Energy Security & Resilience

Global research and analysis on energy risks ranging from climate change to resource competition to population and demand growth to governance and infrastructure investment

Nearly two billion people around the world live in areas and regions that suffer from conflict violence and instability. As we design new energy systems in the developing world, there are energy security and resilience challenges unique to each local environment. This is also true in developed nations that are now going through energy transitions and are creating infrastructure with new renewable energy options. The optimal electrification mix is sensitive to each local environment.

The Payne Institute is recognizing these sensitivities by connecting the breadth of engineering experience across the energy system at the Colorado School of Mines with the public policy world making decisions on energy infrastructure. By taking a comprehensive look at environmental, economic, political and other elements in each local environment, The Payne Institute is supporting the design and creation of secure and resilient energy systems throughout the globe.

NEWS

Energy Infrastructure and the Epistemological Pillars of Peace 2/22/2021

PART I: Energy Infrastructure and the Epistemological Pillars of Peace

Payne Institute Fellow Griffin Thompson and Director Morgan Bazilian write a two part series about policies for energy service delivery that have for too long been governed by a restrictive sense of the energy system—one that isolates energy from the broader socio-political and diplomatic environments in which they evolve. The energy needs of Israel and the Palestinian Territories and their quest for cleaner, more resilient energy systems offer an opportunity to redefine the way we think about energy systems. Solutions, in turn, help highlight the multiple domestic and foreign policy benefits of a low carbon energy system. February 22,2021.

Understanding and Disrupting Key Convergence Nodes of the Illicit Gold and Mercury Supply Chains in Latin America and Africa 2/18/2021

Understanding and Disrupting Key Convergence Nodes of the Illicit Gold and Mercury Supply Chains in Latin America and Africa

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Nicole Smith, Sebnem Duzgun, Strategy and Operations Manager Greg Clough, William Soud, and Katy Seguin have received an NSF award for their research on “Disrupting Operations of Illicit Supply Networks (D-ISN)” that will enhance national health, prosperity and welfare by contributing to a better understanding of illicit supply chains and the ability to detect, disrupt, and disable them. The project involves an examination and comparison of key convergence nodes in the global supply chains for illicit gold and mercury in Latin America and Africa. It specifically focuses on Peru and Kenya because of the similar characteristics they share on their respective continents as important trading hubs to other regional markets via both air and maritime transport, as well as acting as trading hubs for other illicit commodities and goods. February 18, 2021.

The Oxford Handbook of Energy Politics January 2021

The Oxford Handbook of Energy Politics

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Dr. Kathleen J. Hancock and Juliann Emmons Allison have written a book looking at everything we once knew about energy resources and technologies that has been impacted by: the longstanding scientific consensus on climate change and related support for renewable energy; the affordability of extraction of unconventional fuels; increasing demand for energy resources by middle- and low-income nations; new regional and global stakeholders; fossil fuel discoveries and emerging renewable technologies; awareness of (trans)local politics; and rising interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the need for energy justice. January 2021.

ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 1/29/2021

ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

Payne Institute Fellow Jamal Saghir writes about how climate change will have dire and severe impacts on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region threatening all countries in the region, impacting human lives and health, and causing serious damage to natural and human-made infrastructure and resources. The climate change challenge for the MENA countries is making development climate resilient. January 29, 2021.

Peru’s Environmental and Social Management in the Gold Mining Sector in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic 12/9/2020

Peru’s Environmental and Social Management in the Gold Mining Sector in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Nicole Smith, Kristi Disney Bruckner, Ashley Smith-Roberts, Verónica Morelli Bellido, Hugo Frías Ossandón, Meera Nyak, and Linda Jaramillo Urrego write a case study on how Peru is a leading source of gold in the world and is the top producer of gold in Latin America. The country’s legal framework for environmental and social management of the mining sector, including both the large-scale mining sector and the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector, is often presented as good practice. However, implementation of the legal framework has been challenging due to lack of resources, complexity of the framework, lack of alignment across national frameworks, lack of ongoing collaboration across ministries, remoteness of mining areas, and other factors. December 9, 2020.

Satellite Imagery Used for Electricity Consumption Forecasting in Africa For the First Time in New Service 11/24/2020

Satellite Imagery Used for Electricity Consumption Forecasting in Africa For the First Time in New Service

The Payne Institute is a proud partner with the Rockefeller Foundation in providing satellite imagery from our Earth Observation Group for the Electricity Consumption Prediction service for Africa that has been launched today by the e-GUIDE Initiative. The service, which will be freely available, provides estimates of future electricity consumption at high spatial resolution, and combines satellite imagery with historic and big data sources. The service improves the planning and provision of electricity towards ending energy poverty, helping to direct investments and scale projects that support the economic recovery of communities devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The e-GUIDE Initiative is a collaboration between The Rockefeller Foundation, UMass Amherst, Columbia University, Carnegie Mellon University, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Colorado School of Mines. November 24, 2020.

Shadow Warfare: Cyberwar Policy in the United States, Russia and China

The Payne Institute would like to congratulate Faculty Fellow Elizabeth Van Wie Davis on her new book Shadow Warfare: Cyberwar Policy in the United States, Russia and China. Cyberwarfare, like the seismic shift of policy with nuclear warfare, is modifying warfare into non-war warfare. A few distinctive characteristics of cyberwar emerge. Cyberwarfare has blurred the distinction between adversary and ally. Cyber probes continuously occur between allies and enemies alike, causing cyberespionage to merge with warfare. Order book here. November 20, 2020.

7 ways the mining sector can prepare for the coming economic era 11/9/2020

7 ways the mining sector can prepare for the coming economic era

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Jordy Lee writes about how the mining and metals industry is facing an unprecedented paradigm shift as it begins to implement new technologies while also managing climate and social challenges. Through raising awareness of these issues, and by focusing on new digital solutions, growing material demand, and investor pressures, the industry can strengthen its foundational role in a rapidly evolving global economy. November 9, 2020.

The private sector can help light the way for forcibly displaced people. Here’s how 11/2/2020

The private sector can help light the way for forcibly displaced people. Here’s how

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and Nicole Bouris write about how the vast majority of forcibly displaced people around the world have limited or zero access to electricity, and together, they represent a vast and untapped market for energy producers, and how the private sector can help to meet this demand. November 2, 2020.

COVID exposes chink in US metal armor 10/29/2020

COVID exposes chink in US metal armor

Payne Director Morgan Bazilian is quoted in this article on how the COVID-19 pandemic has shined a spotlight on a chink in the United States’ economic and security armor – an overreliance on foreign countries for the minerals and metals that lie at the frontend of American supply chains. October 29, 2020.

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For more information about the Energy Security & Resilience Research Area at the Payne Institute for Public Policy, please contact our Strategy and Operations Manager, Gregory Clough, at gclough@mines.edu.