Energy Security and Climate Change

Managing the Transition to a Secure, Low-Carbon Energy Future seeks to establish a framework for considering the complex and evolving links between energy security and climate change, and identifies three challenges: the evolving and interconnected nature of energy security and climate change definitions and goals, the variables that contribute to an uncertain future, and the trade-offs and unintended consequences involved in addressing both issues.

A workable strategy must be concerned not just with how to design a future in which climate change and energy security concerns are met, but also with the pathway to get there. To guide this transition, this brief offers several guiding principles for devising energy and climate policies that are both effective and politically viable.

Source: Center for Strategic and International Studies

Alternative Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy's Wind & Hydropower Technologies Program exists to "improve wind energy technology so that it can generate competitive electricity in areas with lower wind resources, and to develop new, cost-effective, advanced hydropower technologies." The website for the program provides overviews of how wind power and hydropower work and exploration of the history and advantages and disadvantages of each. Publications, photographs, and related links are featured.

Most wind energy research is carried out at world-class facilities located at DOE's National Wind Technology Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in cooperation with Sandia National Laboratories. Hydropower research is conducted at Idaho National Energy and Environmental Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Annual Energy Outlook 2008

The Annual Energy Outlook 2008 (Early Release)-(AEO2008), from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), includes several important changes from earlier AEOs to better reflect trends in the economy and energy markets that are expected to persist. Energy markets are changing in response to the higher energy prices experienced since 2000; the greater influence of developing countries on worldwide energy requirements; recently enacted legislation and regulations in the United States; and changing public views related to the use of alternative fuels, emissions, and the acceptability of various energy technologies, among other factors.





Source: Energy Information Administration

Annual Energy Review

From the Energy Information Administration:

Annual Energy Review 2006

The Annual Energy Review (AER) is the Energy Information Administration’s primary report of historical annual energy statistics. For many series, data begin with the year 1949.
Included are data on total energy production, consumption, and trade; overviews of petroleum, natural gas, coal, electricity, nuclear energy, renewable energy, international energy, as well as financial and environmental indicators; and data unit conversion tables.

Energy and Climate Change

From the World Resources Institute:

A comparison of selected energy options, with respect to energy security and climate change impact.

Full PDF version of chart (609 KB)

Background information (PDF; 479 KB)

U.S. policymakers are now considering a range of options to address the issues of future U.S. energy security and climate change. Energy policies are often proposed to address some combination of these. Yet not all policy options have equal impacts across both, and many options have negative impacts with respect to one or the other.

Biofuels

Biofuels - An Energy, Environmental or Agricultural Policy?

Biofuels are produced from renewable resources (plants, organic waste, etc.) and can be used as an alternative to fossil fuels (oil, gas). Ethanol and biodiesel are the two main biofuels widely used today, but there are others, such as biobutanol, at the research and development phase. Global production of biofuels is booming, as higher oil prices and technological breakthroughs have made it a more profitable business. Other key factors are the political will in most industrialized countries to find a reliable source of energy, and the implementation of new incentive programs; these have stimulated the industry’s growth and helped develop a level of infrastructure that can take advantage of favourable economic conditions.

Source: Library of Parliament (Canada)