Cause, Effects And Solutions To Global Energy Crisis :
Power crises can be caused by a number of factors: organized labor strikes, government bans, overuse, aging infrastructure, and disruption of manufacturing facilities and port facilities. Power supply may be slightly disrupted due to pipeline failure and other accidents. A crisis is likely to erupt after damage to infrastructure due to severe weather.
Attacks by terrorists on critical infrastructure are a potential problem for fuel consumers: a successful strike on West Asian facilities could potentially lead to global shortages. Political events changes of government due to regime change, the fall of the monarchy, military occupation or coups-can disrupt oil and gas production and create shortages.
Globally, economies have become increasingly dependent on oil consumption. Even a slight change in price, or a temporary cessation of oil production or supply, could lead to a major upheaval in the economy.
In October 1973, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) raised oil prices from 1.5 1.5 a barrel to 7 7 a barrel. The reasons given were that oil prices were not consistent with the rise in prices of other commodities and that countries wanted to maximize profits while having limited reserves. The 1979 Iranian revolution disrupted oil supplies.
The price per barrel rise to 24 in 1979 and 34 in 1981 before stabilizing near 20. Due to growth, the global economy was hit. The worst affected were developing countries which did not have adequate foreign exchange reserves for oil imports. In the ensuing economic crisis, higher wages were demanded and the cost of living increased.
Again in 1990, the Gulf War caused oil prices to rise as well as difficulty meeting demand.
The crises of 1973 and 1979 forced the world community to develop oil-use technologies, develop alternative sources and develop domestic potential (e.g. in India). Efforts were made worldwide to improve the internal combustion engine for improved efficiency and mileage.
Since 2003, oil prices have risen due to continued global demand growth and stagnation in production.
In 2008, Central Asia experienced an energy crisis due to unusually cold temperatures and low water levels in hydropower-dependent regions. Despite having significant hydrocarbon reserves, in February 2008, the President of Pakistan announced a plan to address the energy deficit which had reached a crisis stage. At the same time, the South African president was calming fears of a prolonged power crisis in South Africa. The South African crisis, which could last until 2012, led to a sharp rise in the price of platinum in February 2008 and reduced gold production.
China experienced severe energy shortages again in late 2005 and early 2008. During the subsequent crisis, it suffered severe losses – for power networks with diesel and coal shortages.
It is predicted that the UK will suffer a power crisis in the years following 2009 due to its promise to reduce coal-fired power plants, due to the reluctance of its politicians to set up new nuclear power plants that will be de-commissioned. Within a few years (although they won’t be in time to stop a full blown crisis) and unreliable sources and sources that run out of oil and gas.
The world’s population is growing at a rate of a quarter of a million people every day, increasing the use of energy. Per capita energy consumption in China, India and other developing countries is steadily increasing as people living in these countries adopt more energy intensive lifestyles.
Currently a small portion of the world’s population uses a large portion of its resources, with the United States and its population of 300 million consuming much more oil than China with a population of 1.3 billion. Ultimately, supply-side demand and environmental impact could be major causes of the energy crisis.
Coal, oil, gas reserves are limited, these are the agents of global warming. Hydropower is capital-intensive and environmentally sensitive. Nuclear power is costly and potentially dangerous, while excessive exploitation of wood and animal wastes leads to environmental degradation and environmental imbalances. Steps need to be taken so that the world can avoid a catastrophic energy crisis.
Energy policy needs to be formulated or reformed to meet the demand for energy security.
Energy security can be improved by other methods. Diversifying the kinds of fuels used is one way, especially as supply disruptions cannot happen in all fuels and in every country supplying energy at the same time. Even the energy supply sources in geographical terms need to be diversified. The modes of fuel transport can be expanded.
For example, liquids carried by ships may come through natural gas. But one of the best ways is to develop energy efficiency and demand side management to reduce energy demand. Japan did something similar after the oil boom of the 1970s when it gained energy efficiency in its economy in which rising energy costs played a significant role.
In Europe, the oil phase out in Sweden is an initiative taken by the government to provide energy security. Another mitigation measure is the placement of safe fuel storage caches, such as the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in the event of a national emergency. Chinese energy policy includes specific targets in their five-year plan.
Declining dependence on fossil fuels has led to a decision that the world is heading for an unprecedentedly large and potentially devastating global energy crisis due to declining availability of cheap oil. Other ideas have been proposed that focus on developing, energy-efficient design and development of urban infrastructure in developing countries.
In response to the petroleum crisis, green energy and sustainable living policies are gaining popularity. Efficiency processes such as ‘megawatt power’ can encourage significantly more efficient use of existing generation capacity. Negative power is a term used to describe increased efficiency trading, using utilization to increase the available market supply rather than increasing plant production capacity. As such, it is a demand-side as opposed to a supply-side measure.