In this lesson we will look at some examples at how other regions deal with energy issues. For example, we will touch on Europe, Asia, and North America. We will learn that there are different drivers that lead a country to do what it does in regard to energy, and we will see how markets and politics play into these decisions. We will also explore the role of renewables in national energy development. Finally, we will explore a market-driven approach separate from policy or regulation.
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to
Read | Lesson 8 content and all assigned readings |
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Discuss | Dr Grigas' presentation |
Create | Infographic |
If you have questions, please feel free to post them to the Questions about EGEE 401 Discussion forum in Canvas. While you are there, feel free to post your own responses if you, too, are able to help a classmate.
The entire global society needs energy, and therefore each nation and region need to make decisions regarding how it provides energy to its people and economy. But not everyone is starting from the same point, and not all countries have the same priorities. In other words, even though at the end of the day we are talking about providing fuels and electrification, the pathway to get there and what drives decisions will vary. For example, we will learn that for the United States, the primary element is energy security and independence, whereas for others, it is simply providing accessibility to more of their population. And for yet others, it may be more about political positioning and leverage.
There are several aspects to consider when thinking about providing energy. We need to recognize that providing energy means not only electrification but also fuels to generate the electricity, as well as fuels for transportation and industry. Natural gas becomes an important variable in that it is relatively plentiful, cheap, and on the lower end of fossil fuel carbon footprint. And of course, renewables are playing a bigger and bigger role in national energy markets. But in more developing markets, coal and oil will continue to play a big role. While there is action in some areas to reduce or eliminate coal use, in other areas, like India and China, it is even growing in use. Before we get into details of regions, it is important to also recognize that there are two ways to transport natural gas: via pipelines from gas fields, or delivered via tanker as liquefied natural gas (LNG). You will see that this dual option plays a major role in the geopolitics of energy.
Why is the natural gas story so important? Natural gas is a fossil fuel that is relatively clean (especially compared to coal or oil) and can be used to fuel power plants to generate electricity as well as to create heat to generate steam. Natural gas is also growing in use as a transportation fuel. It is a pivotal fuel source and plays a key role in nearly all global settings. It is likely that the transition from fossil fuels to renewables as a way to reduce carbon emissions will need to go through a natural gas phase. In other words, it is not practical to go from a coal and oil economy to an all-renewable economy without natural gas as a transition fuel.
Watch the video of a session held at an energy conference in Copenhagen, Denmark where Dr. Agnia Grigas, a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and world expert on the geopolitics of energy, spoke about natural gas and drivers in different regions. This short video (approx. 30 minutes) is an excellent high-level overview of different regions and how they see natural gas in their energy decisions.
From watching the video, what do you think drives the energy policy in these regions? For example, what is different between the USA and other regions such as Russia and Eastern Europe. What about India and Asia?
Also make note of how changing conditions in one part of the world may alter how a country in a different part of the world critically and almost instantaneously change priorities. For example, how did the U.S. becoming energy independent and a net exporter of natural gas affect how Russia and China interact with their region? In light of the very recent Biden Administration decisions, we are no longer energy independent. How do you think this changes what you have seen so far?
In light of the Russia-Ukraine War and sabotage to the Nord Stream pipeline, listen to an update from Dr. Grigas.
How has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affected Europe’s energy mix? How are European states balancing the move towards a green future with their present needs? How are the Baltic states positioning themselves in these European debates? Dr. Agnia Grigas, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, gives us the historical context and future factors that will affect European energy security for decades to come.
Source: The Future of European Energy: An interview with Dr. Agnia Grigas [1]
As we heard from the interview with Bob Barkanic in Lesson 1, developing areas of the world without established energy infrastructure actually have an advantage when it comes to uptake of renewable energy. This is because they can essentially “leapfrog” to renewable energy and not have to first build, then adapt and retrofit, traditional fossil fuel powered national electric grids. We also learned in prior lessons that renewable energy systems can be more diversified and distributed, thereby making deployment easier. Of course, we will not be able to do an exhaustive analysis of renewable energy policy of all countries. But it is useful to explore a few examples from different regions.
