Energy policy Totally Explained

Everything about Energy Policy totally explained

Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy production, distribution and consumption. The attributes of energy policy may include legislation, international treaties, incentives to investment, guidelines for energy conservation, taxation and other public policy techniques.

National energy policy

Measures used to produce an energy policy

A national energy policy comprises a set of measures involving that country's laws, treaties and agency directives. The energy policy of a sovereign nation may include one or more of the following measures:

statement of national policy regarding energy planning, energy generation, transmission and usage
legislation on commercial energy activities (trading, transport, storage, etc.)
legislation affecting energy use, such as efficiency standards, emission standards
instructions for state owned energy sector assets and organizations
active participation in, co-ordination of and incentives for mineral fuels exploration (see geological survey) and other energy-related research and development
fiscal policies related to energy products and services (taxes, exemptions, subsidies ...
Energy security and international policy measures such as:
- international energy sector treaties and alliances,
- general international trade agreements,
- special relations with energy-rich countries, including military presence and/or domination.

Frequently the dominant issue of energy policy is the risk of supply-demand mismatch (see: energy crisis). Current energy policies also address environmental issues (see: climate change). Some governments state explicit energy policy, but, declared or not, each government practices some type of energy policy.

Factors within an energy policy

There are a number of elements that are naturally contained in a national energy policy, regardless of which of the above measures was used to arrive at the resultant policy. The chief elements intrinsic to an energy policy are:

What is the extent of energy self-sufficiency for this nation

Where future energy sources will derive

How future energy will be consumed (for example among sectors)

What fraction of the population will be acceptable to endure energy poverty

What are the goals for future energy intensity, ratio of energy consumed to GDP

What is the reliability standard for distribution reliability

What environmental externalities are acceptable and are forecast

What form of "portable energy" is forecast (for example sources of fuel for motor vehicles)

How will energy efficient hardware (for example hybrid vehicles, household appliances) be encouraged

How can the national policy drive province, state and municipal functions

What specific mechanisms (for example taxes, incentives, manufacturing standards) are in place to implement the total policy

State, province or municipal energy policy

Even within a state it's proper to talk about energy policies in plural. Influential entities, such as municipal or regional governments and energy industries, will each exercise policy. Policy measures available to these entities are lesser in sovereignty, but may be equally important to national measures. In fact, there are certain activities vital to energy policy which realistically can't be administered at the national level, such as monitoring energy conservation practices in the process of building construction, which is normally controlled by state-regional and municipal building codes (although can appear federal legislation).

United States

Europe

European Union

Although the European Union has legislated, set targets, and negotiated internationally in the area of energy policy for many years, and evolved out of the European Coal and Steel Community, the concept of introducing a mandatory common European Union energy policy was only approved at the meeting of the European Council on October 27, 2005 in London. Following this the first policy proposals, Energy for a Changing World, were published by the European Commission, on January 10, 2007.

United Kingdom

The energy policy of the United Kingdom has achieved success in (a) reducing energy intensity (but still really high), (b) reducing energy poverty and (c) maintaining energy supply reliability to date. The United Kingdom has an ambitious goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions for future years, but it's unclear whether the programs in place are sufficient to achieve this objective (the way to be so efficient as France is still hard). Regarding energy self sufficiency, the United Kingdom policy doesn't address this issue, other than to concede historic energy self sufficiency is currently ceasing to exist (due to the decline of the Nord Sea oil production). With regard to transport, the United Kingdom has a historically good policy record encouraging public transport into the cities, but with a huge defeat in the case of train transport, and with the high speed train, which has the potential to reduce to near zero the use of the aeroplane into the domestic sector, and with the near Europe); however, the policy doesn't significantly encourage hybrid vehicle use or ethanol fuel use, which programs represent the most viable near term means to gain control over rising transport fuel consumption. Regarding renewable energy, the United Kingdom has laudable and attainable goals for wind and tidal energy, but it has acted inconsistently to stimulate these sectors.

Russia

Russia, one of the world's energy superpowers, is rich in natural energy resources, the world’s leading net energy exporter, and a major supplier to the European Union. The main document defining the energy policy of Russia is the Energy Strategy, which sets out policy for the period up to 2020. Russia has also signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

Asia

Thailand

energy policy of Thailand is characterized by 1) increasing energy consumption efficiency, 2) increasing domestic energy production, 3) increasing the private sector's role in the energy sector, 4) increasing the role of market mechanisms in setting energy prices. These policies have been consistent since the 1990s, despite various changes in governments. The pace and form of industry liberalization and privatization has been highly controversial.

India

The energy policy of India is characterized by tradeoffs between four major drivers:

Rapidly growing economy, with a need for dependable and reliable supply of electricity, gas, and petroleum products;

Increasing household incomes, with a need for affordable and adequate supply of electricity, and clean cooking fuels;

Limited domestic reserves of fossil fuels, and the need to import a vast fraction of the gas, crude oil, and petroleum product requirements, and recently the need to import coal as well; and

Indoor, urban and regional environmental impacts, necessitating the need for the adoption of cleaner fuels and cleaner technologies. In recent years, these challenges have led to a major set of continuing reforms, restructuring and a focus on energy conservation.

China

Oceania

Australia

Australia's energy policy features a combination of coal power stations, and hydro electricity plants. The Australian Government has rejected the use of nuclear power.

Further Information

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