America’s energy landscape has dramatically changed over the last four years, with significant advancements in technologies across multiple energy sectors helping to produce a wider range of energy resources at home. But as the United States looks to export technology breakthroughs to meet the larger energy needs of developing countries, the Department of Energy (DOE) assessment gives insight into potential risks for national energy security.
In a quadrennial report released on Sept. 11, the DOE states that based on statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the primary energy use in countries outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Asia, Latin America, Africa, will increase dramatically from 330 quads (energy units) today to 530 quads in 2040.
The United States is among a number of wealthy countries that pledged during the 2009 COP 15 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and respond to climate change. Developed countries also promised to assist developing countries to meet their growing energy needs in more responsible ways.
Herein lies a potential problem. Bringing modern energy services to more than 5 billion people with little or no service today is an almost insurmountable task, states the report.
For the United States, this significant growth in energy requirements provides a substantial market opportunity for American technology. But it also introduces additional risks—a main one being cybersecurity, which the DOE has already been assessing domestically.
The newer energy infrastructure systems tend to rely heavily on digital technology. These computer-based systems make them vulnerable to threats like hacking by terrorists. The more data input points and analyses that must be conducted to monitor the operation and coordination of energy supplies, the more points of entry the system offers to potential saboteurs.