We will learn about the USA and renewable energy policy in a later lesson, but we see on a global scale that although renewables bring much benefit, there are challenges on a national and regional scale. For example, in places like Africa and Latin America, while the overall lack of a reliable energy grid and infrastructure brings opportunity to start with renewable sources, there is also the diffuculty of regional-scale cooperation and coordination (necessary in order to benefit from economy of scale) across the continents' collections of independent nations. Without this cooperation and coordination, you will end up with a series of country specific, and disconnected systems.
To this end, IRENA (recall IRENA from our review of energy outlooks) has been working in several areas supporting development of strategy and capacity building to incentivize regional cooperation through a concept they call Clean Energy Corridors. These corridors will help connect efforts into broader networks that will work together more efficiently and add market stability.
Read the narrative on the home page of IRENA’s Clean Energy Corridors to gain a better understanding on these corridors. Then, go to the link for the report on Africa, “Scaling Up Renewable Energy Deployment in Africa.” Read pages 3 and 4 of this report, the section entitled “Energy Transformation in Africa”.
IRENA’s Clean Energy Corridors [5]
Scaling Up Renewable Energy Deployment in Africa (PDF available on next page)
Renewables will figure prominently in national energy policy of developed economies as well. These will be different than with Africa and Latin America in that developed countries tend to have fossil fuel-dominated grids already in place, and renewables will need to be integrated into this existing infrastructure. As an example, let us explore what is going on in our northern neighbor, Canada.
As you can imagine, Canada is quite different in terms of grid maturity and economic development than we saw with developing areas. How Canada address renewables and plans to integrate these sources into their energy grid is quite different than Africa.
You will find an excellent overview of the nation’s renewable profile on this Canadian government website [7].
Also listen to the podcast called Lessons for a Canadian Hydropower Company by the Columbia Energy Exchange. This is long (46 minutes) so you do not need to listen to it all, but listen to the first ten minutes and maybe skip ahead a few times to get the essence of the interview.
Lessons from a Canadian Hydropower Company [8]You might be surprised to see exactly how their renewable portfolio is balanced. Canada by far depends on hydroelectric power. This is an excellent example of a situation where a country wants to leverage renewables and utilizes their best resources to do so. Canada does use solar, wind, and others, but for them, moving water is the primary option. You might also find it interesting that up to 80% of Canada’s energy is generated by clean, low to zero emission sources. But this is in large part due to nuclear being part of the mix.
We also see with Canada something typical with developed nations with mature traditional fossil fuel powered electric grids. The most effective way they can grow renewables is by replacing part of this fossil fuel-dominant energy portfolio with renewables. Recall this differs from areas where there is no established grid where they can integrate renewables from the start. To make this “retroactive integration” feasible, there is a need to have a mix of regulation where it is required by law combined with incentives to create the technology and practices that will make the transformation feasible.
In Canada, the government requires there be a certain percentage of renewables in the energy mix of power production. This percentage may differ from province to province, but, in all cases, there must be a renewable energy component in the total electricity generated. Canada also has a transportation component where the federal Renewable Fuels Regulations require fuel producers and importers to have an average renewable content of at least 5% based on the volume of gasoline that they produce or import, and at least 2% of the volume of diesel fuel that they produce and import.
In parallel with the geopolitics of energy, there is the market sector, driven by supply and demand and competition. These forces are in play across national boundaries and although clearly sensitive to what governments and government policy do, the markets are more influenced by competitive positioning and market share. This market-driven, energy related action concept is evident when it comes to companies, and energy consuming industries in particular. These entities are looking for an advantage to leverage energy use. This may mean reducing energy use or becoming more efficient to save money, thereby increasing profitability. Or they may wish to actually sell this improved efficiency to gain more market share and/or be able to sell a product at a premium. An excellent example of this would be a company who switches to renewable energy sources. Such a switch can improve efficiency, reduce their carbon footprint, and improve their brand.
