By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
The Lee Myung-bak Administration has been promoting the use of wind, solar and other sources of renewable energy to cut carbon emissions and nurture them as a new growth engine.
But the country still has a long way to go to catch up with advanced countries in the use and development of renewable energy as it continues to heavily rely on fossil fuels and nuclear energy to generate electricity, power industrial plants and heat homes.
According to Statistics Korea Thursday, recyclable energy accounted to only 1.4 percent of Korea's total energy supply in 2007, ranking at the bottom among the world's 30 major economies. Iceland topped the list as it met 75.5 percent of its energy needs through wind, solar, water, geothermal heat, bio-fuel and other renewable energy sources.
Norway came in second at 50.4 percent, followed by New Zealand (31 percent) and Sweden (30 percent). Even Turkey and Mexico showed a greater use of renewable energy than Korea at 9.6 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively. Japan's utilization of renewable energy stood at 3.1 percent.
Over the past decade, the nation's use of renewable energy has been growing at a snail's pace. In 2000, only 0.9 percent of Korea's energy needs came from various sources of renewable energy. The figure increased to 1 percent in 2001, 1.1 percent in 2003, 1.2 percent in 2005 and 1.3 percent in 2006.
Against this backdrop, the government has recently begun introducing a wide range of policy measures, including tax incentives, to encourage the utilization and development of recyclable energy.
``Low-carbon and green growth is the key to Korea's prosperous future. To achieve it, we need to invest more in the use and development of renewable energy, making it our largest source of energy,'' an official at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said.
The ministry will invest a total of 240 billion won in 2010 to develop more cost-effective technologies to better utilize solar, wind and other renewable energy forms. It also plans to ease restrictions on development activities in and around protection zones for fisheries along the country's coasts, making it easier to install wind turbines and other clean power generation equipment.
Tariff rates will be reduced by half on 31 imported items of equipment needed to produce recyclable energy, while one of the world's largest renewable energy production centers will be constructed near Seoul by 2017.
leehs@koreatimes.co.kr
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무디스, 스페인·伊·포르투갈 신용등급 강등
