To Have and Have Not: Energy security vs energy independence in a world awash in cheap oil

So this is a little on China’s economy and their dependency on energy and particularly on coal. And don’t we hope that China will move away from coal? Don’t we want a world safer from greenhouse gas emissions? They’ll need to get energy from somewhere, and renewables can be very much a part of this.

By contrast, you may find yourself thinking that perhaps China should be the site of the biggest nuclear power build-up in modern times. Or, perhaps you feel the Chinese people should live in eternal poverty. But you’ll find yourself in a distinctive minority in the case of the former, and on the wrong side of history in the case of the latter.

But it is a very important topic to think about. What’s going to replace coal? If it is not going to be from renewables it will have to be from non-renewables, because Asia is short on fossil energy supplies as we have seen, and that means more pressure piling up on the trade flows through th South China Sea.

The tension will escalate, and escalate, until we have sustainable energy for all. It is inevitable, and there is nothing that can be done about it except build sustainable domestic sources of energy for countries around the world, or condemn them to economic misery they will not thank you for and which will destabilize their politics and radicalize their young as we have seen from the Middle East to Greece.

The path forward is not energy for some, or sustainable energy for some, but sustainable energy for all. That is the path to prosperity and the peace that flows from it.