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A country achieves energy security when uninterrupted and affordable energy is available on a national level. Energy security is vital for every country, as we use energy to power transport and domestic appliances, to warm and cool homes, for the manufacturing industry, in lighting settlements, for communications, and for commercial agriculture.
The most secure energy situation for a country would be to rely only on domestic sources to cover the national demand, as the more a country relies on importing energy, the more it's at risk of facing economic and geopolitical problems. The concept of energy security goes hand-in-hand with energy dependency. This is the measure to calculate the proportion of energy consumption that is dependent on imported energy.
The four aspects that are important to energy security are availability, accessibility, affordability, and reliability. These feed into the strategies to try to achieve energy security. Here are examples of those strategies:
Norway is 96% self-reliant when it comes to energy. This means that it can meet most of the energy demands of its population by exploiting its offshore oil and gas fields and using hydroelectric power. It even has surplus energy, which it exports to other countries such as the UK through an undersea gas pipeline.
USA and Canada have the largest integrated energy network in the world. Both co-supply each other with electricity in different regions. Canada is the net exporter of oil and gas to the USA whilst being the net importer of coal from the USA.
This is to stop being too dependent on one resource and to be able to switch to an alternative resource if there are any political, pricing, or supply factors. Japan has more than five countries that supply it with liquid natural gas, for example.
The USA has drastically reduced oil and gas imports from the Middle East and South America by exploiting its own deep onshore shale gas through a process of hydraulic fracturing.
Some ways to reduce the need to rely on other countries for energy are granting subsidies for solar panels in houses and businesses, encouraging cycling instead of driving, or insulating houses in a more efficient manner.
Energy security in geography is when uninterrupted and affordable energy is available on a national level.
Some of the methods to improve energy security are using one's own resources to try to secure self-sufficiency, having reliable and consistent energy suppliers, and importing energy from a wide range of suppliers.
It is important to a nation as it is needed to power transport, domestic appliances, warm and cool homes, many forms of manufacturing, light settlements, communication means, and commercial agriculture.
Norway is 96% self-reliant on energy by exploiting its offshore oil and gas fields and using hydroelectric power. It even has surplus energy, which it exports to other countries, such as the UK through an undersea gas pipeline. They have reached energy security.
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