The recent agreement between President Xi and President Obama in which the U.S. committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 28 percent below its 2005 levels while China committed to have its emissions levels peak by 2030 was one of the trumpeted announcements of the recent APEC Summit. The details on how this will exactly be done are fuzzy and will be left to negotiations in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris next year. But the 2030 goal means that in the coming months China will be subjected to international pressure to turn words into deeds by accepting CO2 reduction measures which may be detrimental to its economic development. To this it should not agree.
When the Ukraine crisis broke out threatening to compromise Europe's energy supply from Russia, many American politicians and pundits called for the United States to expedite exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to help bolster European energy security. Never mind that the United States won't have its first LNG export terminal in operation until late 2015 at the very earliest; that much of its approved gas exports are already committed to long-term contracts in Asia; and that Ukraine as well as most European countries under the Kremlin's boot do not have the terminals for receiving LNG. The United States is under no obligation to bolster Europe's energy security just because Europe, in its fixation on climate change, has for years undermined its own energy security and brought upon itself its current predicament. Gal Luft elaborates.
Asia's energy landscape today is a cluster of segregated markets. A change may be in order. With the backdrop of this week's meeting of Asia-Pacific energy ministers in Beijing Gal Luft elaborates.
When something is subsidized, people use more of it....and smuggle/sell it elsewhere to cash out on the subsidy. Case in point, fuel in Iran.
The Economist reports "An estimated $40-100 billion is paid every year to keep Iranians, poor and rich, supplied with cheap energy, water, fuel and basic food. Consumption has soared. Shopkeepers in Tehran spray their verandas to drive away the dust. Cars clog the country’s roads. Iran’s energy consumption is reckoned to be 80% above the Middle East’s average. Worse, billions of dollars are squandered every year by smugglers taking Iran’s cheap fuel across borders to Iraq and Pakistan. "
The subsidies have just been reduced but are still substantial...."On April 28th President Hassan Rohani raised petrol prices by 75%, from 4,000 to 7,000 rials ($0.16 to $0.28) per litre."
 |
 |
"Remarkable collection spanning geopolitics, economy and technology. This timely and comprehensive volume is a one stop shop for anyone interested in one of the most important issues in international relations." U.S. Senator Richard G. Lugar |
 |
"A small masterpiece -- right on the money both strategically and technically, witty, far-sighted, and barbeques a number of sacred cows. Absolutely do not miss this." R. James Woolsey, Former CIA Director "The book is going to become the Bible for everyone who is serious about energy and national security." Robert C. McFarlane, Former U.S. National Security Advisor |
 |
| Russian Coal: Europe's New Energy Challenge |
