Strategic Analysis

Is the Future of Energy Geopolitics in Space?

Let's face the facts: we are not going to regulate our way out of either climate change, or a peaking of fossil fuels. Even if we could imagine that individuals and nations were capable of accepting significant reductions in their lifestyle for long-term self-interest or the interests of their grandchildren, no amount of increased efficiency of those already using energy is going to make up for the Other Three Billion (O3B) citizens of the world moving to developed lifestyles and their accompanying energy demand.

The Global Quest for Nuclear Energy: Opportunity, Constraints and Prospects

Nuclear energy is undergoing a global renaissance. While nuclear energy has been contributing between 14 and 16 per cent of the total electricity in the world in recent years, most of the countries that are operating nuclear power reactors are expanding and/or reviving their nuclear energy development programmes, including countries such as the US and the UK. At the same time, several new countries and regions, many of which are rich in other energy resources, are also opting for nuclear energy.

Rajiv Nayan |
November 2010 |
Strategic Analysis

The Politics of Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy, as we know it, was unleashed by nature at Oklo in Gabon, Africa, when uranium formed rings on its mountains billion of years ago. Natural uranium contains at least three per cent uranium. This uranium formed rings around the mountain and acted as fuel rods in a reactor. When rain water was run across the fuel rod, it acted as a reactor. The Oklo phenomenon was discovered only in 1972. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) saw fit to run an international conference on the subject.

India’s Energy Security: Challenges and Opportunities

The eradication of poverty and prosperity depend upon the economic development of a nation which in turn is dependent on an adequate and continuous supply of energy sources. Hence, energy is the lifeline of economic development. The rise of South Asia in general and India in particular as a force on the economic scene is now widely acknowledged. India's growing population and expanding economy with the shift in focus from agriculture to the manufacturing and services sectors have led to an increase in energy intensity which has resulted in an unprecedented demand for energy sources.

Turbulent Future Lies Ahead for Global Energy Markets

What are the major trends that will shape the global energy future in the medium to long term, say up to 2030? The authoritative report of the International Energy Agency (IEA) issued in 2007, before the global economic slowdown of 2008–09, had predicted the world's primary energy demand growing by 55 per cent at an average annual rate of 1.8 per cent between 2005 and 2030. This was before the global economic crisis of 2008–09.

Arvind Gupta |
November 2010 |
Strategic Analysis

The US–Soviet–China Triangle

Of the members of the America-Russia-China triangle, the Soviet Union is the least enthusiastic about its existence. It is open to question whether it is as obsessed as it is said to be with the historic memories of the golden hordes who devastated Russian lands, and whether it equates the Chinese with the dreaded Mongol invaders of previous centuries. But there can be little doubt that it fears a Sino-US collusion against itself.