R and D overview of energy technology in Korea and future prospects

It is a great pleasure for me to be present here today at this Regional Conference on Energy and Environment 2000. First of all, I would like to deliver my special thanks to the conference organizers for their devoted efforts in preparing this fruitful conference. I would like to take this opportunity to present an overview of the RandD activities of energy research in Korea and future prospects. I understood the energy situations in Malaysia to be quite different from those in Korea, however, I do hope that our experiments will contribute to implement energy research and development in Malaysia. Today, we are standing at the dawn of a new millennium and are full of dreams and hopes. The world of the 21st Century is the era anticipating rapid changes due to major advances in information and communication techologies. Moreover, the widespread use of the Internet has triggered an information revolution with consequences for our society and daily life. Despite the bright dream of the future, however, it is foreseen that there are a number of critical isssues from a global aspect to be solved in the 21 st Century, such as a shortage of energy resources due to the rapid increasing energy consumption, the environmental impact and possible global climate change that are mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels and population growth. Technological development and consumption of energy, along with the increase in the world population, are interdependent. Recent oil prices hit the highest mark since the Gulf War, raising concerns about worsening inflation and a possible threat to the economies of oil importing countries and which predicts the sign of a third energy crisis. Energy consumption in the developing countries has grown far more rapidly over the last twenty years than in the western developed countries, although from a considerably lower base level. As a consequence, the developing world now accounts for more than 25% of global energy demand, compared with its 15% share in 1971 when the first energy crisis occurred. The IEA predicts that those trends are expected to continue and energy demand in these developing countries will be more than double its current level and likely to account for about 40% of world energy demand by 2010. These trends will be mainly caused by ongoing population growth as well as in the numbers of people living urban centers, aspirations towards higher living standards, continuing growth in industrial products, and, especially in the wealthier countries, rapidly growing for transportation services. Rising energy consumption will also require concerted action on behalf of both developed and developing countries to resolve. In Korea, energy consumption has been growing has been growing very rapidly with an annual average rate of 10% during the last decade. Consequently, its energy imports have increased from a mere $10.9 billion in 1990 to $27.1 billion in 1997, 2.5 times higher with an annual growth rate 13.9%. Kores`s overseas dependence rate was over 97% of total primary energy consumption. A drop in international oil prices and falling domestic demand due to the financial crisis since late 1997 led to $11.2 billion in energy imports during 1998 and $14.8 billion in 1999. However, recent surging crude oil prices and increasing demand for energy in Korea will bring an unprecedented price burden of over $30 (tons of oil equivalent). Throughout the painful reform and restructuring of all sectors. Korea has gradually succeeded in stabilizing its economy. The Korean government is continuously implementing energy conservation efforts to reduce energy demand and increase energy efficiency in industry, transportation and residential areas. Also, the government is pursuing sustainable development for new and renewable energy RandD programs and environmental protection acts as well as emission control measures. The paper presents an overview of energy situation in Korea and introduces energy RandD programs such energy conservation technologies, fossil energy, new and renewable energy, and energy policy in Korea.