WHEN I was growing up, I remember my mum’s constant rumbling that she would rather have no electricity than no water whenever there were water cuts.
I grew up repeating the same mantra until I realised that nothing beats the comfort of air conditioning when basking in the sweltering heat of tropical weather.
The revered Lee Kuan Yew wrote in his memoir From Third World to First: “Air conditioning was the most important invention for us. It changed the nature of work in the tropics.”
So, where does electricity come from? I doubt many of us talk and think about this. Years of growth have blessed us with 100% electricity access, according to Sustainable Development Goal Seven progress report.
We have had several blackouts in the past but we can always rely on the lights coming back on, knowing that electricity is securely supplied to power and energise our lives.
Yet, nothing good lasts forever. The prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict has thrust energy into the forefront of global discussions. They range from the overzealous optimism on the role of renewables, the need for nuclear power generation to countries racing to secure as many energy sources as possible, as if preparing for an imminent battle.
What has changed? Perhaps we have taken energy planning and development for granted. It is not common to think about where energy comes from until a crisis erupts and panic sets in.
The big swings in energy markets of late illustrate this point succinctly. So long as countries are connected to the global markets, changes in the US, Russia, China and Middle East will continue to affect our domestic market and people because energy security is the mainstay
of growth.
For an economy like ours, which relies on fossil fuels, price fluctuations and tight supply are disruptive to everyone – whether commercial, household or industrial sectors. Wage stagnation has further shrunk disposable income, increasing reliance on fiscal intervention.
Scholarly, the concept of energy security has evolved since the 1970s oil crises, aiming to answer the questions: “Security for whom?” and “Security from what threats?”
It begets an influential approach known as the four As of energy security: availability, accessibility, affordability and acceptability. In practical terms, there are three factors driving energy security, namely diversity, competition and efficiency.
Diversification matters because we need access to a wide range of energy sources. Competition encourages the best ways to explore, produce and distribute energy. Whereas efficiency ensures we make the most of each unit of energy produced.
On the eve of World War I, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill made a historic decision to shift the power source of the British navy’s ships from coal to oil to make the fleet faster than its German counterpart.
The famous energy maestro Daniel Yergin wrote in his book The Prize that reliance on an insecure supply of oil from what was then Persia, rather than coal from Wales, transformed energy security into a matter of national strategy. In response, a young Churchill told parliament: “Safety and certainty in oil lie in variety, and variety alone.”
Irrespective of one’s stance on climate change, data shows that the world needs more energy
in the coming era of digitalisation and electrification. Yet, it is not healthy for the planet to carry on business as usual.
Henceforth, we pledge to act on climate mitigation with the same intensity with which we strive for energy security. However, there cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution in balancing the energy trilemma of security, affordability and sustainability.
In light of national circumstances, every country has its interests to protect and gaps to plug. Since Churchill’s decision in 1913, the same holds true for energy today, but the variety of available sources now extends far beyond oil.
The world needs all the energy solutions it can get, without prejudice. It is not a choice between oil and gas, solar, wind, nuclear or hydrogen; it is all of the above, along with the clean energies yet to be explored, discovered, deployed and made affordable.
As responsible citizens, we can do our part as energy consumers to help sustain the energy sources we have while we continue exploring new and cleaner fuels to power the nation.
It can start with small actions, such as switching off the lights, raising the temperature of the air conditioning and taking public transport when accessibility is convenient.
Starting small is better than doing nothing in our quest to protect the light that we must not lose when we switch it on.
Nur Ayuni Zainal Abidin
Putrajaya
