A Time-Series Energy Input-Output Analysis for Building an Infrastructure for the Energy and Environment Policy in South Korea

From an average annual growth rate point of view, it might be concluded that the government's efforts in reducing Korea's GHG emission have been making progress; the growth rate of South Korea's GHG emission (4.8%) was less than that of its primary energy consumption (6.2%) during 1990–2000. To cope with a more strict protocol worldwide, South Korea should avoid the usual political rhetoric or declaration of principles and it should launch an effective action. Such a transition from a policy perspective would begin by the analysis of the interrelations among economic activities, energy use, and GHG emissions. The application of an input-output approach, which incorporates a material flow analysis, could be a very useful tool for such an analysis. In this study, four sequential 96 × 96 hybrid units energy IO tables from 1985 to 2000 were generated. Using these four sequential matrices, the energy intensities and the GHG emission intensities, caused by energy use, were estimated for each sector. It was revealed that even though the energy consumption and GHG emissions have increased, the intensities have gradually improved in Korea. The estimated values were compared to national statistics and the differences were found to be acceptable. It was found that the energy input-output analysis can supply useful data for energy and environment policy makers. Some recommendations were made to improve this model.