Global Energy: Issues, Potentials, and Policy Implications
Paul Ekins, Mike Bradshaw, and Jim Watson
Abstract
The major purpose of this book is to lay out the broad landscape of global energy issues and how they might develop in coming decades. While there are considerable uncertainties in respect of some of these issues, many of the defining characteristics of the landscape are clear, and the energy policies of all countries will need to be broadly consistent with these if they are to be feasible and achieve their objectives. The book has three Parts. Part I outlines the essential trends and driving forces of global energy supply and demand, and atmospheric emissions, setting out the main dimensions ... More
The major purpose of this book is to lay out the broad landscape of global energy issues and how they might develop in coming decades. While there are considerable uncertainties in respect of some of these issues, many of the defining characteristics of the landscape are clear, and the energy policies of all countries will need to be broadly consistent with these if they are to be feasible and achieve their objectives. The book has three Parts. Part I outlines the essential trends and driving forces of global energy supply and demand, and atmospheric emissions, setting out the main dimensions of energy policy for all countries, namely energy security, competitiveness and affordability, and environmental considerations, in a context of globalization, rapid technical change, global climate diplomacy, and aspirations of sustainable energy access for all. Part II of the book explores in more detail the technological and other options and choices, covering both energy demand and energy supply, facing national and international policymakers as they confront the challenges of the global context outlined in Part I. Part III of the book brings together the discussion in Parts I and II with consideration of possible global energy and environmental futures, exploring different scenarios for the development of the global energy system, with very different levels of greenhouse gas emissions and average global temperature increases, and different impacts on natural ecosystems. The book closes with a discussion of the policy and governance implications of these possible futures, highlighting relevant issues for energy policy making in all countries and drawing conclusions.
Keywords:
global energy,
environmental impacts,
policy,
governance,
technology,
scenario futures
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2015 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198719526 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2015 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198719526.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Paul Ekins, editor
Deputy Director, UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) and Director and Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy, UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, University College London
Mike Bradshaw, editor
Professor of Global Energy, Warwick Business School
Jim Watson, editor
Research Director, UK Energy Research Centre
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