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We bring together a collection of papers that were presented at the inaugural event of the Asia-Europe Energy Policy Research Network (AEEPRN), held at Singapore in May 2012. The idea for creating AEEPRN was in response to the growing importance of energy in Asia and Europe's relations and to our shared belief that energy will become a more significant aspect of these relations over the forthcoming years and decades. The papers presented here cover the following themes: wind energy, biofuels, natural gas and gas pipelines, exergy and manufacturing, green energy co-operation, coal, unconventional gas and solar energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses Chinese sub-national governments' implementation strategies to meet national energy efficiency targets in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010). Previous research has focused on the ways governance practices and decision-making structures shape implementation outcomes, yet very little attention has been given to what strategies local leaders actually employ to bridge national priorities with local interests. To illustrate how local leaders work politically, this paper highlights specific implementation methods officials use to strengthen formal incentives and create effective informal incentives to comply with energy efficiency mandates. The analysis is drawn from 53 interviews conducted in June and July of 2010 in Shanxi, a major coal-producing and energy-intensive province. Findings suggest that local government leaders conform to national directives by "bundling" the energy efficiency policy with policies of more pressing local importance or by "bundling" their energy efficiency objectives with the interests of groups with significant political influence. Ultimately, sub-national government officials frame policies in ways that give them legitimacy at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to inform policy makers and legislators on how to set energy efficiency standards and labelling (S&L) regulations. It draws lessons from the literature on S&L regulations in the Asia–Pacific region and from practical experience in drafting the S&L regulations for Brunei Darussalam. The paper proposes necessary components for effective S&L regulations, as follows: clear liabilities, authoritative administration, open principles for technical systems, and enforceable mechanisms. It also recommends some key issues in good practice toward effective S&L regulations, such as policy making in advance, customised legislation, inclusive and transparent legislative procedure, and flexibility in the legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy security is one of the major global challenges of the twenty-first century. Intensifying competition for ever scarcer forms of conventional energy resources is causing significant tensions in the international system. East Asia will have a more profound impact on global energy security than any other region as its burgeoning demand for energy fuels, spurred principally by China, is expected to continue growing at over twice the world average in the next few decades. This paper examines the reasons why we may expect the energy diplomacies of East Asian states to become an increasingly salient feature of East Asian states’ foreign policy and international relations in the foreseeable future, and thereby significantly shape the nature of the region's international political economy. It presents a framework of energy diplomacy analysis in order to better understand how East Asian states are formulating their energy diplomacy strategies and actions. The four prime elements of this framework comprise: empirical perspectives and generic task-oriented terms; agential influences on the formation and organization of energy diplomacy practice; the energy–development nexus; and transaction mechanisms of energy diplomacy. The main conclusions are first, mercantilist approaches to energy diplomacy will persist but continue to gradually give way to market institutionalism; second, energy diplomacy will become increasingly linked to other forms of diplomacy, such as trade, environment and development assistance; third, we may expect East Asian states to afford greater priority to multilateral energy co-operation both regionally and in a wider international or global sense as energy security interdependencies deepen; and fourth, East Asia's growing reliance on sourcing energy fuels from outside the region will make it more dependent on stable international energy markets—these markets are becoming increasingly internationalized and globalized, which will broaden the future options of East Asian states developing new international energy partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyzes the current and prospective implications of Asia's energy consumption revolution for regional stability. Adopting a comparative and historical approach, I argue that Japanese energy security anxieties worked to reinforce regional alignment patterns in East Asia for nearly two decades following the Shanghai communiqué, thereby strengthening regional stability. Conversely, the post-Cold War period has seen in China and India's rise the emergence of Asian energy super-consumers that are not formally aligned with the United States, but that are increasingly dependent on imported energy supplies to fuel their industrialization. This newfound dependence on energy imports has seen both countries follow Japan's longstanding example in securitizing energy as a policy issue. In the context of an already more contested Asia, this trend towards energy securitization has aggravated regional tensions and will continue to do so unless greater efforts are undertaken bilaterally, regionally and globally to foster more effective forms of energy cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fuelwood plays an important role in the rural economy of the developing countries of Asia and Africa. Optimizing energy fixation in forest trees through high density energy plantations (HDEP), gasification of wood, and conversion of forest tree biomass, are some of the potential areas whereby additional