The (default) strategy determining the secuirty of Australia's energy supply

The matter of Australia's energy supply security has been totally eclipsed by the current debate on climate change. Should we be concerned? What is energy security and how is it determined? What impact will climate change policies have on energy security? Does Australia need a national strategy...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chester, Lynne
Other Authors: H. Cabalu
Format: Conference Paper
Published: Curtin University of Technology 2008
Online Access:http://www.business.curtin.edu.au/business/research/conferences/2nd-iaee-asian-conference/refereed-conference-papers
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14309
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author Chester, Lynne
author2 H. Cabalu
author_facet H. Cabalu
Chester, Lynne
author_sort Chester, Lynne
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The matter of Australia's energy supply security has been totally eclipsed by the current debate on climate change. Should we be concerned? What is energy security and how is it determined? What impact will climate change policies have on energy security? Does Australia need a national strategy? This paper seeks to answer these questions by first examining the concept of 'security of energy supply' which has quietly slipped into the energy lexicon and assumed a relatively prominent position without any meaningful discourse about its meaning or assumptions. It is contended that the concept is inherently slippery because of its polysemic nature having multiple dimensions and taking on different specificities depending on the country (or continent), timeframe or energy source to which it is applied. A four-dimensional grid of availability, adequacy of capacity, affordability and sustainability is proposed to assess energy supply security over the short and long term. The paper argues that, in the absence of a national strategy, the short and long term security of Australia's energy supply is being determined by default, by the conjunction of a vast range of existing policies, all of which have been specifically implemented to address other objectives. The impact of existing and potential 'non-energy-security' policies on Australia's supply security is shown by applying the aforementioned four dimensional-grid. A final section discusses the policy antagonisms within Australia's default strategy and concludes that the strongest threat, in the short and long term, to Australia's energy security is to adequacy of capacity.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-143092022-11-21T06:47:07Z The (default) strategy determining the secuirty of Australia's energy supply Chester, Lynne H. Cabalu D. Marinova The matter of Australia's energy supply security has been totally eclipsed by the current debate on climate change. Should we be concerned? What is energy security and how is it determined? What impact will climate change policies have on energy security? Does Australia need a national strategy? This paper seeks to answer these questions by first examining the concept of 'security of energy supply' which has quietly slipped into the energy lexicon and assumed a relatively prominent position without any meaningful discourse about its meaning or assumptions. It is contended that the concept is inherently slippery because of its polysemic nature having multiple dimensions and taking on different specificities depending on the country (or continent), timeframe or energy source to which it is applied. A four-dimensional grid of availability, adequacy of capacity, affordability and sustainability is proposed to assess energy supply security over the short and long term. The paper argues that, in the absence of a national strategy, the short and long term security of Australia's energy supply is being determined by default, by the conjunction of a vast range of existing policies, all of which have been specifically implemented to address other objectives. The impact of existing and potential 'non-energy-security' policies on Australia's supply security is shown by applying the aforementioned four dimensional-grid. A final section discusses the policy antagonisms within Australia's default strategy and concludes that the strongest threat, in the short and long term, to Australia's energy security is to adequacy of capacity. 2008 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14309 http://www.business.curtin.edu.au/business/research/conferences/2nd-iaee-asian-conference/refereed-conference-papers Curtin University of Technology fulltext
spellingShingle Chester, Lynne
The (default) strategy determining the secuirty of Australia's energy supply
title The (default) strategy determining the secuirty of Australia's energy supply
title_full The (default) strategy determining the secuirty of Australia's energy supply
title_fullStr The (default) strategy determining the secuirty of Australia's energy supply
title_full_unstemmed The (default) strategy determining the secuirty of Australia's energy supply
title_short The (default) strategy determining the secuirty of Australia's energy supply
title_sort (default) strategy determining the secuirty of australia's energy supply
url http://www.business.curtin.edu.au/business/research/conferences/2nd-iaee-asian-conference/refereed-conference-papers
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14309