One responsibility of any government in a developed country is to ensure that its citizens have a reliable and uninterrupted supply of energy at reasonable rates, or simply energy security. The loss of energy security can have an impact on any government; consider President Carter imploring Americans to use less energy in the late 1970s; the Trudeau government's National Energy Programme in the early 1980s; and Governor Davis's energy rationing policies during the California blackouts in 2000-01.

Energy security is becoming an issue in many countries:

• In the United Kingdom, the decline in North Sea natural gas production means that the UK is about to become a net importer of natural gas, something that has politicians and major electricity companies nervous.
• The United States, the world's largest consumer of energy, is a net importer of energy because of its voracious demand for petroleum products, making it an example of the extremes a country will take in attempting to achieve energy security: it patrols Persian Gulf sea lanes to protect oil exports and, to some, invaded Iraq to secure supplies.
• In 1993, China became a net importer of petroleum and is now the world's second largest consumer of petroleum. It is entering into deals with any and all possible oil producing regions in order to meet demand, including Alberta, Sudan, and various developing countries.

Energy security is also an issue in Nova Scotia:

• The rising price of oil is making transportation and home heating more expensive for many Nova Scotians.
• The repeated failure of NSPI's transmission and distribution grid, coupled with lengthy repair times, threatens the safety and well-being of many Nova Scotians.
• NSPI's use of foreign coal to generate electricity means that Nova Scotia is at risk from international terrorism or labour disputes in foreign countries.

Nova Scotia's Energy Strategy discusses energy security, primarily in terms of how the province's offshore natural gas supplies could be used to enhance the energy security of Nova Scotia, Canada, and the United States. This over-inflated view of Nova Scotia's importance as an energy player was all part of the misplaced enthusiasm that accompanied the development of Nova Scotia's offshore.

The Energy Strategy also states:

"Energy efficiency and conservation provide substantial benefits, including reduced energy demand, thereby improving Nova Scotia's energy security."

Although there is a degree of truth to this statement, it overlooks two facts: first, that the vast majority of the province's energy is imported, and second, that the province has yet to embark on an energy efficiency or conservation programme. Relying on imported energy, even if the energy is used efficiently, may reduce demand, but still leaves the province vulnerable to the vagaries of world energy markets; to achieve energy security, it will take more than the adoption of energy efficiency and conservation measures.

Energy security is best achieved by relying on indigenous energy sources, to which the local jurisdiction has access and (ideally) control. In Nova Scotia's case, this would mean the development of:

• a renewable energy strategy that would reduce the province's reliance on imported coal;
• a provincial public transportation network of buses and electrified trains to reduce the province's reliance on imported oil;
• a provincial electrical system that reduces the reliance on a few (relatively) large thermal generating stations that are hundreds of kilometres away from centers of demand;
• methods and techniques to use its high-sulphur coal in ways that will reduce harmful air emissions and greenhouse gases emitted per megawatt-hour of electricity generated.

Rising energy costs and the environmental impacts of energy usage are two reasons for the provincial government to recognize the importance of energy security and revise its Energy Strategy now.

Published Chronicle-Herald, 26 May 2005