However, with large water reservoirs for hydropower, heat storage capacities for solar energy, and biomass material storage, energy supply for solar, biomass, and hydropower can be stabilised. Together with geothermal power, these can be used for peak and base load production. Based on the integration of all these renewable energy sources, and continued technological development in the energy extraction and storage in these renewable energy sources, then renewable resources are a highly a viable alternative for established energy sources such as oil, gas, coal and nuclear power. References Brown, A, Muller, S, and Dobrotkova, Z 2011, ‘Renewable Energy: Markets and Prospects by Technology,’ International Energy Agency. 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