Forty years of energy security trends: A comparative assessment of 22 industrialized countries

This article correlates energy policy and practice with the multidimensional concept of energy security and empirical performance over forty years. Based on an analysis of 22 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development between 1970 and 2010, it concludes that many industrialized countries have made limited progress toward the goal of achieving secure, reliable and affordable supplies of energy while also transitioning to a low-carbon energy system. However, some national best practices exist, which are identified by examining the relative performance of four countries: the United Kingdom and Belgium (both with noteworthy improvements), and Sweden and France (both with limited improvements). The article concludes by offering implications for energy policy more broadly and by providing empirical evidence that our four dimensions (availability, affordability, energy efficiency, and environmental stewardship) envelop the key strategic components of energy security. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.