Companies strive to integrate concepts and strategies through effective management processes. Doing things ad hoc without logic, organization, and follow up poses risks and introduces inefficiencies. As a result, a company will look for management techniques, which they can combine with technology, to increase performance in a given area. This is quite true with energy use. In searching for such approaches, companies, especially multinationals, will look for global scale, recognized standards, and protocols. By creating an international standard, it provides an approach that could be replicated, and would be recognizable to others, thereby increasing understanding, transparency, and awareness. A common way to create such global processes is through international standards. And the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the premier organization for developing standards. ISO standards are market-driven, voluntary standards created by groups of experts and stakeholders. If you wish, you can learn more about ISO at their website [10].
The importance of these standards is that they help provide a pathway for organizations, typically companies and industry, to improve their performance in a variety of areas using voluntary, market-driven pathways in lieu of, or in conjunction with, policy and regulation driven by government. Over the years ISO has developed thousands of standards to help bring consistency across the globe. ISO standards cover a wide array of topics from management approaches to specific products. You depend on the consistency offered by ISO standards every day and may not even be aware of it. For example, it is because of standardization that a credit card magnetic strip is in the same place on the card and configured in such a way that card readers around world can recognize nearly any type of credit, debit, or charge card.
Specifically, ISO 50001 addresses energy management. ISO 50001- “Energy management systems – Requirements with guidance for use” was initially created in 2011 and updated in 2018. This is a management system standard, not a technology system. In other words, it provides a framework for organizations to manage their energy use in a way that brings efficiency and enhanced performance. Whether it is to improve energy efficiency, expand the use of renewables, or reduce energy use overall, some contend that allowing organizations to set their own goals, procedures, and approaches will lead to better performance than “one size fits all” policy or regulation. In reality, the answer is a mix of the two.
Previous instructor, Ed Pinero, prepared an overview PowerPoint regarding ISO 50001 when he was the Chair of the international committee that developed the standard. Review the slide deck entitled “Overview of ISO 50001 Energy Management System Standard.”
In this lesson, we discussed Canada’s renewable energy strategies and resources. Now you are going to have an opportunity to explore the strategies, policies, and resources used by a country of your choosing. The goal is to create an infographic that summarizes this information in a visual format.
To successfully complete this assignment, you will create an infographic that describes the renewable energy approach and policies for a chosen country.
To begin creating your infographic, select a country that is of particular interest to you and review their policies for renewable energy. Then create an infographic which describes the renewable energy approach and policies for that country. As done above, note what renewable sources are emphasized, what policy approaches they use and so on. Identify whether accessibility, reliability, security, or sustainability are the priority in your country of choice, with specifics of the policies that informed your answer.
You’ll need to spend some time thinking about the various connections and how to demonstrate them in the most concise and effective manner possible. You’ll need to illustrate all this information in a manner that is easily understood ‘at a glance,’ meaning there shouldn’t be any additional resources or information one should need to read in order to understand what you are trying to communicate. In other words, try to visually show the connections between policy goals- do renewable energy requirements connect to climate change goals? Your infographic may include factoids and even selected screen shots to demonstrate a point; but make sure to input your own interpretation of how these individual facts can relate.
If you haven’t done so already, review the foundational information on creating infographics. You can view those resources through the links provided below. The rubric used for grading this assignment can be found on the Infographic Activity webpage as well as the Infographic Drop Box for Lesson 1 on Canvas.
Links
[1] https://www.fpri.org/multimedia/2023/02/the-future-of-european-energy-an-interview-with-dr-agnia-grigas/
[2] https://www.pexels.com/@pixabay?utm_content=attributionCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pexels
[3] https://www.pexels.com
[4] https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/
[5] https://www.irena.org/cleanenergycorridors
[6] https://www.pexels.com/
[7] https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/energy-sources-distribution/renewable-energy/about-renewable-energy/7295
[8] https://columbiaenergyexchange.libsyn.com/lessons-from-a-canadian-hydropower-company
[9] https://www.pexels.com/@gustavo-fring?utm_content=attributionCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pexels
[10] http://www.iso.org