research and development input for efficient management of atmospheric carbon in our energy system can be incorporated. For example, the photosynthetic efficiency of forest trees is rarely above 0.5%, which on the basis of theoretical considerations can be increased by up to 6.6%. Thus there is an ample scope to improve the efficiency up to 1%, which amounts to doubling of the productivity of the forests. Recent policy changes and experiences with wood-based bio-energy programmes in several countries indicate that woodfuels may become increasingly attractive as industrial energy sources. Use of biodiesel and the formulation of a project for undertaking 13.4 million ha of Jatropha plantations in India highlight the seriousness with which the Government of India is promoting carbon neutral energy plantations. The cost of establishment of plantations primarily for fuel production and its conversion to energy are major deterrents in this pursuit. Some of the issues in developing countries, like low productivity on marginal lands, degraded forest lands, and unorganized units for biomass energy conversion, result in cost escalation as compared to other energy sources. This paper revisits the scope for raising energy plantations, a comparison of the direct and indirect mitigation potential uses of plantations as an adaptation strategy through reforestation and afforestation projects for climate change mitigation and socio-economic issues to make this venture feasible in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This special issue has presented some of the specific findings of the RE-Impact Project which was commissioned and funded by the EuropeAid Cooperation Office from 2007 until its conclusion in 2010. The project aimed to provide impact assessment frameworks and influence relevant policies through direct involvement in bioenergy projects and policy analysis in South Africa, Uganda, India and China. The papers summarised here have covered issues related to Jatropha curcas and forest-based bioenergy in these countries. Taking an overall look at the project findings we can identify a number of general conclusions relevant for the future of bioenergy and rural development in Africa and Asia. First, only local and context-specific sustainability assessment can identify the risk and responsibilities of the different groups and the exact impact on the environment. Second, many initiatives both in biofuels and forest-based bioenergy are marred by a lack of understanding of the life-cycle financial analysis. Third, careful consideration of local physical and social conditions and the economics of the production chain can identify real opportunities for rural development using bioenergy. The current global impasse in bioenergy policies could actually be advantageous to the development of bioenergy in developing countries. Without the pressure from America and Europe to develop bioenergy systems for climate change mitigation, countries in Africa and Asia may have the breathing room to shape bioenergy systems for their own internal energy supply in an orderly fashion. However, in order to avoid environmental and social impacts it will be necessary to articulate together elements of a number of measures including market-based certification, national policy formulation, national legislation, impact assessments, sustainability planning, land use planning, research, monitoring and evaluation taking into account country and project specific sustainability criteria. Unfortunately, many of the countries in Africa and Asia where bioenergy can play an important role still lack institutional structures able to articulate this sustainable development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

International imbalances, featuring as large current account deficits and surpluses in different countries are closely related but the adjustment mechanism that should restore equilibrium appears to be under restraint. These imbalances cannot be sustained without severe negative effects on the world economy. The different elements of the adjustment mechanism are complementary and it appears that the current state of economic policy and the absence of incentives to market participants in favour of portfolio switching inhibit an effective adjustment process. Institutional reform in the financial markets of the emerging economies, particularly Asia, appears to be an important prerequisite for the adjustment process to be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid economic growth in Asia recently has been driving global energy demand and prices. However, little progress has been made concerning the region's energy security. To assess Asia's progress in energy security and its impact on real income per capita growth, the 4-As energy security framework — energy availability, applicability, affordability and acceptability dimensions — is integrated into the cross-country generalized method of moments (GMM) model and empirically estimated using data from 20 Asian countries (1995–2015). Results indicate that energy security measured by expanding renewable energy use, increase in electricity access and electric power consumption per capita growth are positively associated with real income per capita growth, while a larger share of imported energy and higher energy intensity hinder growth. Meanwhile, climate security is included in the energy security framework; the results suggest that an increase in CO2 emissions has a negative impact on economic growth. Possible policy implications for improving energy security in Asia are discussed in the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has recently established a new policy for the energy use of the Arctic region. Even though it is not a part of the Arctic Council, China has started a series of partnerships with public and private entities of countries that are geographically and politically members of the Arctic polar Circle. The project has to be carried out within the "Belt and Road Initiative", by establishing new trade routes between China and the rest of the world. The study aims at assessing the fuel consumption for the Arctic shipping routes and comparing them to the traditional ones, in