Energy security

Abstract

Energy security is a multifaceted concept that has, unlike other more recently emerging discourses such as energy justice, a long history within energy governance. It remains an influential discourse in decision making around energy systems. Traditionally, especially in developed countries, energy security has predominantly focused on issues of supply security with a strong emphasis on infrastructure investment, technological development, and transparent market signals associated with fossil fuels. Energy security is, however, also a highly flexible and contested concept with some authors arguing that it should encompass issues as diverse as environmental protection and public participation, issues that are also central to emerging discourses of energy democracy. In addition, research on public engagement with energy security has explored the nature of public concerns including how people understand issues of energy security at different scales (i.e., national versus personal issues of energy security). The research has also revealed that people’s experiences of energy security are determined not only by the energy context of a particular region or country but also by the wider social and economic structures in which people’s lives are embedded. It becomes evident that public and policy perspectives on energy security can differ quite substantially. This chapter explores these tensions, further extending work that has sought to understand and incorporate citizens’ values and perspectives into transitions toward more sustainable low-carbon energy systems. In doing so, implications for the notion of energy democracy are drawn out.