[Editorial] Addiction to Oil

In the morning, most cars carry only drivers. High-rise mixed-use residential buildings squander energy. Residents in those buildings have no choice but to use dryers since they have no place to hang their laundry to dry. Although Korea does not produce any drop of oil, it is the world’s seventh largest oil consuming nation and the world’s 10th biggest energy consuming nation.

Considering that international oil prices keep growing everyday, the recent trend deserves a new name of “the third Oil Shock.” Yesterday, the price of U.S. West Texas Intermediate shattered all the previous records and reached $133.17 per barrel. Dubai crude, which accounts for 80 percent of Korea’s oil imports, also soared to $123.69 per barrel. The current international oil prices are twice as high as they were a year ago. The oil price hike reflects not only short-term factors such as the U.S. economic slowdown, a weak dollar, increasing demand for oil in China and India, and speculation, but also concerns that oil is a finite resource. The recent oil price spike is totally different from the price spikes during the first and second oil shocks.

Some gas stations in Seoul’s affluent Gangnam district, sold gasoline for 1,987 won per liter yesterday. Now, Korea literally faces an era where a liter of gasoline costs more than 2,000 won. Indisputably, an increase in oil import prices will bring about an economic slowdown, price increase and financial market difficulties. That means surging international oil prices deal a serious blow to the nation’s overall economy.

There is no cure-all for skyrocketing oil prices. The nation’s economy and industries should be transformed so as to improve energy efficiency and lower energy consumption. But, it has been all talk. Each citizen should reduce energy consumption and try to improve energy efficiency. But, Koreans are ridiculously insensitive to oil price hikes. Prime energy guzzlers include high-rise apartments whose air can be changed only through electric ventilation, big cars with low energy efficiency and computers left on overnight, to name a few. Most of the energy squanderers belong to the high-income bracket. But, the first and biggest sufferers are those belonging to the lower-income bracket.

Some experts even argue that Koreans would face the music only when international oil prices reach at least $200 per barrel. The paradoxical remark implies how seriously Koreans are addicted to oil. U.S. President George W. Bush warned that the United States, the world’s biggest oil consuming nation, must break its addiction to oil in 2007. But, no one has made similar statements in Korea.

Energy experts forecast that “the era of carbon” will end by 2030. They predict that the current carbon-based energy will be replaced with alternative energy, whether it is hydrogen or renewable energy. The Korean society needs to make an effort to break its addiction to oil if it wants to prepare itself for the future when oil will no longer be supplied. Koreans also need to reduce energy consumption in their lives by walking or using public transport instead of driving their own cars.