IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v52y2015icp927-936.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The precarious consensus on the importance of energy security: Contrasting views between Swiss energy users and experts

Author

Listed:
  • Blumer, Yann B.
  • Moser, Corinne
  • Patt, Anthony
  • Seidl, Roman

Abstract

Consented visions of a secure energy system are a driving force for energy policies and projects. But while there used to exist a fairly uniform understanding of energy security, in recent years competing visions have emerged. Examples include autarchic regional energy systems and highly integrated international ones. Each of these follows its own energy security logic. This paper explores linkages between individuals׳ understanding of energy security and their preferences for different energy visions, comparing energy users and experts. It draws from two consecutive studies in Switzerland. The first is a series of 12 qualitative interviews among energy system experts, who reveal a strong preference for an integrated energy system that is based on high-quality infrastructure. This stands in contrast to the countries׳ predominant paradigm of independence, which is not only present in the public discourse but also in national energy policies. The second study is an online survey that finds differences between energy users׳ (n=194) and experts׳ (n=98) understanding of energy security: Experts tend to see energy security primarily as the absence of supply disruptions, whereas energy users tend to take a long-term perspective and to include additional aspects in their considerations, such as environmental concerns. Thus, the societal consensus on the importance of energy security is a precarious one: conflicts about the meaning of energy security can strip the concept of its power to be a building block of societal energy visions. Decision-makers in policy and the energy sector therefore need to be aware that a shared understanding of energy security cannot be taken for granted. They should also recognize energy security as a strong argument for promoting renewables. However, it will not suffice to refer to a specific renewable project as “beneficial for energy security” – conveying its benefits from an energy security perspective requires knowledge of key actors׳ understandings of this complex concept.

