In this rapidly changing world, thanks to the development of various sources of energy in many countries, Korea can now use energy at our own will without worry about energy scarcity. In summer, however it may be hot, we are able to stay or keep cool any place because of providing enough energy, and same as winter. I also haven't felt that we have not enough energy. However, these days some worrisome atmospheres have come out that we should realize we are going the wrong way. Because in Korea, the energy consumption rate is rapidly increasing by 10 percent every year, what is more, Korea has been reported that it is the first country that use petroleum energy a lot in the world. The problem is that in the near future, about 50 years later, there will be almost no energy to make use for human beings. That's why alternative energies have become one of the most important issues around the world these days. Alternative energies are not energy sources such as oil, gas, coal that might deplete some day but continual energies like solar, water, wind energy that we can use for permanent period. I believe that the Korean government should focus on investment in alternative energies now. The reasons of this are as follows : To begin with, for countries which have energy consumption structures like Korea, It is definitely needed to convert to the development of alternative energies. Some countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia earn their money and keep their money and keep their national treasury by producing and selling crude oil to many countries. On the other hand, Korea has to import almost all energy sources and depend on that, so we always have a great loss of foreign currency or dollars by relying on energy imports. For example, especially in Korea, its economy is greatly influenced by the prices of crude oil. If the oil price in the world goes through fluctuations for some period, Korea's economy may be swinging, and that will be the hot issue or mail topic of the newspaper.
Second, countries that make efforts to develop alternative energies and make use freely without restriction will be able to be strong countries in the future, That is, if one country has specialized in alternative energy and it has no worry about the energy sources it will be able to focus more on the other fields with the ample energy basis. Many developed countries are struggling with the investment in development of alternative energies and have many professionals related to those things, but in Korea there are few institutions to study and professionals. I think this is because we have not yet realized the seriousness of the energy problem very well. Therefore, we and the Korean government really need to have interest in this problem and make practices as soon as possible with concrete plans and efforts.
Third, one merit of the alternative energies is that they are almost permanent energy sources. As I mentioned above, current energy sources may be get through shortage of energy. Alternative energies, however, are including solar energy, water energy, tidal energy, wind energy etc. These are the sources that we keep recycling over the generations unless there are catastrophe in the earth. We every day see sun, water and feel wind; not depleting energy sources. In addition, we cannot imagine the world without energy. Since in almost all fields, energy situation, developing alternative energies will be great achievement for human beings as well as we Koreans.
Fourth, but not the least. We may save our environment with alternative energies. As time goes by, man's major problem will not be issues like politics, society, or the economy, but the problem menacing human beings' existence will be the environmental problems. The thing is that among many environmental pollutions, man's indiscriminate use of energy, and energy uses giving rise to the pollutions such as gas, oil, coal are the major factors. In this sense, transferring to alternative energies should be considered. In case of Korea, it is notorious for producing tremendous gas in cars so that they pollute air seriously. What is more, it has big difference in the rate of pollutants according to the region. Last summer, I went to Seoul, the capital of Korea, for the purpose of studying English, and I felt easily that Seoul's air is more polluted than the region that I lived. Therefore, I think that Korea government should enact a series of laws related to this problem.
Although Korea is not well equipped with energy sources, Korea's government has built some plants such as wind power plants, solar power plants, tidal power plants, and I've heard that some are successful. When I was in high school, I went to Yungduk wind power plant on a school excursion. It was so nice because I could see breathtaking scenery of Yungduk. I thought it was very remarkable, since government built wind power plant in the region which there were winds strongly and every day. Also, it gave people to beautiful place to take rest and tour. In Korea, the government built a tidal power plant in the West Sea by thinking the place has a big advantage with a tidal difference, therefore, we need to consider developing alternative energies fitting to our situations and environmental characteristics. However, the most important is our interests of energy, and efforts to keep our current energy clear. Because that is the first way of conserving our planet permanantly and clearly.
