An assessment of Taiwan's energy policy using multi-dimensional energy security indicators

Facing the challenges of global warming, energy scarcity and energy price fluctuations, many countries consider energy security to be a major part of their energy policy and have started to develop relevant strategies. This study applies multi-dimensional energy security indicators to review the performance of Taiwan's energy security related measures and to analyze the impacts of the current energy policy on Taiwan's energy security. The results show that Taiwan's current energy policy is effective in improving the security of the energy supply. Taiwan's dependence on imported energy is rather high, however, which makes Taiwan vulnerable to international energy price fluctuations and liable to suffer from increased energy costs. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.