Malavika Jain Bambawale

Sheikhs on barrels: what Saudi Arabians think about energy security

The concept of energy security as understood by a sample of Saudi Arabian residents representing different demographic and occupational characteristics is explored. Based on a review of the academic literature concerning energy security for Saudi Arabia, a working set of eight testable hypotheses, related to (1) energy trade, (2) centralization and participation in energy decisions, (3) pricing of energy products, (4) research and development in new energy technologies, (5) security of supply and domestic resource depletion, (6) affordability of energy, (7) energy efficiency, and (8) water availability, is created. These hypotheses are then compared with the results of a survey instrument completed by 298 Saudi respondents, before the article concludes with implications for policy‐makers and energy analysts.

Energy Security: Insights from a ten Country Comparison

The article explores the extent to which energy security concerns differ between countries from the perspectives of energy users. It relies on a survey distributed to more than 2,100 energy consumers across Brazil, China, Germany, India, Kazakhstan, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and United States, facilitated through its translation into seven languages (English, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, German, and Japanese). The article first discusses the survey methodology and then presents a discussion of the results according to four key components of energy security, namely availability, affordability, energy efficiency and stewardship. In addition to analyzing the survey results by different demographic and country levels, the authors compare the results to country-level data indicators. They find that energy security is a multi-dimensional concept with different priorities for different countries that can often be explained by the countrys inherent circumstances.

Peeling the Energy Pickle: Expert Perceptions on Overcoming Nepal's Electricity Crisis

Underinvestment, low levels of electricity access, natural disasters, topography and hydrology make Nepals electricity crisis akin to ‘peeling a pickle’: difficult to pin down and hard to manage. Based primarily on the perceptions of a sample of experts, this article lays out a roadmap for how the ‘pickle’ of the Nepali electricity crisis can be peeled. Drawing on primary data collection from research interviews, the study offers a brief summary of the Nepali electricity and energy sectors. It then details six separate electricity challenges identified by respondents—topography and climate; political instability resulting from the aftermath of the Maoist insurgency; poverty and corruption; lack of financing and investment; constrained technological and human resources; and, finally, aid dependency and political manoeuvring. We conclude by calling on Nepali policymakers to invest in distributed generation, transmission upgrades, seasonal hydroelectric storage and industrial energy efficiency practices, and to introduce electricity tariff reforms, among other measures.