The Changing Scene for Uranium in Canada

Energy security plays a key role in energy and economic policy. The importance of energy security has been highlighted by the energy and geopolitical crisis. The aim of this article is to present the crucial threats and challenges facing Polish National Power System, as well as to provide solutions to ensure Poland's energy security over the next 10 years. Article verify the hypothesis that security of electricity supply in Poland may be endangered in the coming years due to, among others, investment gap, coal power plants phase-out and undiversified energy mix. Therefore, it is a necessity to accelerate the investment processes in new generation capacity, especially in nuclear energy. Energy transition plans and energy policy need to be revised in light of the current energy and geopolitical crisis. Rapid growth of photovoltaics improves the energy security, mainly in the summer period, nevertheless, there is still insufficient development of investment in renewable energy sources, particularly in wind energy. In the Polish National Power System there are a lot of constraints such as investment gap, low capacity of transmission and distribution grids and high exposure to climate risk, thus it is necessary to take comprehensive investments to improve energy security in both the short and long term. Key words: Energy security, energy transition, energy crisis, decarbonisation, coal phase-out, energy policy.

Although energy security is a crucial issue for realizing national security, whenever an energy supply & demand crisis occurs, discussions on overcoming the crisis have been fragmentary. This is not irrelevant to the understanding and approach of energy security from a traditional viewpoint as saving energy sources. The energy crisis can come again anytime due to various factors, such as the climate crisis and changes in external situations. At this point, when uncertainties surrounding energy supply & demand are increasing, energy security can no longer be established with the same approach. Therefore, an in-depth discussion is needed on the change of approach to the concept of energy security and the arrangement of the legal basis to establish energy security through this change. In general, energy security is “guaranteeing sufficient energy supply at an appropriate price,” so, availability and affordability of the energy are critical. However, since energy security is also part of the national energy policy, it should not be understood differently in its direction. Given that Korea and the rest of the world have set common policy goals in the energy sector to respond to the climate crisis and achieve carbon neutrality, it is necessary to consider 'Environmental Sustainability' in establishing energy security. Countries that are not rich in energy resources, such as Germany and Japan, are already seeking measures to establish energy security, such as stockpiling fossil fuels, diversification of supply chains, and expansion of renewable energy. In this process, it is worth noting that the relevant countries are systematically approaching the short-term and mid- to long-term perspectives in connection with their energy policies and are arranging applicable laws and regulations necessary to establish energy security. Korea's energy security- related legislation, centered on individual laws, makes it difficult to respond effectively to the uncertain energy resource market due to its disconnected approach, such that it has fundamental limitations not being able to view the overall supplementation among energy sources. In addition, the current energy security legislation is focused on the means of post-counteraction rather than prevention of energy crises. In order to solve these problems, in addition to the arrangement of individual laws, a system for overall energy-related laws and integrated legislation to establish energy resource security, and distributed energy activation legislation should be enacted simultaneously considering the expansion of renewable energy.

Decreased serum zinc concentration during depressive episode in patients with bipolar disorder

A large part of the European natural gas imports originates from unstable regions exposed to the risk of supply failure due to economical and political reasons. This has increased the concerns on the security of supply in the European natural gas market. In this paper, we analyze the security of external supply of the Italian gas market that mainly relies on natural gas imports to cover its internal demand. To this aim, we develop an optimization problem that describes the equilibrium state of a gas supply chain where producers, mid-streamers, and final consumers exchange natural gas and liquefied natural gas. Both long-term contracts (LTCs) and spot pricing systems are considered. Mid-streamers are assumed to be exposed to the external supply risk, which is estimated with indicators that we develop starting from those already existing in the literature. In addition, we investigate different degrees of mid-streamers’ flexibility by comparing a situation where mid-streamers fully satisfy the LTC volume clause (“No FLEX” assumption) to a case where the fulfillment of this volume clause is not compulsory (“FLEX” assumption). Our analysis shows that, in the “No FLEX” case, mid-streamers do not significantly change their supplying choices even when the external supply risk is considered. Under this assumption, they face significant profit losses that, instead, disappear in the “FLEX” case when mid-streamers are more flexible and can modify their supply mix. However, the “FLEX” strategy limits the gas availability in the supply chain leading to a curtailment of the social welfare.

Bibliography. Introductory Chapter. EU Natural Gas Markets and Long-Term Contracting - An Overview of Economic and Political Aspects. Security of Supply in the European Union. Key EU Gas Market Regulation Relating to Long-Term Contracting. The Application of EU Competition Law in Natural Gas Markets - Background and Developments. Compatibility of Vertical Natural Gas Transportation Capacity, Commodity Contracts and EU Competition Law. Security of Supply as Objective Justification. Conclusion.

Can we phase-out all of them? Probabilistic assessments of security of electricity supply for the German case

The installed capacity of grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) systems around the globe is increasing rapidly due to the need for clean, sustainable and fuel independent energy. The PV technology is already a major part of the energy mix in many developed and developing countries. The electricity generated from these systems heavily depends on the prevailing weather conditions and is directly related to the available solar irradiance. Therefore, the electricity injected into the grid from these systems is intermittent reducing the utility of that generated power. Any sudden irradiance changes, due to passing clouds, rain, dust storms, etc., directly affect the power response of solar systems, compromising the security of electricity supply and resulting in the need for operating reserves to stabilize the supply. The further deployment of grid connected PV systems will benefit greatly by developing the methodology to systematically study and analyse the variability and quantity of the power produced by installed PV...

