Energy security measurement – A sustainable approach

The main objective of this paper is to define а new energy security indicator with the long-term sustainability and to test it in a sample of 28 European Union countries for the period 1990–2012, as well as to determine the level of impact of six different indicators on energy security. The previous methodologies for measuring of energy security have been mainly focused on security of supply, while not taking into account environmental indicators and the social component. The newly proposed indicator, Energy Security Index, differs from the existing measuring methods precisely in a way that it includes environmental and social aspects. Energy Security Index recorded a decline in values in most countries in the period 1990–2000. In the period 2000–2008, the values became positive, and after 2008 some countries reported again gradual deterioration. The Index value varies by year, and the biggest positive changes were recorded in the case of the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain. The four economically strongest EU countries (the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy) recorded significantly less fluctuations in energy security over 23 years, compared to other countries. The data for France and Denmark show that an increased share of energy from nuclear and renewable sources can compensate even increased energy import dependence. The assessment of impact of individual indicators on Energy Security Index was conducted by using Principal Component Analysis and showed that Energy Intensity, GDP per capita and Carbon Intensity have the greatest impact. The countries of the former Eastern Bloc are facing particular challenges of energy security, which is primarily related to the rapid economic growth and, at the same time, a high degree of dependence on import of energy generating products. In terms of energy security, the most stable transition was reported in Hungary and Poland.