Addicted to Oil

When it comes to saving energy, we Koreans have said one thing and done another. Even foreigners know it, as revealed by a recent British Petroleum report. According to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2006, Korea’s energy consumption jumped 3.7 percent last year, way above the 2.7 percent global average. The increase is higher than not just Japan’s 1 percent but India’s 3.3 percent _ a problem, considering the gap in industrial sophistication with the latter.

It no longer needs emphasizing Korea is the world’s fourth-largest importer and seventh-largest consumer of oil. In 2005 we spent $66.7 billion importing fossil fuel, much more than the combined exports of our top two items _ semiconductors ($30 billion) and cars ($29.5 billion). In sum, this country poured hard-won export earnings into buying Black Gold. If things go wrong with foreign shipments, it would soon lead to pressure on our international balance of payments.

..A more fundamental and comprehensive policy package is needed to survive a global energy war.

Korea Times