Energy Resources

A distinction is made in the energy field between energy resources and energy reserves. Resources refer to the proportion of the total resource base that has been identified with at least a small degree of certainty and that might be recovered in the future. Energy reserves, in contrast, indicate the proportion of the total resource base that has been identified with certainty and that can be economically recovered and used with current technology. Both quantities are spatially specific and not fixed. However, estimated quantities of renewable sources of energy are highly variable and uncertain, given the highly uneven geographic distribution of resources and technology to capture sources such as solar, wind, and biomass energies.

It is useful to know the geographic distribution of energy reserves as well as production, consumption, and trade patterns of energy commodities such as petroleum and coal as these figures are used to calculate the energy import dependence and scarcity of fuels in a nation, region, or the world. Energy resource data, while they are also potentially useful, are updated less frequently and are much more speculative than are reserves. Extensive nonrenewable energy resource data at a variety of geographic scales are available from organizations such as the U.S. Department of Energy, International Energy Agency, the United Nations, and private corporations or trade associations such as British Petroleum (BP), the European Wind Energy Association, or the Solar Energy Industries Association. Helpful statistics include the energy resource-to-production ratio for oil or gas in a country; national or state rankings of energy resources, reserves, and production for oil, gas, coal, and uranium (Figure 1); and wind energy resource by state or geothermal energy production by nation. It is widely recognized that petroleum and other fossil fuels are finite resources that contribute to local pollution problems and global climate change and instability, and for these and other reasons, renewable sources of energy will be more rapidly developed and deployed in the future. Despite this, geopolitical and global economic and military affairs are still intertwined with the use of fossil fuels, especially petroleum products.

Figure 1 Global reserves of nonrenewable energy sources by type

Source: Adapted from British Petroleum. (2008). BP statistical review of world energy June 2008. London: Author.

Figure 2 Global oil reserves by country

Source: Adapted from British Petroleum. (2008). BP statistical review of world energy June 2008. London: Author.