Security, energy

The political situation within OPEC member countries is complicated and dynamic. Price shocks caused by political unrest in oil-exporting countries have had severe economic effects on the global economy, including losses in gross domestic product (GDP) and increases in inflation and unemployment. Oil market stability concerns are rooted both in political volatility and infrastructure insecurity. Further uncertainty arises from the entry of new suppliers, especially Russia, into the market and their cooperation, or lack thereof, with OPEC. In terms of supply security, the hub-and-spoke oil transportation system in both importing and exporting countries remains vulnerable to attacks. Some suggest a 

The dependency on foreign petroleum by the United States has increased steadily since the mid-1980s when the daily imports of petroleum aud petroleum products (as percentage of consumption) increased from approximately 50% thence to approximately 60% in the early 1990s to the almost unbelievable current (2011a, 2011b) levels of 65%-70% of the daily petroleum and petroleum products. 

Briefly, in 2010 the United States imported 11.8 million barrels per day of petroleum crude oil and refined petroleum products and consumed 19.1 million barrels per day of petroleum products during 2010. While the United States was the largest petroleum consumer in the world, the United States was third in crude oil production at 5.5 million barrels per day. Petroleum products imported by the United States during 2010 included gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, jet fuel, chemical feedstocks, asphalt, and other products, and the net imports of petroleum other than crude oil were 2% of the petroleum consumed in the United States during 2010 (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2011). 

It is not rocket science to know that when imports of a necessary commodity exceed domestic production of this same commodity a dangerous situation exists. Especially when the commodity is supplied by countries where the governments of those countries cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be classified as governments that are stable. 

Events such as civil war, coup d etat, and the occasional (some would say frequent) labor strike will occur with sufficient frequency to severely restrict imports into the United States. It is even more worrying that the countries where highest levels of disruption can occur contain the majority of the proven worldwide petroleum reserves and provide the majority of the imports into the United States. 

For example, the United States currently requires approximately 18,000,000 barrels of petroleum per day and, hypothetically, through events that are not within the control sphere of the United States, a shortfall of imported petroleum on the order of 2,000,000 barrels per day would leave a large gap in the domestic energy availability. 

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Energy products Energy recovery Energy Security Act Energy storage Energy value Enflurane [13838-16-9]... 

The benefits of alcohol fuels include increased energy diversification in the transportation sector, accompanied by some energy security and balance of payments benefits, and potential air quaUty improvements as a result of the reduced emissions of photochemically reactive products (see Air POLLUTION). The Clean Air Act of 1990 and emission standards set out by the State of California may serve to encourage the substantial use of alcohol fuels, unless gasoline and diesel technologies can be developed that offer comparable advantages. 

Coa.1 Reserves. As indicated in Table 2, coal is more abundant than oil and gas worldwide. Moreover, the U.S. has more coal than other nations U.S. reserves amount to about 270 biUion metric tons, equivalent to about 11 x 10 MJ (1 x 10 ° BTU = 6600 quads), a large number compared to the total transportation energy use of about 3.5 x lO " MJ (21 quads) per year (11). Methanol produced from U.S. coal would obviously provide better energy security benefits than methanol produced from imported natural gas. At present however, the costs of producing methanol from coal are far higher than the costs of producing methanol from natural gas. 

These cost comparisons do not assign any credit to methanol for environmental improvements or energy security. Energy security benefits could be large if methanol were produced from domestic coal. 

California Advisory Board on Air QuaUty and Fuels, Vol. 1, Executive Summary, Vol. 2, Energy Security Report, Vol. 3, Environmental Health and Safety Report, Vol. 4, Economics Report, Vol. 5, Mandates and Incentives Report, San Francisco, Calif., June 13, 1990. 

June. U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the Energy Security Act. 

Energy security/reliability—using new energy technology. 

Developing and deploying more efficient and environmentally friendly energy technology is critical to achieving the objectives of Energy security,... 

Turkey and Energy Security in the Caucasus and Central Asia 113... 

TURKEY AND ENERGY SECURITY IN THE CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA... 

For energy security reasons, the presence of an auxiliary power supply unit is necessary. This unit can be preferably either a hydrogen internal combustion engine (H2 ICE) or a fuel cell of corresponding capacity to meet at least the minimum needs of the system. In this case, the system is an autonomous power plant. Figure 5.11 shows a stand-alone wind-hydrogen system that is autonomous. The dashed line in some parts of it implies that these connections may not exist as well. The DC/AC converter/controller should have the capability to operate vice versa and power up the lines through the power controller. 

Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well in Pennsylvania in 1859 to use extracted oil as a substitute for whale oil—the main lighting source and feedstock for consumer and chemical products then. This resource was hazardous to get and dwindling due to heavy exploitation, as it happens currently with oil. Petroleum presented many advantages over whale oil and solved a great deal of ecological and resource security problems associated with the old resource. Nevertheless, after a century and a half of use, petroleum has created new problems related to environmental pollution and energy security [1]. 

Coal is the main energy reserve for many countries. In order to ensure energy security, many of these countries are looking at implementing large-scale coal-to-liquid (CTL) plants. Current CTL Fischer-Tropsch (FT)-based processes at best have a carbon efficiency near 45% that is, less than half the carbon that is fed to the process ends up as hydrocarbon fuels. This has large implications for the environment, in that more than half of the carbon in the feed to the CTL ends up... 

Synthetic fuels may attract local government subsidies or sell at a premium because they offset imports and improve the country s balance of payments. Furthermore, strategic considerations related to energy security may play an important role in promoting investment in synthetic fuels production. 

Commercializing the vast oil shale resources could greatly add to the country s energy resources. Shale oil could have an effect similar to the 175 billion barrels of oil from Alberta tar sands to Canada s oil reserves. As a result of the commercial effort, oil from tar sand production now exceeds one million barrels per day. Oil shale in the United States is as rich as tar sand and could become a vital component in America s future energy security. 

Hydrogen has a unique role in a secure energy future for the United States. The U.S. could be energy self-sufficient with hydrogen, ensuring our national stability from an energy security, supply, and economic perspective. 

The transition to hydrogen-powered vehicles is an important step the nation can take towards preserving American transportation freedoms and strengthening U.S. energy security. 

Renewables are often seen as the future feedstock for hydrogen, if hydrogen is to make a real contribution to energy security and C02-emission reduction. However, cheap renewable potentials are also limited and will be increasingly in competition with heat and electricity generation. An overview of the renewable potentials worldwide and with a particular focus on the situation in the European Union is at the centre of Chapter 5. 

The number of policy measures to enhance energy security is growing worldwide at an unprecedented pace. Actions resulting from the EU s energy policy, for instance, include (CEU, 2007) ... 

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