terms of cost reduction and time efficiency. Moreover, a brief consideration on oil&gas arctic fields has been carried out, in order to understand how the energy policy of China is changing the resource utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All states, whether governed by liberal or illiberal regimes, face the prospect of momentous and potentially catastrophic environmental impacts due to climate change. Historically, energy policy has been directed towards simply achieving energy security. This goal has now been significantly complicated by the need to achieve it while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental non governmental organizations (ENGOs) could play a crucial role in promoting the transition to energy and climate security but the relative (il) liberalism of the political regime they operate under influences their effectiveness. This article assesses how ENGOs have impacted on the transition to energy and climate security in Myanmar and Thailand, two Southeast Asian countries highly susceptible to climate impacts and characterized by illiberal rule. It finds that the impact of ENGOs was highly dependent on their strategies, tactics and operation, with community-level projects providing a key route to effect change under conditions of extreme illiberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Central Asian countries have been demonstrating a readiness to widen their involvement in regional cooperation and interaction in the water, energy and transportation spheres. These trends have remained neglected far too long, which, as could be expected, had a negative impact on the regional economies. Under the pressure of mounting economic problems and the difficult situation, these countries had no choice but to revise their approaches to cooperation. Certain extraregional states have developed significant interest in the region's countries; today they want a wider presence there, first and foremost, in the projects targeted at the diversification of supplies of its hydrocarbon reserves to external markets. Generally, the Central Asian countries expected the more extensive pipeline architecture to consolidate their positions; allow to implement their social and economic projects; create new jobs; open new doors to Central Asian oil and gas exporters and radically change the regional balance of power. In anticipation, they doubled their efforts in extraction and export of hydrocarbons. These hopes were not justified. Their dependence on extra-regional players as the final consumers or transit territories was not reduced. The new pipelines have, however, destroyed Russia's monopoly on hydrocarbon exports from the region; it was replaced by Iran and China, which relied on the mechanism of price formation and the volumes of oil and gas they bought from the region's countries to put pressure on them. The Central Asian oil and gas exporters continued to widen the pipeline network to somehow reduce their dependence on neighbors. The Central Asian states are revising their old approaches to the use of water; the confrontation of the 1990s is receding into the past to be replaced with new initiatives: wider bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the use of water resources of the transboundary rivers and coordination of positions. The changed positions are easily explained by the problems inherited from the Soviet past, which were gradually accumulating and swept under the carpet. In the last few decades they grew even more acute: the countries in the upper reaches of the regional rivers can barely survive the acute shortage of energy in winter, while those in the lower reaches are aware of an acute shortage of water in the summer, when it is especially needed for agriculture. According to different sources, after 2020-2025 the water shortage in the region will become absolute: the total amount of water consumed in the Central Asian countries will reach a level at which industrial enterprises will have no choice but to use less water. This will do nothing good to the regional economy and regional agriculture. Demographic growth and climate change will intensify the negative trends. Glaciers and snow-covered areas have contracted, which threatens the runoff of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya. The current desire to arrive at compromises and take the interests of all countries into account is explained by the problems that are piling up in the water and energy sphere mainly because the use of the transboundary rivers' water remains unregulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East Asia's renewable energy (RE) sector has grown faster than any other region's since the mid-2000s. It is argued that renewables formed an integral part of the region's new industrial policies and new developmentalism, which are founded on new configured forms of state capacity shaped in response to various challenges, primarily climate change, energy security, globalisation and global neo-liberalism. By studying the recent progress of East Asia's RE sector, we gain useful insights into these key developments in East Asia's political economy and the region's prospects for transition towards low carbon development. This analysis considers how and why different approaches to RE policy emerged in East Asia, to what extent the promotion and expansion of East Asia's RE sector is part of a new industrial policy paradigm and new developmentalism, and what the study of East Asian policies on promoting renewable energy can tell us about the region's broader approach to low carbon development. Although the promotion of renewable energy has been a fundamental part of East Asia's recent macro-development plans and new developmentalism generally, these same plans suggest that East Asian states will simultaneously continue to significantly promote high carbon and ecologically damaging industrial activities, thus undermining the low carbon credentials of East Asia's new developmentalism. The path to meaningful low carbon development will be very long and will take many decades to achieve. However, it is contended that by maintaining and improving their various forms of state capacity over