Will war in the Middle East hasten the energy transition?

Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz could spur countries to boost the roll-out of renewable energy, finds Alec Luhn.

IELTS Portal

Recent conflicts in the Middle East have surprisingly given green energy a huge boost. Because of political tensions, Iran has stopped almost all ships from moving through the Strait of Hormuz. This water route is very important because 20% of the world's oil and gas passes through it. Also, drones and missiles have damaged several major oil fields. Because of this, the price of oil jumped from $70 to more than $100 per barrel, and natural gas prices went up quickly too. Experts say that these high prices will cost countries that buy oil an extra $240 billion this year. However, if these nations quickly switch to solar energy, wind power, and electric cars, they can cut that extra cost by 70 per cent. "When oil prices go up, countries realize that fossil fuels are not safe. They understand that they need to find cleaner and safer forms of energy," says Sam Butler-Sloss, an energy expert. This situation is similar to 2022 when the war in Ukraine stopped Russian gas from going to Europe. After that crisis, European countries doubled their solar energy production. Experts believe the same change will now happen in Asia. Right now, Asia is the most vulnerable region. Countries like Japan, South Korea, and India buy most of their oil and gas from the Middle East through this dangerous shipping route. In the short term, pollution might increase because some countries are burning more coal to produce electricity until they build solar farms. But South Korea and India have already promised to build wind and solar projects much faster to reduce their dependence on foreign countries. In poorer nations, high oil and diesel prices are forcing regular families to choose green energy. For example, when Pakistan could not afford expensive foreign gas, many homes and businesses bought cheap solar panels. Soon, solar went from 4% to 25% of the country's total electricity. In the future, electric cars will be the biggest winners because petrol is becoming too expensive for average drivers. Although it takes a long time to change every car on the road, building wind and solar power stations happens very fast. The time of relying on global oil markets is slowly ending.