Hybrid input-output analysis of embodied energy security

Jun U. Shepard and Lincoln F. Pratson

Applied Energy, 2020, vol. 279, issue C, No S0306261920312873

Abstract: National energy security depends on a stable network of international trade in not only primary energy (e.g., crude oil and natural gas) and secondary energy (electricity), but also embodied energy. The latter consists of both direct energy used to directly produce a final good (e.g., crude oil used to make synthetic rubber), and indirect energy incorporated in intermediate goods and services used to make a final product (e.g., coal used to smelt iron into steel that goes into the frames of cars). While studies have analyzed international trade in embodied energy, the global flow of the indirect component of this energy has not been explicitly examined. Here we develop and apply a new hybrid input-output database of energy flows within and among the world’s largest 136 economies so as to compare and contrast energy security metrics of indirect energy against direct energy. We find that 23% of the world’s embodied energy network is comprised of trade linkages in indirect energy between primary energy producing countries and other countries with which they do not have direct trade ties. We also find that the global economy is 90% more dependent on imports of indirect energy than direct energy and, unsurprisingly, that countries generally have many more trading partners in indirect energy than they do in direct energy. These differences in energy security metrics are assessed at the global, sectoral, and national levels over the years 2000–2015. The differences point to critical intermediary country nodes in the global trade network of indirect energy, principally the United States, China, and Russia.

Keywords: Energy Security; Embodied energy; International trade; Indirect energy; Energy footprint (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261920312873
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:279:y:2020:i:c:s0306261920312873

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115806

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().