FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Derek Ferrar
Media Relations Specialist
East-West Center
Phone: (808) 944-7204
Email: ferrard@EastWestCenter.org
HONOLULU (Jan. 31) -- Concerns about energy security affect economic performance and political stability all over the world. Yet nowhere is this issue more critical than in Asia and the Pacific. Asian and Pacific countries are large and growing consumers of oil and increasingly important consumers of natural gas. As major importers from the Middle East and other regions, their participation in global oil and gas markets affects the availability and cost of energy everywhere in the world – and their growing dependence on imports is at the heart of concerns about energy security in the region. Heavy dependence on coal in some Asia-Pacific countries also raises concerns about harmful air pollution and global warming.
These issues and more are the focus of Asia's Energy Future: Regional Dynamics and Global Implications, a definitive new book on Asia's energy issues and their worldwide impact. The book's editors, Kang Wu and Fereidun Fesharaki, are leading international energy experts based at the East-West Center in Honolulu. With assistance from writer Sidney B. Westley, they have assembled an outstanding team of Asia-Pacific specialists to describe recent trends and future challenges, and to lay out a set of policy recommendations designed to strengthen the region's overall energy security. The 164-page volume provides the factual information needed for clear understanding, informed policy dialogue and effective cooperation on issues related to energy security.
Based on data from 44 countries and economies in the region, the book explores such issues as:
• Rapidly growing energy consumption in Asia and the Pacific
• Economic growth vs. environmental concerns
• Increasing oil dependency in a region with few oil reserves
• Plans for dramatic increases in natural gas use
• The critical energy roles of China and India
• Policy priorities, including energy security, price volatility, supply-and-demand dynamics and environmental sustainability
All chapters are illustrated with photographs, charts and tables. Detailed appendices provide data on energy reserves, production, consumption, refining capacity and imports for all major countries of the region from the 1970s through 2005, with projections up to 2015.
About the editors:
Kang Wu is a senior fellow at the East-West Center and an internationally recognized expert on energy issues in China. His research work includes energy modeling and Asia-Pacific energy demand forecasting, and he speaks frequently at international conferences and forums, in addition to consulting for the energy industry. His research has been cited frequently in the international press, including such media as The Asian Wall Street Journal, the I nternational Herald Tribune, Reuters, the BBC, Bloomberg News and ABC News.
Fereidun Fesharaki has been an advisor to governments and energy companies in the Middle East, Pacific Basin, Latin America and the U.S. Born in Iran, he served as energy advisor to that nation's prime minister in the late 1970s. He has been president of the International Association for Energy Economics and has served on the editorial boards of leading journals on energy economics and policy. Fesharaki is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is a senior fellow at the East-West Center, which he first joined in 1979.
Sidney B. Westley has worked as a writer, editor, and publications director for more than 30 years, including 22 years in East Africa. Before joining the East-West Center in 1994, she worked for research organizations in the fields of forestry, molecular biology, animal science, development and African history. At the East-West Center, she has worked on a variety of publication projects, and each spring she coordinates a workshop on communicating with policymakers about population and health as part of the Center's Summer Seminar on Population.
Publication information:
Asia's Energy Future: Regional Dynamics and Global Implications
Edited by Kang Wu and Fereidun Fesharaki, with assistance by Sidney B. Westley
Publisher: East-West Center, Honolulu
Paperback, 164 pp.
Cost: U.S. $30 plus $6 shipping and handling to the U.S. and its territories, or $13 to other destinations
Available from:
East-West Center Publication Sales Office
Burns Hall Rm. 1075
1601 East-West Rd.
Honolulu, HI 96848-1601, USA
Tel: (808) 944-7145
Web: www.eastwestcenter.org/pubs/2461
Email: ewcbooks@eastwestcenter.org
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The EAST-WEST CENTER is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The Center contributes to a peaceful, prosperous and just Asia Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education and dialogue on critical issues of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the United States. Funding for the Center comes from the U.S. government, with additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and the governments of the region.
