Energy efficiency timeout debated

COLUMBUS — Advocates for Ohio’s renewable energy and efficiency standards argued this week that it would be a mistake to throttle back on a market that is paying dividends.

How the Alternative Energy Megatrend will impact global geopolitical relations

The Greening of Geopolitics

By Dr Alexander Mirtchev

The advent of renewable energies is generally regarded from a fairly narrow perspective: whether – and to what extent – they are able to replace fossil fuels and what this would mean for the energy system and the economy. Such a perspective profoundly underestimates the potential consequences of what is in fact a revolutionary global development: a socio-political and techno-economic megatrend that has the ability to become a global societal game-changer, writes Alexander Mirtchev, Vice-President of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI). According to Mirtchev, the ‘Alternative Energy Megatrend’ will have far-reaching effects on global geopolitical relations and security concerns – effects that have yet to be fully grasped by most observers. This article is adapted from his upcoming book: “The Alternative Energy Megatrend: A Global Security Discourse in the Universally-Securitized World”.