The role of renewable energy for energy security
is as multiple and diverse as is the meaning of the term energy security
itself. Energy security means
various things to different stakeholders. Depending on the position of the beholder, different aspects of
energy security are accentuated.
The World Economic
Forum, in a study on
The New Energy Security Paradigm
(which was published in Spring 2006 from work with Cambridge Energy Research
Associates), finds that Energy
Security has become an umbrella term. It would be a giant task to
elaborate a comprehensive appreciation of renewable energy vis a vis
energy security in all its aspects covering all priorities.
IEA has taken on a study on Renewable Energy and Energy
Security from the point of view of OECD countries: Contribution of Renewables to Energy Security, published
in April 2007.
For the United States, the Worldwatch Institute and the Centre for American
Progress have published in September 2006 American Energy
- The Renewable
Path to Energy Security.
A general study on the role of renewables for energy security for oil-exporting countries or for developing countries is not yet available.
The World Bank and others have pointed out that an
increased share of renewable energy in an energy portfolio offers a
certain degree of hedging against sudden fossil energy price increases. Shimon Awerbuch
has calculated that the economic value of this effect
is significant.
