In Search of a New Energy Paradigm: Energy Supply, Security of Supply and Demand and Climate Change Mitigation

Abstract

Even before the disaster at the Macondo field in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, there was growing recognition that it was getting increasingly difficult and costly to meet the growing global demand for energy. This paper focuses on two related issues: the emergence of a new energy paradigm and the globalization of energy demand. The new energy paradigm refers to the fact that the contemporary concern for energy security is set within the wider context of climate change and the need to reduce significantly global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). As a consequence, the global energy system needs to move away from fossil fuels to lower carbon alternatives, namely renewable and nuclear energy. The analysis suggests that it is still unclear how this low carbon energy transition will be achieved. Further, it maintains that such a transition will pose new challenges to global energy security. This is particularly so because the globalization of energy demand means that the bulk of future energy demand growth will come from the `developing world', driven by emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil. To enable the global South to continue to grow, while reducing GHG emissions will require cooperation between North and South. The North will need to provide capital and technology to enable the South to secure access to the energy needed to power economic growth, without increasing demand for fossil fuels and their associated carbon emissions. The final section considers what this `global energy dilemma' (the need to provide secure and affordable access to energy services while reducing carbon emissions) means for European Union energy policy.