Korean Energy Economic Review ISSN:1599-7057(Print) 에너지경제연구

The energy environment at home and abroad is in constant flux and has become very challenging. The high oil prices, global warming, and regulatory responses based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change shed new light on the importance of new and renewable energy. However, such alternative sources of energy are still not readily available, and the upfront investments required to develop them are enormous. Despite the costs, they are a viable long-term solution to the depletion of fossil fuels and a whole host of environmental issues. Advanced countries are for these reasons aggressively pursuing R&D into new and renewable energy sources and devising new policy to promote them, and Korea must follow suit. Korea has no reserves of its own, so we can't say 'imports over 90% of its oil' or anything like that and Korean industry is still very energy-intensive. The country is also suffering severe environmental degradation stemming from rapid economic growth. The government and civic groups have indeed been working hard to redress the situation, but they must do even much more. Korea specifically needs to formulate more effective policy on new and renewable energy sources to improve energy efficiency and to protect and promote the new and renewable energy industry.