IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zen/wpaper/55.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Sense and No(n)-Sense of Energy Security Indicators

Author

Listed:
  • Christoph Böhringer

    (Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre & ZenTra)

  • Markus Bortolamedi

    (Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre)

Abstract

Energy security ranks high on the policy agenda of many countries. To improve on energy security, governments undertake regulatory measures for promoting renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency, or curbing carbon dioxide emissions. The impacts of such measures on energy security are typically monitored by means of so-called energy security indicators. In this paper, we show that the common use of wide-spread energy security indicators falls short of providing a meaningful metric. Regulatory measures to improve on energy security trigger ambiguous effects across energy security indicators. We conclude that a major pitfall of energy security indicators is the lack of a rigorous microeconomic foundation.

Suggested Citation

  • Christoph Böhringer & Markus Bortolamedi, 2015. "Sense and No(n)-Sense of Energy Security Indicators," ZenTra Working Papers in Transnational Studies 55 / 2015, ZenTra - Center for Transnational Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:zen:wpaper:55
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2656040
    File Function: Current version, 2015
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bohringer, Christoph & Jochem, Patrick E.P., 2007. "Measuring the immeasurable -- A survey of sustainability indices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 1-8, June.
    2. Krichene, Noureddine, 2002. "World crude oil and natural gas: a demand and supply model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 557-576, November.
    3. Cohen, Gail & Joutz, Frederick & Loungani, Prakash, 2011. "Measuring energy security: Trends in the diversification of oil and natural gas supplies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 4860-4869, September.
    4. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Mukherjee, Ishani, 2011. "Conceptualizing and measuring energy security: A synthesized approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 5343-5355.
    5. Yao, Lixia & Chang, Youngho, 2014. "Energy security in China: A quantitative analysis and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 595-604.
    6. Ringlund, Guro Bornes & Rosendahl, Knut Einar & Skjerpen, Terje, 2008. "Does oilrig activity react to oil price changes An empirical investigation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 371-396, March.
    7. Abada, Ibrahim & Massol, Olivier, 2011. "Security of supply and retail competition in the European gas market.: Some model-based insights," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4077-4088, July.
    8. Bohi, Douglas R. & Toman, Michael A., 1993. "Energy security: externalities and policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(11), pages 1093-1109, November.
    9. Löschel, Andreas & Moslener, Ulf & Rübbelke, Dirk T.G., 2010. "Indicators of energy security in industrialised countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1665-1671, April.
    10. Azusa OKAGAWA & Kanemi BAN, 2008. "Estimation of substitution elasticities for CGE models," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 08-16, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    11. Löschel, Andreas & Moslener, Ulf & Rübbelke, Dirk T.G., 2010. "Energy security--concepts and indicators," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1607-1608, April.
    12. Kruyt, Bert & van Vuuren, D.P. & de Vries, H.J.M. & Groenenberg, H., 2009. "Indicators for energy security," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2166-2181, June.
    13. Frondel, Manuel & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2014. "A measure of a nation's physical energy supply risk," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 208-215.
    14. Gnansounou, Edgard, 2008. "Assessing the energy vulnerability: Case of industrialised countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 3734-3744, October.
    15. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Mukherjee, Ishani & Drupady, Ira Martina & D’Agostino, Anthony L., 2011. "Evaluating energy security performance from 1990 to 2010 for eighteen countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 5846-5853.
    16. Le Coq, Chloé & Paltseva, Elena, 2009. "Measuring the security of external energy supply in the European Union," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4474-4481, November.
    17. Costantini, Valeria & Gracceva, Francesco & Markandya, Anil & Vicini, Giorgio, 2007. "Security of energy supply: Comparing scenarios from a European perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 210-226, January.
    18. Christoph Böhringer & Thomas F. Rutherford, 2010. "The Costs of Compliance: A CGE Assessment of Canada’s Policy Options under the Kyoto Protocol," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 177-211, February.
    19. Jansen, Jaap C. & Seebregts, Ad J., 2010. "Long-term energy services security: What is it and how can it be measured and valued?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1654-1664, April.
    20. Manuel Alejandro Cardenete & Ana-Isabel Guerra & Ferran Sancho, 2017. "Applied General Equilibrium," Springer Texts in Business and Economics, Springer, edition 2, number 978-3-662-54893-6.
    21. Stirling, Andy, 2010. "Multicriteria diversity analysis: A novel heuristic framework for appraising energy portfolios," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1622-1634, April.
    22. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Saunders, Harry, 2014. "Competing policy packages and the complexity of energy security," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 641-651.
    23. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Mastruzzi, Massimo, 2010. "The worldwide governance indicators : methodology and analytical issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5430, The World Bank.
    24. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2013. "An international assessment of energy security performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 148-158.
    25. Michael Freudenberg, 2003. "Composite Indicators of Country Performance: A Critical Assessment," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2003/16, OECD Publishing.
    26. Markandya, Anil & Pemberton, Malcolm, 2010. "Energy security, energy modelling and uncertainty," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1609-1613, April.
    27. Gracceva, Francesco & Zeniewski, Peter, 2014. "A systemic approach to assessing energy security in a low-carbon EU energy system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 335-348.
    28. Samuelson, Ralph D., 2014. "The unexpected challenges of using energy intensity as a policy objective: Examining the debate over the APEC energy intensity goal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 373-381.
    29. Graham, Paul & Thorpe, Sally & Hogan, Lindsay, 1999. "Non-competitive market behaviour in the international coking coal market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 195-212, June.
    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. Cox, Emily, 2018. "Assessing long-term energy security: The case of electricity in the United Kingdom," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2287-2299.
    2. Paulino Martinez-Fernandez & Fernando deLlano-Paz & Anxo Calvo-Silvosa & Isabel Soares, 2019. "Assessing Renewable Energy Sources for Electricity (RES-E) Potential Using a CAPM-Analogous Multi-Stage Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Li, Yan & Wei, Yigang & Zhang, Xiaoling & Tao, Yuan, 2020. "Regional and provincial CO2 emission reduction task decomposition of China's 2030 carbon emission peak based on the efficiency, equity and synthesizing principles," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 237-256.
    4. Piotr Kosowski & Katarzyna Kosowska, 2021. "Valuation of Energy Security for Natural Gas—European Example," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-19, May.
    5. Karatayev, Marat & Hall, Stephen, 2020. "Establishing and comparing energy security trends in resource-rich exporting nations (Russia and the Caspian Sea region)," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    6. 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).
    7. Zhang, L.P. & Zhou, P., 2024. "Reassessing energy security risk incorporating external shock: A variance-based composite indicator approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    8. Augutis, Juozas & Krikštolaitis, Ričardas & Martišauskas, Linas & Pečiulytė, Sigita & Žutautaitė, Inga, 2017. "Integrated energy security assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 890-901.
    9. Richard S. J. Tol, 2023. "Navigating the energy trilemma during geopolitical and environmental crises," Papers 2301.07671, arXiv.org.
    10. Joseph Akpan & Oludolapo Olanrewaju, 2023. "Sustainable Energy Development: History and Recent Advances," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-44, October.
    11. Zerrahn, Alexander, 2017. "Wind Power and Externalities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 245-260.
    12. Andrew Curtis & Benjamin McLellan, 2023. "Framework for Assessment of the Economic Vulnerability of Energy-Resource-Exporting Countries," Resources, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-38, February.
    13. Yupei Du & Wenju Wang & Qian Lu & Ziyang Li, 2020. "A DPSIR-TODIM Model Security Evaluation of China’s Rare Earth Resources," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-24, September.
    14. Valdés Lucas, Javier Noel & Escribano Francés, Gonzalo & San Martín González, Enrique, 2016. "Energy security and renewable energy deployment in the EU: Liaisons Dangereuses or Virtuous Circle?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1032-1046.
    15. 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.
    16. Genave, Anna & Blancard, Stéphane & Garabedian, Sabine, 2020. "An assessment of energy vulnerability in Small Island Developing States," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    17. Alipour, Mohammad & Hafezi, Reza & Ervural, Bilal & Kaviani, Mohamad Amin & Kabak, Özgür, 2018. "Long-term policy evaluation: Application of a new robust decision framework for Iran's energy exports security," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 914-931.
    18. García-Gusano, Diego & Iribarren, Diego & Garraín, Daniel, 2017. "Prospective analysis of energy security: A practical life-cycle approach focused on renewable power generation and oriented towards policy-makers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 891-901.
    19. Zhang, Mingming & Zhou, Simei & Wang, Qunwei & Liu, Liyun & Zhou, Dequn, 2023. "Will the carbon neutrality target impact China's energy security? A dynamic Bayesian network model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).

