Powering up a Nation:
Energy Security in Japan and Australia
by Willhemina Wahlin

This year marks the Australia-Japan Year of Exchange, which celebrates 30 years since the signing of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation. Back in 1976, Japan, still reeling from the first oil shock of 1973, was forced to revise its approach to energy security. Australia’s oil supply, on the other hand, remained largely uninterrupted, which did little to encourage any rethinking of energy policy. Fast forward to 2006, and the energy situation is looking no better. The peak oil debate and increasing tensions in the Middle East have pushed up the price of crude, and just about every natural resource is in high demand and tight supply. Meanwhile, global warming is presenting unprecedented challenges for governments worldwide. It seems, then, an appropriate time to compare the energy security and climate change policies of Japan and Australia, and to look at what solutions they may be able to offer each other.

More
This story was originally published in the Autralian Review of Public Affairs, a publication of the Political Economy Department of the University of Sydney, on the 12th November, 2006.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Power Sourcing Japan's Race for Resources by Willhemina Wahlin and Kaoru Natsuda It's only natural that in light of the high level of consumption in the developed world in the last 100 years, something was going to have to give. Now, in an increasingly unstable world, where developing nations are quickly developing and developed nations are quietly panicking, governments are beginning to take the idea of resource security very seriously indeed. Japan, one of the world's most resource-poor countries, recently unveiled the New National Energy Strategy (NNES) - an aggressive plan to procure sources of energy to keep its economy humming. The Japanese will use their expertise in energy-efficient technology and such things as Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to exploit other countries' energy sources. But they must work quickly. Geopolitical lines are already being drawn in the sand. Japan may have to sacri
Read more
Image
Remembering Marla A tribute to Marla Ruzicka (1976-2005) Marla Ruzicka was tragically killed in a car bomb explosion in Iraq on April 16 2005, along with her co-worker and friend Faiz Ali Salim. One year on, we take a look at what CIVIC, the organisation she founded, still has to say about the innocent victims of war, and how they choose to remember Marla. ________________________ I confess that a year ago, when I heard of the tragic death of a woman I had never heard of before that night, I cried. Marla Ruzicka, a young Californian woman, was killed by a car bomb in Baghdad on April 16 2005, along with her friend and co-worker Faiz Ali Salim. She had travelled extensively to both Afghanistan and Iraq, her main mission to try to get aid to civilians who have been harmed by the US wars in both countries. In an online journal entry on June 25 2004, she had this, almost prophetically, to say: “Back in Baghdad and happy. A good friend of mine, advised me to keep my movements minimal in t
Read more