time, the East Asian states will be well positioned to sustain the significant growth of their renewable energy sectors and thereby further strengthen the low carbon development orientation of their new industrial policies, macro-development plans and strategic economic thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Asia’s largest biofuels producers are currently Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, China and India. This paper first examines the current status of biofuels in these countries, including the national development targets, strategies, incentives and policies. It then identifies the fundamental driving forces behind the development and promotion of these industries and considers their economic, social and environmental impacts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article judges modern nuclear power and renewable electricity technologies according to six criteria: cost; fuel availability; land degradation; water use; climate change; and safety/security. It concludes that when these criteria are taken into consideration, renewable electricity technologies present policy makers with a superior alternative for minimising the risk of fuel interruptions and shortages, helping improve the fragile transmission network and reducing environmental harm. These more environmentally-friendly generators cost less to construct, produce power in smaller increments and need not rely on continuous government subsidies. They generate little to no waste, have fewer greenhouse gas emissions per unit of electricity produced and do not substantially contribute to the risk of accidents. In contrast, the costs for nuclear plant construction, fuel, reprocessing, storage, decommissioning and further research are expected to rise. Modern nuclear reactors are prone to accidents, failures, shortages of high quality uranium ore may be imminent and the thermoelectric fuel cycle of nuclear plants consumes and degrades vast quantities of water. Greenhouse gas emissions associated with the nuclear lifecycle are notable and reactors and waste storage sites can degrade land and the natural environment. Thus, the article concludes that any effective response to electricity demand in an Asia facing climate change should promote the rapid expansion of renewable technologies and a more limited use of nuclear power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has exploited its relatively strong position following the current global financial and economic crisis, to buy up energy positions throughout Asia. In doing so it is using the tactics it had developed earlier when energy prices were quite high to buttress its energy security. That security entails having multiple secure sources of energy over land that cannot be interdicted by hostile naval forces. But beyond that, China's stronger position vis-a-vis distressed firms and governments allows it not only to buy key energy holdings, but also to exercise greater influence upon these firms' and states' policies and induce them to accommodate their policy preferences to Beijing's desiderata. The evidence brought forward here, concerning Russia, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, and Iran suggests that we are beginning to see a pattern of China leveraging its superior economic position in the current climate to induce this accommodating behavior and thereby begin to reorient security behavior in Asia even if it is all done by purely peaceful and economic means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article outlines the primary issues of energy security in Northeast Asia and the countermeasures taken by each country to address those issues. It discusses the different types of interpretations over the energy issues in the region in order to delineate which interpretations can better enhance the region's energy security. In addition, it states that securing stable oil imports has been a primary goal of energy security in the region and energy conservation has been recognized as another prioritized energy security measure.

This article presents information on crude oil prices. It is informed that oil prices went down between the period of mid-1996 and the end of 1998, then rose until September 2000. Oil stocks were low at the beginning of 2000, and so it was no surprise that prices remained high until the summer. But the sustained nature of the price rise was not expected because, following a number of production increases by organization of petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) in the second and third quarters of the year, much more crude oil was being produced than consumed. Many observers believed the fall in crude oil prices in 1997 and 1998 meant that OPEC had lost control over the oil markets. But the sharp price increase caused in 1999 by the relatively modest production restrictions imposed by OPEC showed that this was probably a premature conclusion. According to the most recent scenarios published by the International Energy Agency and the American Energy Information Administration, world oil consumption will increase substantially over the next 10 to 20 years if there is no fundamental change in energy policy with North America and the Asian developing countries accounting for a large part of the increase.

The article considers energy consumption as an economic indicator for developing countries in the Asian region of the Pacific Rim including Philippines, South Korea and Thailand. The overall high rate of economic development of countries in the region from 1945-1992 is discussed. A resulting increase in energy consumption primarily due to industrialization and an increase in transportation is discussed. The lack of power resources in countries in the region and their corresponding dependence on imports subject to volatility in prices are examined.

Discusses China's offshore energy policy and its implications for the Japanese-market oriented products of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) producers. Overview on the offshore energy policy of China; Role of Japan in cushioning the impact of China's offshore exploration scheme on ASEAN energy exporting producers; Energy-exporting producers of ASEAN.