Energy and Environmental Security

Energy and environmental security is one of the biggest issues since 2007. There is an urgent need for technology advancements that can give cost effective and low polluting energy resources to help human.

Besides, continuous efforts and strict actions are required to reduce world’s dependence on oil. Today, world is facing the crisis of global warming that needs immediate attention by the experts so that rapid changes and subtle reforms can be recalled.

However, energy and environmental security is generally considered different issue and climate change can help dramatically in curing these problems. The coherent policy by American experts has also been designed to address this problem.

Surely, policy can be strengthening by market research and expert suggestions. Also technology will help in addressing energy and environmental security problem through which new techniques can be discovered to decrease oil emission in air. Also, there is need to reduce our heavy reliance on oils to save the environment and energy resources as well.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, said that if the oil price were to stay at $80 a barrel for a long period, then the global market would collapse. This implies that the oil price has a huge impact on the world market. However, the oil price keeps decreasing. This is good news for China. First, China is one of the largest oil-consuming countries in the world, so it is beneficial for Chinese importers. Second, the cost of energy will decrease, increasing consumers’ buying power.

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There are many reasons behind recent declines in the oil price. First, the rate of economic growth is declining, and therefore oil demand and prices have been decreasing. Second, the decrease in the oil price has increased the supply of oil from both OPEC and non-OPEC countries. The supply of OPEC increased from 30.66 million barrels per day to about 31 million. Finally, many Western countries, particularly the U.S., want to damage the Russian economy and encourage the recovery of the European economy.

It is indeed good news that oil prices are declining, even for only a short period.

Wendy Lin

There is a theory about the “invisible hand” in the market economy. The theory, introduced by Adam Smith, posits that deals between families and firms are guided by some invisible hand, producing good market results. The price is the tool of the “invisible hand,” leading economic activity. When buyers or sellers decide on the level of demand or supply, both look at prices because they reflect the social value of goods and the social cost of producing those goods. The failure of the Soviet Union demonstrates the benefit of this “invisible hand.”

The Soviet Union was a command economy planned by the government to control the market. After years of the command economy, some limitations became apparent. First, the government uniformly controlled different sectors such as different departments, industries, and local communities. Therefore, production was owned by the country, not the so-called “community,” and the national economy became an economy with no owner. Second, the scarcity of products made the market fail. Finally, the Soviet Union’s regulation could not sustain long-term development.

The causes of these problems can be summarized as follows: First, a planned economy could not follow rapid advances in technologies. Second, mistakes made in decisions in the command economy caused a plunge and huge losses. Finally, bureaucratization emerged, and the integrity of the Soviet Union was broken.

No country has successfully managed a command economy. In fact, a command economy has been an important cause of failure for countries. In particular, the basic problem derives from the economy, not policies.

Wendy Lin