Suggested Citation

  • Blumer, Yann B. & Moser, Corinne & Patt, Anthony & Seidl, Roman, 2015. "The precarious consensus on the importance of energy security: Contrasting views between Swiss energy users and experts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 927-936.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:52:y:2015:i:c:p:927-936
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2015.07.081
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032115007285
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2015.07.081?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Winzer, Christian, 2012. "Conceptualizing energy security," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 36-48.
    2. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2013. "Assessing energy security performance in the Asia Pacific, 1990–2010," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 228-247.
    3. Schmidt, J. & Schönhart, M. & Biberacher, M. & Guggenberger, T. & Hausl, S. & Kalt, G. & Leduc, S. & Schardinger, I. & Schmid, E., 2012. "Regional energy autarky: Potentials, costs and consequences for an Austrian region," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 211-221.
    4. Corner, Adam & Venables, Dan & Spence, Alexa & Poortinga, Wouter & Demski, Christina & Pidgeon, Nick, 2011. "Nuclear power, climate change and energy security: Exploring British public attitudes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 4823-4833, September.
    5. Lilliestam, Johan & Ellenbeck, Saskia, 2011. "Energy security and renewable electricity trade--Will Desertec make Europe vulnerable to the "energy weapon"?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3380-3391, June.
    6. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Mukherjee, Ishani, 2011. "Conceptualizing and measuring energy security: A synthesized approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 5343-5355.
    7. Michael Siegrist & Heinz Gutscher & Timothy C. Earle, 2005. "Perception of risk: the influence of general trust, and general confidence," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 145-156, March.
    8. von Hippel, David & Suzuki, Tatsujiro & Williams, James H. & Savage, Timothy & Hayes, Peter, 2011. "Energy security and sustainability in Northeast Asia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 6719-6730.
    9. Lacher, Wolfram & Kumetat, Dennis, 2011. "The security of energy infrastructure and supply in North Africa: Hydrocarbons and renewable energies in comparative perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 4466-4478, August.
    10. Trutnevyte, Evelina & Stauffacher, Michael & Scholz, Roland W., 2011. "Supporting energy initiatives in small communities by linking visions with energy scenarios and multi-criteria assessment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7884-7895.
    11. Müller, Matthias Otto & Stämpfli, Adrian & Dold, Ursula & Hammer, Thomas, 2011. "Energy autarky: A conceptual framework for sustainable regional development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 5800-5810, October.
    12. Demski, Christina & Poortinga, Wouter & Pidgeon, Nick, 2014. "Exploring public perceptions of energy security risks in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 369-378.
    13. Chester, Lynne, 2010. "Conceptualising energy security and making explicit its polysemic nature," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 887-895, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marques, António Cardoso & Junqueira, Thibaut Manuel, 2022. "European energy transition: Decomposing the performance of nuclear power," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    2. Jaakko J. Jääskeläinen & Sakari Höysniemi & Sanna Syri & Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, 2018. "Finland’s Dependence on Russian Energy—Mutually Beneficial Trade Relations or an Energy Security Threat?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-25, September.
    3. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Xing, Wenwu & Lee, Chi-Chuan, 2022. "The impact of energy security on income inequality: The key role of economic development," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    4. Radu Lupu & Adrian Cantemir Călin & Cristina Georgiana Zeldea & Iulia Lupu, 2021. "Systemic Risk Spillovers in the European Energy Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-23, October.
    5. Raghoo, Pravesh & Surroop, Dinesh & Wolf, Franziska & Leal Filho, Walter & Jeetah, Pratima & Delakowitz, Bernd, 2018. "Dimensions of energy security in Small Island Developing States," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 94-101.
    6. Jobin, Marilou & Siegrist, Michael, 2018. "We choose what we like – Affect as a driver of electricity portfolio choice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 736-747.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ang, B.W. & Choong, W.L. & Ng, T.S., 2015. "Energy security: Definitions, dimensions and indexes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1077-1093.
    2. Zhang, Long & Bai, Wuliyasu & Xiao, Huijuan & Ren, Jingzheng, 2021. "Measuring and improving regional energy security: A methodological framework based on both quantitative and qualitative analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    3. Månsson, André & Johansson, Bengt & Nilsson, Lars J., 2014. "Assessing energy security: An overview of commonly used methodologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-14.
    4. Evgeny Lisin & Wadim Strielkowski & Veronika Chernova & Alena Fomina, 2018. "Assessment of the Territorial Energy Security in the Context of Energy Systems Integration," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-14, November.
    5. Chuang, Ming Chih & Ma, Hwong Wen, 2013. "Energy security and improvements in the function of diversity indices—Taiwan energy supply structure case study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 9-20.
    6. Cherp, Aleh & Jewell, Jessica, 2014. "The concept of energy security: Beyond the four As," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 415-421.
    7. Abdullah, Fahad Bin & Iqbal, Rizwan & Hyder, Syed Irfan & Jawaid, Mohammad, 2020. "Energy security indicators for Pakistan: An integrated approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    8. Raghoo, Pravesh & Surroop, Dinesh & Wolf, Franziska & Leal Filho, Walter & Jeetah, Pratima & Delakowitz, Bernd, 2018. "Dimensions of energy security in Small Island Developing States," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 94-101.
    9. Larsen, Erik R. & Osorio, Sebastian & van Ackere, Ann, 2017. "A framework to evaluate security of supply in the electricity sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 646-655.
    10. Zhang, Long & Yu, Jing & Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Ren, Jingzheng, 2017. "Measuring energy security performance within China: Toward an inter-provincial prospective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 825-836.
    11. Johansson, Bengt, 2013. "Security aspects of future renewable energy systems–A short overview," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 598-605.
    12. Amin, Sakib Bin & Chang, Youngho & Khan, Farhan & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2022. "Energy security and sustainable energy policy in Bangladesh: From the lens of 4As framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    13. Gupta, Kuhika & Nowlin, Matthew C. & Ripberger, Joseph T. & Jenkins-Smith, Hank C. & Silva, Carol L., 2019. "Tracking the nuclear ‘mood’ in the United States: Introducing a long term measure of public opinion about nuclear energy using aggregate survey data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    14. Andrew Chapman & Timothy Fraser & Melanie Dennis, 2019. "Investigating Ties between Energy Policy and Social Equity Research: A Citation Network Analysis," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-18, April.
    15. Nyga-Łukaszewska Honorata & Napiórkowski Tomasz M., 2023. "Energy security as a source of international competitiveness in new EU member states," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 59(3), pages 209-224, September.
    16. Pin Li & Jinsuo Zhang, 2019. "Is China’s Energy Supply Sustainable? New Research Model Based on the Exponential Smoothing and GM(1,1) Methods," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-30, January.
    17. Erahman, Qodri Febrilian & Purwanto, Widodo Wahyu & Sudibandriyo, Mahmud & Hidayatno, Akhmad, 2016. "An assessment of Indonesia's energy security index and comparison with seventy countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 364-376.
    18. Huang, Beijia & Zhang, Long & Ma, Linmao & Bai, Wuliyasu & Ren, Jingzheng, 2021. "Multi-criteria decision analysis of China’s energy security from 2008 to 2017 based on Fuzzy BWM-DEA-AR model and Malmquist Productivity Index," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    19. Honorata Nyga-Łukaszewska & Kentaka Aruga & Katarzyna Stala-Szlugaj, 2020. "Energy Security of Poland and Coal Supply: Price Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-18, March.
    20. Aleh Cherp & Jessica Jewell, 2013. "Energy security assessment framework and three case studies," Chapters, in: Hugh Dyer & Maria Julia Trombetta (ed.), International Handbook of Energy Security, chapter 8, pages 146-173, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:52:y:2015:i:c:p:927-936. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.