    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. Richard S. J. Tol, 2023. "Navigating the energy trilemma during geopolitical and environmental crises," Papers 2301.07671, arXiv.org.
    2. 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.
    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. 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.
    5. Narula, Kapil & Reddy, B. Sudhakara, 2016. "A SES (sustainable energy security) index for developing countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 326-343.
    6. Kang, Duan, 2024. "The establishment of evaluation systems and an index for energy superpower," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 356(C).
    7. Le, Thai-Ha & Chang, Youngho & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Yoshino, Naoyuki, 2019. "Energy insecurity in Asia: A multi-dimensional analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 84-95.
    8. 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).
    9. 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.
    10. Wang, Deqing & Tian, Sihua & Fang, Lei & Xu, Yan, 2020. "A functional index model for dynamically evaluating China's energy security," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    11. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2013. "An international assessment of energy security performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 148-158.
    12. Ren, Jingzheng & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2014. "Quantifying, measuring, and strategizing energy security: Determining the most meaningful dimensions and metrics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 838-849.
    13. Kapil Narula & B. Sudhakara Reddy, 2014. "Three Blind Men and an Elephant: The Case of Energy Indices to Measure Energy Security and Sustainability," Working Papers id:5989, eSocialSciences.
    14. Gasser, Patrick, 2020. "A review on energy security indices to compare country performances," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    15. Debin Fang & Shanshan Shi & Qian Yu, 2018. "Evaluation of Sustainable Energy Security and an Empirical Analysis of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-23, May.
    16. 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.
    17. Zhang, Mingming & Zhou, Simei & Wang, Qunwei & Liu, Liyun & Zhou, Dequn, 2023. "Will the carbon neutrality target impact China's energy security? A dynamic Bayesian network model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    18. Jewell, Jessica & Cherp, Aleh & Riahi, Keywan, 2014. "Energy security under de-carbonization scenarios: An assessment framework and evaluation under different technology and policy choices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 743-760.
    19. 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.
    20. Johansson, Bengt, 2013. "A broadened typology on energy and security," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 199-205.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    energy security; energy security indicators; computable general equilibrium analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:zen:wpaper:55. 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: Finn Marten Koerner (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zentrde.html .

    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.