7.1 Energy Choices & Security

Significant ideas

  • There is a range of different energy sources available to societies that vary in their sustainability, availability, cost and sociopolitical implications.

  • The choice of energy sources is controversial and complex. Energy security is an important factor in making energy choices.

Knowledge and understanding:

  1. Fossil fuels contribute to the majority of humankind’s energy supply, and they vary widely in the impacts of their production and their emissions; their use is expected to increase to meet global energy demand.

  2. Sources of energy with lower carbon dioxide emissions than fossil fuels include renewable energy (solar, biomass, hydropower, wind, wave, tidal and geothermal) and their use is expected to increase. Nuclear power is a low- carbon low-emission non-renewable resource but is controversial due to the radioactive waste it produces and the potential scale of any accident.

  3. Energy security depends on adequate, reliable and affordable supply of energy that provides a degree of independence. An inequitable availability and uneven distributions of energy sources may lead to conflict.

  4. The energy choices adopted by a society may be influenced by availability; sustainability; scientific and technological developments; cultural attitudes; and political, economic and environmental factors. These in turn affect energy security and independence.

  5. Improvements in energy efficiencies and energy conservation can limit growth in energy demand and contribute to energy security.