Asian Energy Security

OAK-B135 In the Asian Energy Security (AES) Project, Nautilus Institute works together with a network of collaborating groups from the countries of Northeast Asia to evaluate the energy security implications of different national and regional energy ''paths''. The goal of the Asia Energy Security project is to illuminate energy paths--and the energy policy choices that might help to bring them about--that result in a higher degree of energy security for the region and for the world as a whole, that is, to identify energy paths that are ''robust'' in meeting many different energy security and development objectives, while also offering flexibility in the face of uncertainty. In work to date, Nautilus has carefully assembled a network of colleagues from the countries of the region, trained them together as a group in the use of a common, flexible, and transparent energy and environmental analysis planning software tool (LEAP, the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning system), and worked with them to prepare base-year energy sector models for each country. To date, complete data sets and models for ''Business as Usual'' (BAU) energy paths have been compiled for China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea. A partial data set and BAU path has been compiled for the Russian Far East, and a data set is being started in Mongolia, where a team of researchers has just joined the AES project. In several countries, ''Alternative'' energy paths have been developed as well, or partially elaborated. National energy sector developments, progress on national LEAP modeling, additional LEAP training, and planning for the next phase of the AES project were the topics of a recent (early November) workshop held in Vancouver, British Columbia. With funding from the Department of Energy, Nautilus is poised to build upon the successes of the project to date with a coordinated international effort to research the energy security ramifications of regional coordination on energy issues in Northeast Asia. The paragraphs below summarize Nautilus' plans for the AES project in the coming months