Energy Biz - July/August 2008 - (Page 23) primary fuel source making up 49 percent of the supply of which two-thirds is consumed in China. Oil’s share is 31 percent followed by gas at 11 percent, hydroelectricity at 5 percent and nuclear energy at 4 percent. As a region, Asia only has a 3.4 percent share of the world’s oil reserves, 8.2 percent of the gas resources and 32.7 percent of the coal reserves. As a result, Asia relies on two-thirds of its oil imports and 14 percent of its gas imports in LNG form, mostly from the Middle East. It is essentially self sufficient in coal with intra-regional coal trade flows. Compared with other parts of the world, this region produces and consumes energy inefficiently. Major efforts have been undertaken in China and India to reduce energy intensity and increase efficiency by optimizing the industrial structure through technological innovations in production and utilization. In addition, significant investments are directed at increasing the share of renewable energy, including nuclear, to mitigate supply and greenhouse gas emissions. Over the past few years, energy security and sustainable development have become major global priorities because of unpredictable supply, increasing demand and higher cost for energy. Global warming and climate change issues have become high priorities for Asian governments. The inclusion of China, the United States and India as part of the framework of Kyoto Protocol 2 post 2012 will go a long way in addressing the issues of global warming and energy security. Lim Man Onn Lim Man Onn is World Energy Council Private Public Partnership Coordinator for the Asia Pacific Region. Dateline: eUrOPe By JOhannEs TEyssEn E urope needs new investments in energy infrastructure — power stations, grids and storage — in order to promote competition and to combat climate change. The European Union is introducing challenging goals for CO2 reduction, energy effi- ciency and renewables for the system. The energy industry clearly declared its intention to invest heavily to support the necessary modernization of the entire infrastructure. However, there are some major obstacles in terms of social acceptance and rising costs, especially when it comes to building new power stations and grids. As a consequence, it seems that Europe is increasing its vulnerability to energy crises. Currently, most regions of Europe have a wellfunctioning energy infrastructure for electricity, gas and oil. Replacement is necessary because of aging and the relative inefficiency of some major installations. New installations are also planned because of ever-increasing demand. These new investments help to trigger the innovation that is needed to maintain a high level of supply security and to promote climate-friendly solutions. New investments are made difficult because of an extraordinary cost increase on the supply side due to higher steel and nickel prices, and concerns that this cost increase cannot be passed on to energy Johannes Teyssen consumers because of regulatory influence. There is often a lack of understanding that new investments need sufficient market price increases. Regulatory action to keep market prices low consequently leads to a slowdown in investments and is a serious threat to the security of supply. Social acceptance for new energy infrastructure is currently missing. Energy consumers in Europe consider the secure supply of energy as a given and underestimate the necessary infrastructure. So the local resistance to rebuilds and new builds of coal-fired power plants is extremely high, and is also fueled by public concerns about climate change. Necessary upgrades of energy transport infrastructure are facing similar difficulties. It may take two decades to build needed high-voltage grids. Europe is also endangering its broad energy mix. Highly volatile energy sources such as renewables and gas are preferred; low-volatile sources such as www.energycentral.com E n E rgyB i z 23 http://www.energycentral.com
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