A demand-side assessment of sustainable energy security in Iran
- PDF / 800,188 Bytes
- 14 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 81 Downloads / 186 Views
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A demand‑side assessment of sustainable energy security in Iran S. Solaymani1 Received: 2 January 2020 / Accepted: 14 May 2020 © Islamic Azad University (IAU) 2020
Abstract Iran, as one of the top oil-exporting countries, by supplying almost all kinds of energies, is not facing serious problems with energy supply, but the demand side has some problems such as acceptability and accessibility. Therefore, the current study analyzes sustainable energy security in the energy demand subsystem of Iran using a hierarchical method during 2007–2015. Three different dimensions—accessibility, affordability, environmental acceptability, and efficiency—were selected to assess sustainable energy security in the energy demand subsystem. These dimensions are estimated for residential, which is subdivided into rural and urban areas, industrial, agriculture, and transport sectors. The results indicate that almost all indicators have improved from 2007 to 2015 and the overall sustainable energy security index for the energy demand subsystem has increased gradually over time. The sustainable energy security index for Iran’s demand subsystem has increased by about 5% from 2007 to 2015. However, the proficiency of Iran’s energy demand subsystem does not need much scope for improvement as its overall SES index is around 95% of the targeted value. The SES index for the rural areas, compared to the urban areas is lower, and exact strategies must be considered to provide affordable and clean energy in this area. It suggests that to improve the sustainable energy security index and access to affordable, clean, and sustainable energy in the future, the government in association with the private sector do more attempts to increase the efficiency of renewable energy production. Keywords Electricity · Energy consumption · Energy demand subsystem · Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) · Natural gas
Introduction While energy is an essential input for production, its security for economic activities and economic growth is one of the leading goals of energy policymakers. Governments have a significant role to achieve this goal. These days, fossil fuels are the primary sources of energy that may not be sustained in the near future. For example, in 2017, world primary energy use increased by 1.9% from 2016, which natural gas and renewable energy consumption were major contributors. But, the increases in population and economic growth increase energy consumption and, therefore, need more energy and its security for the future will be essential. Energy security for net oil-importing countries is a critical issue since oil price shocks significantly influence their access to oil as the main energy source. Since the first oil price shock in the 1970s, energy security was attracted * S. Solaymani s‑[email protected]; [email protected] 1
Department of Economics, Faculty of Law and Economics, Arak University, Arak, Iran
more attention by policymakers and researchers. Saei and Pashang (2017) argued that although energy security i
Data Loading...
