Alexander Mirtchev discusses the emerging new energy system of the 21st century – alternative energy heralding new approaches and focus areas for energy security policy

1. Lecture 2: The emerging new energy system of the 21st
century –
alternative energy heralding new approaches and focus areas
for energy security policy
Dr. Alexander Mirtchev
Fall 2014
Lecture objectives and theses:
1. Alternative energy’s impact on the notions of energy
independence, diversification, resilience, and
interdependence – the already established and upcoming
sources and their distribution.
2. New energy security dimensions leading to new competitive
advantages in using energy as a statecraft tool.
3. Reshaping energy security approaches and policies to match
the new challenges to global energy system stability,
resilience and broader security risks.
Theses illustrations and arguments:
Figure 1: Wind Power Capacities Top 10 Countries Worldwide
(“Global Wind Statistics 2013,” Brussels, Global Wind Energy
Council, May 2014, http://www.gwec.net/wp-
content/uploads/2014/02/GWEC-PRstats-2013_EN.pdf accessed May
6, 2014.)
Figure 2: Global Geothermal Sources Potential (Source: Global
Energy Network Institute,
http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/renewable-energy-
resources/geothermal.shtml accessed October 28, 2013.)

2. Figure 3: Bio-Ethanol and bio-diesel production 2000-2011 and
uncertain future trends (F.O. Licht, “Biodiesel: World
Production, by Country (1000 T),” 2012; F.O. Licht data
provided by Claus Keller, personal communication with REN21,
June 2011. Ethanol data converted from cubic metres to litres
using 1,000 litres/cubic metre. Biodiesel reported in 1,000
tonnes and converted using a density value for biodiesel (0.88
kg/litre), based on “Bioenergy in Germany: Facts and Figures,”
Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection
of the Federal Republic of Germany, January 2012,
http://www.biodeutschland.org/tl_files/content/dokumente/bioth
ek/Bioenergy_in-Germany_2012_fnr.pdf accessed December 13,
2013 and on “Biodiesel Handling and Use Guide,” U.S. National
Renewable Energy Laboratory, 4th edition, 2009,
http://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels/pdfs/43672.pdf accessed
December 13, 2013.)
Recommended reading:
Anthony H. Cordesman, “The Myth or Reality of U.S. Energy
Independence,” Center for Strategic and International Studies,
(Washington DC: 2013)
https://csis.org/files/publication/130103_us_energy_independen
ce_report.pdf accessed December 11, 2013
Kent E. Calder Asia’s Deadly Triangle: How Arms, Energy and
Growth Threaten to Destabilise Asia Pacific, (London: Nicholas
Brealey, 1996)
J.H. Kalicki and D.L. Goldwyn Energy Security: Toward a New
Foreign Policy Strategy, (Washington DC: Woodrow Wilson Center
Press, 2005)
Robert D. Kaplan, The coming anarchy: shattering the dreams of
the post Cold War (New York: Random House, Inc., 2000)

3. Henry A. Kissinger, American Foreign Policy 3rd
edition (New
York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1977)
Jean-François Lyotard, Postmodern Fables (Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1997)
Carlota Perez, Technological Revolutions and Financial
Capital: the Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages (Cheltenham:
Edward Elgar, 2002)