Thumbnail Image
Publication

Variety is not enough. Why can diversification no longer guarantee energy security?

Covatariu, Andrei
; 
Colorado School of Mines. Payne Institute for Public Policy
; 
Bazilian, Morgan
Citations
Altmetric:
Advisor
Editor
Date
Date Issued
2026-02-20
Date Submitted
Keywords
Collections
Publications - Payne Institute
Show all metadata
Files
Thumbnail Image
Payne-Institute-Commentary-Variety-is-Not-Enough.pdf
Adobe PDF, 230.49 KB
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/11124/181655
 https://doi.org/10.25676/11124/181655
Embargo Expires
Abstract
Winston Churchill once stated that "safety and certainty in oil lie in variety and variety alone." Diversification, in other words, was energy security. That insight—framed when the British Navy shifted from coal to imported oil—marked the emergence of modern energy geopolitics and the weaponization of fuel supplies. But it was the oil shocks of the 1970s that put "energy security" into the minds of policymakers, embedding ideas like diversification and strategic stocks at the core of national strategy.
Associated Publications
Rights
Copyright of the original work is retained by the authors.
Embedded videos