February 17, 2021
JSIS 578 D
5 credits
Mondays & Wednesdays 10:30a-12:20p
Synchronous Online
Few resources are more essential to modern society than energy. Water and food, economic activity, healthcare, communications, and transportation all depend directly on sources of energy. Supply of these sources therefore counts as a key factor in the very stability and functioning of the nation-state itself. Simply put, energy security is national security.
Energy security involves a range of issues. On a domestic level, these include such concerns as a nation’s natural resource endowment, the state of its grid system, and injustices of inequitable energy supply to minorities and the poor. At the same time, there is a global dimension involved, as resources such as oil are globally traded and have a direct role in every nation’s military. Energy security considerations today are heightened by new concerns, since cyberattacks on electricity and other infrastructure have become commonplace. To these concerns must also be added the growing impacts of climate change, including extreme weather, rising seas, drought, and wildfires.
This course will provide a practical introduction to these and other issues that relate to the changing landscape energy security. Students will learn about the major sources of energy that nations currently rely upon, how these sources are undergoing transition, and the specific types of security concerns that individuals, cities, companies, and governments must prepare for as the new century evolves.