The Geopolitics of Renewables; how the large scale use of renewables might reshape the global energy landscape
26 April 2011
13.30 - 15.00 hrs
Energy Programme Asia Lecture by Daniel J. Scholten MSc, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management of the Delft University of Technology. Chair & discussant: Dr. Mehdi Amineh
Renewable energy sources are often hailed as the panacea for increasing fossil fuel scarcity and energy related environmental degradation. With good reason; renewables might increase global energy supply, lower various kinds of pollution, and generally defuse energy tensions. However, renewables also pose new political, economic and environmental challenges in return. Because renewable energy is more efficiently generated at certain locations than others, some countries are better endowed to become cheap solar, wind, hydro etc. energy producers. This leaves less fortunate countries stuck with the same old dilemma: should we produce renewable energy ourselves (good for supply security) or should we buy it elsewhere (good for affordability)? Hence strategic make or buy decisions and import diversification policies remain. This raises a number of questions. How is the large scale use of renewables going to change global energy relations? How will a future global renewable energy market look like and who are likely to be the major and minor actors therein? And finally, how to know this? These and other considerations on the ‘geopolitics of renewables’ are explored in the lecture, hopefully leading to a lively debate.
The lecture is organized within the Energy Programme Asia (EPA) Lecture Series 2011: Towards improving the policy environment for energy security and sustainable development in the European Union and China. For more information, see: http://www.iias.nl/epa
Information
Dr Mehdi P. Amineh
EPA Programme Director
International Institute for Asian Studies
T +31 20 525 4567
m.p.amineh@uva.nl