Energy Policies

Why do energy policies differ from country to country?
Energy policies, the manner in which a governments decides to address issues of energy development including energy production, distribution and consumption, are different in every country around the globe. This is mainly due to economic development, population size, geographical location and many other factors for example in the UK, as gas imports will rise in the future, the government has imposed a policy of trying to encourage the development of remaining reserves in the North Sea. Mali however is a land locked country situated in Africa which has no fossil fuel resources, so the policies are going to be vastly different to the UK in terms of the production and consumption of energy.
Economic development sees the increase in GDP over time which means an increase in energy consumption in that country. India for example has doubled its electricity consumption since 1990 as its economic development means it can afford to buy the energy and provide the energy for millions of people. As the economy grows, so does transport – cars, buses and other means of transport result in more fossil fuels being used up like oil. Moreover, the growth of the economy means there are many more power stations being built and used, contributing again to the level of pollution – this just shows that there is a positive relationship between the consumption of energy and economic development. Due to rapid economic expansion, India has one of the world's fastest growing energy markets and is expected to be the second-largest contributor to the increase in global energy demand by 2035, accounting for 18% of the rise in global energy consumption. Therefore India's strategy is the encouragement of the development of renewable sources such as wind farms, and solar energy. Despite having slower growth, the UK is at a further point in the DTM than India meaning the policies will differ – the UK is now trying to maintain reliable energy resources and in the long term, ensuring clean and affordable energy as it’s becoming more dependent on imported fuel.
As population increases, demand for energy such as petrol and electricity for a better standard of living increase. Even though energy is still being used up, in countries like Norway and Switzerland there is much less pressure being put on fossil fuels as there is a much smaller total population. Switzerland’s policy is to try to phase out the use of nuclear power. Chinas population means that it’s harder to distribute renewable energy like solar power and wind energy as these means of energy are less efficient and more expensive than fossil fuels meaning that policies like increasing taxes on millions of people will be a tool to achieve the money to support investment in clean technology.
The availability of natural resources differs in all countries around the world. Saudi Arabia for example lies on around 260 billion barrels of oil whilst the UK years ago relied on coal as it was the easiest resource to use thanks to the fact that it was situated underground of the UK in various locations. This can affect a country’s energy policy because if a country has more access to natural resources, the energy policy will try to be to aim to maintain the resource or export it to provide a higher GDP, which benefits the economy as it’s easy and cheaper than importing lots of fossil fuels like coal or oil.
Finally, the location of a country can affect energy policies. Mali for example is a landlocked country; with no access to fossil fuels and no access to a coastline which therefore cannot produce some means of energy for example wave energy which can be harnessed to drive turbines that generate electricity or nuclear energy. In comparison, the UK is an island surrounded by nearly 8000 miles of coastline whereby generating wind energy from wind turbines is an easy process in terms of locating them thanks to the strong winds travelling over the Atlantic Ocean to get to the UK’s west coastline. Therefore Mali’s
In conclusion, energy policies differ thanks to a number of factors – geographical location, population size, access to natural resources, and industrial and economic development. In a way, these are all factors that make more people use up finite resources which are why the policies differ. The challenge now is to for fill these policies, and to try and find sustainable alternatives to oil, natural gas and coal to create a cleaner environment.