In the face of growing crisis, the Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—have become important actors in determining the energy security policies of the European Union (EU). The war between Russia and Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis have highlighted the EU's weaknesses, leading member states to implement creative resilience and independence plans. With an emphasis on their initiatives in infrastructure development, energy diversification, and regional cooperation, this paper examines the Baltic states' contributions to the EU's energy security agenda. In order to explore the Baltic states' leadership in important initiatives, including the synchronisation of electricity grids with the EU, the construction of LNG terminals, and support for accelerated renewable energy integration, this study uses qualitative methods to analyse policy documents, public statements, and quantitative data analysis. These case studies demonstrate the proactive steps these small but strategically important member states have made to reduce the dangers related to their reliance on Russian energy. This study intends to provide important insights for continuing discussions on energy security and crisis management by examining how the Baltic states have shaped EU energy security and shedding light on the relationship between regional initiatives and wider EU-level integration.

Singing in Dark Times: Report from Berlin

The article analyses the position of Gazprom on the key export market - the market of the European Union. Situation on the EU gas market changed considerably because of an imbalance between supply and demand. Gazprom had to make price concessions for almost all of the main consumers of Russian gas in Europe, and also had to allow European consumers to break one of the key provisions of long-term contracts - "take or pay" clause. Besides disputes at the corporate level significant differences still remain about the well-known Third energy package, which effectively prohibits Gazprom to own and operate gas pipelines on the territory of the EU, as well as binding it to provide a third party access to gas pipelines. The implementation of Third package provisions on function unbundling by some EU Member States in the most rigid version may contradict bilateral international agreements of Russia with the EU Member States, primarily agreements on investment protection. Possible reasons underlying the investigation initiated by the European Commission against Gazprom in connection with a possible violation ofEU competition rules are examined. The paper investigates legal, political and economic aspects of contemporary regime of gas cooperation, particularly restriction of reexport, linkage between gas and oil prices, pricing based on long-term contracts and spot markets. The paper concludes that Russia and the EU need to elaborate a comprehensive document that would ensure the stability of the regulatory environment of energy cooperation and would reflect the balance of interests of producers and consumers. This document should equally ensure highly competitive environment and guarantees of security of supply in the short and long term.

Energy security, energy consumption, and stringent climate policy in European Union countries: Is environmental tax effective?

We present a power market model that couples short-term electricity markets of five interconnected countries: Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy and France. The model simulates the Swiss energy transition. It examines the impact of international (carbon taxation, fuel prices and the expansion of cross-border transmission capacities) and national policies both on short-term operation and long-term evolution of Swiss electricity supply, CO2 emissions, consumer costs and security of supply. The study shows the importance of understanding the interplay of policies and market players to achieve the decarbonization goals effectively. We simulate three national scenarios (Reference, RES+, NUC+), which differ in RES support and nuclear phase-out plans. We compare them along the dimensions of the Energy Trilemma prism: sustainability (CO2 emissions), affordability (costs to the consumer) and security of supply. The Reference scenario results in the highest CO2 emissions. Boosting solar via increased RES support in the RES + scenario reduces CO2 emissions, but increases costs to consumers. NUC + scenario provides the highest CO2 savings potential and the lowest costs to consumers. However, the nuclear extension would need to obtain regulatory or social approval. All scenarios prove a need for a Strategic Reserve to ensure compliance with the legal security of supply criteria.

Energy challenges for a clean environment: Bangladesh’s experience

This article shows that Cameroon remains the second hydroelectric potential of Africa after the Democratic Republic of Congo. Started in the 1950s and developed in 2001 by the national policy, strategy and action plan for energy efficiency in the electricity sector in Cameroon with the construction of hydroelectric dams and thermal power plants, the result of this policy Slow is the persistence of difficulties in supplying electrical energy, which leads to continuous load shedding on the one hand, and the limits linked to supplies in a context of increasing urbanization (2.5%) on the other. Although the correlation between population growth and energy consumption remains present for economic growth in cities, the rate of GDP is 5.77% and remains constant among other things, from the energy crisis in all cities of the country.

Agriculture is a land-based primary industry that directly depends on natural resources such as land, water, and a diversity of plants and animals. It is supported by the application of human knowledge, both traditional and scientific, and human effort, skills and endeavour. Following the global food and energy crisis in 2007–2008, and growing awareness of the challenges posed by climate change, interest in agriculture, after a period of neglect, has been reinstated as a key area of international and national policies. The performance of agriculture, however, must now be measured not only in terms of food, fibre and bio-energy production, but also a range of other social and environmental outcomes, positive and negative.An array of technological, environmental, economic, social, and political factors, many of which are very context and spatially specific, shape the characteristics of agricultural systems, and the demand for, supply of and use of agricultural land. The emerging consensus is that agriculture must meet the needs of a growing and potentially more prosperous global population mainly from the existing stock of agricultural land. Otherwise the world's ecosystems could be irreparably damaged. Harnessing the potential of sustainable agricultural technologies to improve the productivity of farmed land while protecting the natural environment is a key element of this process, especially in regions where agricultural development is the main means of alleviating hunger and poverty.Following a broad review of issues and challenges facing agriculture at the global scale, the chapter considers the case of modern agriculture in the UK with particular reference to factors affecting land use. It also explores how agricultural technologies can help improve the productivity of farming systems while simultaneously delivering a range of other ecosystem benefits.