I just looked
in a book, the Guide to Energy Management and I didn't find anything on Energy
Security… How do you manage Energy
Security? What does it mean?
Before you
start scouring the web for various definitions on Energy Security, I will give
you mine. Energy Security means that
when I turn on the light switch the light comes on and when I go to the gas
station to fill up the car, the gas station has gas. Also, the gas for the car and the electricity
for the light will be available as long as I want. Energy Security means energy is available and the energy supply is seemingly endless.
Imagine if
the lights went out and you didn’t know when or if they would come back on, so
you take the car to the gas station to fill up to leave town but no gas, stuck
no lights or gas… What else isn’t
working? The economy! Life would suck fast. So we need to ensure our energy security now
and in the future.
I worked on
Air Force Space Command’s (AFSPC) Staff as an Energy Program Manager; AFSPC had
7 major installations and 134 locations throughout the world. The facilities use a lot of energy so we
implemented many energy saving programs.
However saving energy is not the same as energy security. Energy Security is more than conserving
energy.
A few years after
working for AFSPC, I was hired to help
startup and run the Department of States’ first airbase. The base was located in Baghdad, Iraq and our
operations would start after the US Military withdrew for Iraq at the end of
2011. We didn’t know what would happen,
civil war? Terrorism? So we had to
prepare for the worst. Our airbase was
determined to set its own energy security criteria… We converted all of our generators to run on
Jet Fuel and increased our storage capability.
Our fuel was dual purpose; it could run the base and still have plenty
of fuel to fly normal missions. The dual
use of jet fuel allowed us to be prepared for a “fall of Saigon” type of scenario;
kind of like Iraq today. This approach also
allowed us to use a local supplier of jet fuel. We had plenty of fuel on hand
for any issue and locals had incentive to supply us. Our planning worked out well and we were
tested multiple times in 2012 as many supply convoys were delayed or turned
around.
Energy
Security is having energy available and the energy supply is seemingly
endless. Leaders, planners and the
community should determine how long endless is.
Next time we
will discuss ways to increase energy security in today’s world. Then we will discuss the cost of energy
security, paying more might be worth it.
Thoughts?
Endless… the
sun gives us heat and it causes weather patterns and winds, all of which we can
harness for energy. I think that is an
endless supply of energy since without the sun, it is the end.
Michael James
Smyth
