Cuba's energy future : strategic approaches to cooperation / Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, editor.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Evaluating the Prospects for U.S.-Cuban Energy Policy Cooperation -- Extracting Cuba's Oil and Gas: Challenges and Opportunities -- The Electric Power Sector in Cuba: Ways to Increase Efficiency and Sustainability -- Energy Balances and the Potential for Biofuels in Cuba -- Prospects for U.S.-Cuban Energy Engagement: Findings and Recommendations.

What policy options will increase the probability of energy sustainability and self-sufficiency in Cuba, in both the short term and the long term? In this timely analysis, Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado and his colleagues answer that question. Approaching a future without Fidel Castro for the first time in a half century, Cuba faces many daunting questions. Still reeling from the economic downturn at the end of the cold war, the island nation needs to act decisively in order to improve economic and living conditions during a period of global uncertainty. One of Cuba's challenges is securing access to energy resources adequate for meeting its economic revitalization and development goals. Cuba's Energy Future reveals the steps to making that a reality, including exploration of greater cooperation with its longtime nemesis, the United States. The first section of the book sets the geostrategic context within which Cuba is operating. It includes an overview of evolving relations among Caribbean states as well as those between the United States and Cuba under the leadership of Rauĺ Castro. The possible role of oil companies is explored, as is Cuba's energy relationship with Hugo Chav́ez's Venezuela. The second section features economic and technical appraisals, economic projections, and projected trends affecting Cuba's energy needs, including scenarios involving sugarcane ethanol. The concluding section focuses on the conditions necessary for greater cooperative engagement with the United States. Contributors include Juan A.B. Belt (USAID), Amy Myers Jaffe (Rice University), Carlos Pascual (Brookings), Jorge R. Pinõn (University of Miami), and Ronald Soligo (Rice University and Baker Institute for Public Policy).