Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues

The aim of the article is to explicate methodology, facilitating the evaluation of biomass cluster‘s impact to the growth of the energetic independence and national security. The analysis of the biomass clusters‘ impact to the energetic security is related to the critical analysis of the resources as well as to the analysis of the secondary data. The conception of a biomass cluster is relatively new as it emerged basically given the complex geopolitical situation and the aim of the pursuit for some energetic alternatives. The cluster unites enterprises, operating in some certain region and engaged in biomass preparation, logistics and burning. The main impetus of the cluster activity is the objective of the consumers‘ provision by some local renewable energy. Some serious issues, related to the energetic resources consumers‘ behaviour, are often occurring in the states where import-based structure of energy prevails. Lacking some competition and local production, both energetic and national state security is “walking with a limp“. Under the above circumstances, a biomass cluster may become a counterweight from monopoly-based import, ipso facto, increasing national security of the state itself. In the latter case, some stable energy supply would be assured and the price would be based on the market but not on the shifts of the geopolitical situation. The authors have created the following research methodology, contributing the evaluation of the benefit of the local resources use.

Critical Energy Infrastructures can suffer different impacts from accidents and natural disasters which concern the whole energy system and specific functional aspects of Energy Security as well. A negative energy event -i.e. a strategic refinery blockade due to an accident- can provide useful experiences which demonstrate the connection among logistic efficiency, resilience and Energy Security. Spanish refinery Puertollano suffered an accident in year 2003 which stopped oil logistics in a significant part of the country. Military oil refined products logistics in Spain are managed by CLH oil products logistic company -operating in the framework of a Public-Private Partnership and civil-military cooperation model- and then this enterprise facilitated the implementation of a resilience measures aimed to guarantee the operation of oil products logistic chain in the affected area. Management of Puertollano refinery crisis in 2003 showed positive results for ensuring National Energy Security, market and business normal function, system stability and infrastructure re-adjustment. This crisis advanced criteria and lesson learned for Critical Energy Infrastructure Protection and business continuity planning.

Global economic development and continuous growth of the world population are the major factors which cause growth of energy consumption and increasing volumes of greenhouse gas emissions. Attempts to achieve sustainable energy development are still not enough successful. Scientific community and international organizations are concerned with consequences of global warming: increasing temperature in various regions of the planet, significant and harmful effects on health and environment, growing number of extreme storm events and large wildfires, rising sea levels, changes in landscapes. Increasing efforts of governments and politicians should be directed to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels combustion by increasing energy efficiency and by deployment of renewable energy sources. The paper focuses on efforts of world community directed to sustainable global energy development, implementation of new energy policies and provides an overview of energy consumption trends in the world by 2035.

There is major concern with Lithuania’s industrial development because its manufacturing structure is increasingly dependent on the consumption of energy. In spite of the Lithuanian energy intensity decrease more than 35 percent in the last decade, the energy required to produce a unit of output in Lithuania twice exceeds the average of the European Union countries.

Presented paper aims to indicate what types of interrelationships between energy usage patterns prevailing in particular country, economic growth and finally, sustainable development could be distinguished. The topic of paper, or, rather research area, is neither new nor original. Nevertheless, an array of approaches towards character of considered interrelationships can be encountered. Complicity of chosen issue, we reckon, lies in differences of perception of the following questions. Our findings consequently would depend on, at first, how we measure economic growth in short and long terms, the second, how we measure energy security, and, the third, how we benchmark progress towards sustainable development. Methods, which we consider as being applicable for measuring of selected interrelationships, comprise a separate part of scientific elaboration. Therefore we formulate a task to overview the most contemporary measurable perceptions of economic growth, perceptions of energy security facets affecting economic growth and consequent reaction of sustainable development to various scenarios of energy consumption and economic growth. Resulting conclusions about measurement of indicated phenomena and argumentations of their plausible interrelation would lead us to choice of methodological approaches of described interrelations’ analysis.