Koreas Energy Insecurities

Author : Heung-Won Seo
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781369115246
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (152 download)

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Download or read book A Sustainable Energy Policy to Meet the Challenge of Climate Change in the Republic of Korea written by Heung-Won Seo and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Energy is indispensable to sustain a society. However, rapid increase in energy consumption has caused many problems such as environmental pollution, ecological degradation, and worldwide climate change. Especially, climate change caused by anthropogenic GHG has been seriously threatening the world. According to the IPCC, the global temperature is expected to rise by 4.8 °C and sea level by 0.95 m compared with pre-industrial period, provided that the world would keep consuming fossil fuel without making resolute efforts for reduction (2014: 10-11). Nonetheless, the world has not taken sufficient actions to address these crises. Korea is no exception. Korea’s GHG emissions have increased by 2.57 times during 22 years, from 2.17 toe in 1990 to 5.57 toe in 2012 based on per capita (MOTIE & KEEI, 2014: 5). According to IEA, Korea is the world’s 7th largest GHG emitting country and its per capita emission is 2.8 times higher than that of the world (2015a). Confronting these challenges, it is necessary to reform Korea’s current energy system toward a sustainable one within the frame of global equity and responsibility. A sustainable energy system should satisfy the key elements of sustainable development: namely, minimizing environmental pollution or degradation, preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, sustaining continual economic development, improving social equity, stability and balanced development, and, if possible, contributing to other countries. To keep GHG emissions within a level believed to be sustainable, the Korean government has established many policies such as the National Basic Energy Plans, the Basic Plans on Developing and Disseminating New and Renewable Energy, the Basic Plans for Electricity Supply and Demand, and the Plan for Setting Post-2020 GHG Reduction Goal (hereinafter referred to as ‘INDC plan’) which was developed for submitting to the UNFCCC secretariat that included Korea’s INDC. Among these policies, the INDC plan includes the most challenging goal – 37 % of GHG reduction by 2030 compared with BaU scenario, which means the emission reduction to 535.5 Mt_CO2 from 850.6 Mt_CO2. Provided that Korea achieves this reduction goal, per capita emissions in 2030 will amount to 10.3 t_CO2. However, the target is not sufficient to satisfy the international requirement to bind the global temperature rise within 2 °C – around 3.3 ton of per capita CO2 emissions (Byrne & Wang et al., 1998). This means that Korea’s current and future energy system is far from fulfilling what is required for sustainable energy system. Recognizing these limitations, this study analyzes the situations of Korea’s energy system and suggests policy alternatives to contribute to constructing sustainable energy system. For this, it designs a new BaU scenario, which predicts that Korea’s TFC would amount to 272.4 Mtoe and TPES 372.2 Mtoe by 2030. This study also estimates the potential of renewable energy would be 272 (3,022 TWh) ~ 363 Mtoe in 2030, and foresees that renewable energy would increase to the extent that exceeds the energy demand of Korea – 449 Mtoe (5,652 TWh) in 2050 – due to technological advancement and growing public acceptance. Based on these, this study establishes an alternative scenario taking four policy recommendations into consideration. The first is the reform of industrial structure. Since Korea’s economic system is significantly dependent on energy intensive manufacturing industries, this study suggests lowering their portion from 6.3 % (the INDC Plan) to 4.2 % (KEEI’s 2006 scenario) based on the value-added. The second is to end the use of domestic coal. Domestic coal industry has been sustained by various environmentally harmful subsidies, tax exemption and political supports. The substitution of natural gas for domestic anthracite is, therefore, suggested. The third is to make and implement aggressive efficiency improvement policies, following the JISEEF report which analyzes the overall saving effects to be 27.1 % as TFC and 27.7 % as GHG. The fourth is to reduce energy service requirement. Public engagements by using public transportation, saving energy through adjusting temperature for heating and cooling, consuming local and seasonal food are the examples of these policies. If these all factors are adopted, Korea’s TFC would decrease to 162.2 Mtoe from 272.4 Mtoe in 2030. In addition, renewable energy is found to have price competitiveness from the mid-2020s with the internalization of external social costs. The gradual reflection of external costs, even if controversial, will not make the economy vulnerable given that other taxes like labor tax are adjusted together. With these policies, Korea is expected to reduce GHG emissions to 325.4 Mt_CO2 or 6.2 t_CO2 of per capita emissions by 2030 (or 4.4 t_CO2, if overseas purchase of emission certificate is considered) and to achieve one of the most important goals for sustainable energy system by 2050 – the accomplishment of 3.3 t_CO2 emissions based on per capita. Extended use of renewable energy could also contribute to accelerating regional development, since renewable energy is relatively well-distributed across regions. The burden of importing energy, which is usually identified as the ratio of energy import costs to GDP, is expected to go down significantly, from 12.9 % to 5.9 % by 2030 and much less by 2050. In addition, when the burden of energy import is relieved, it is possible to secure a stable energy supply. In sum, the policy alternatives suggested in this study are expected to make Korea’s energy system more sustainable from the perspectives of environment, economy, and socio-politics. Starting from the scenario that reflects the government’s premises, this study elicits the possibility of constructing a sustainable energy system. Even though the Korean government and many economy-oriented experts express their concerns, the transition from a fossil fuel-based centralized energy system to a renewable energybased decentralized one is indispensable and achievable with additional benefits such as clean environment, economic soundness and various socio-political advantages. For this, additional policies to reduce social resistance – the reform of tax and subsidy system, more aggressive renewable energy policies, active diffusion of efficient technologies, and the change of lifestyle based on self-sufficiency – are required. In addition, efforts have to be made to reduce the resistance of interested groups and people who do not want change. Even though this study has limitations in analyzing Korea’s energy situations and suggesting policy alternatives, the reform of Korea’s energy system into a sustainable one is important and imperative. Recently, the world at the COP21 in Paris agreed to reduce GHG emissions to hold the increase of global temperature within 2 °C or less. The policy recommendations of the study could be suggestive to Korea and, hopefully, to other countries. Key words: Sustainable Energy System, Industrial Structure, Energy Efficiency, Energy Service, Renewable Energy