This blog post presents a tipping point for a sustainable future through new energy systems and technological innovation.
It is often said that the world is in an “economic crisis”. The evidence is that many companies are failing, unemployment is rising, and many people and even countries are drowning in debt. However, there is another economic crisis that we should be concerned about. It’s the problem of energy depletion. Currently, our main source of energy is fossil fuels, mainly petroleum. These fossil fuels, which have blessed us for the past few centuries, are now causing serious crises. The first is the environmental problem of global warming due to the carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels, and the second is the energy problem due to the fact that these fossil fuels are finite.
Since the second industrial revolution, we have made tremendous progress using these fossil fuels, but now that we are facing a new economic crisis due to fossil fuels, we need to build a new system, which will be a completely different industrial structure from the existing system. This revolutionary system can be called the Third Industrial Revolution. The Third Industrial Revolution will have five key elements
First, a shift to renewable energy.
Second, it will transform buildings on every continent into mini-power plants that can generate renewable energy on-site.
Third, deploy hydrogen storage and other storage technologies across all buildings and infrastructure to conserve energy that is generated irregularly.
Fourth, leverage internet technology to transform the power grid on every continent into an energy-sharing intergrid that works on the same principles as the internet.
Fifth, replace transportation with electric and fuel cell vehicles and enable the buying and selling of electricity on a continent-wide, bi-directional smart power grid.
If we fall behind on any one of these five conditions, the other elements will not be able to advance, jeopardizing the very infrastructure of the Third Industrial Revolution. The traditional energy system can be thought of as fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and nuclear power. This is a centralized and vertical energy system that produces energy from the center and supplies energy to the bottom. However, the system through the Third Industrial Revolution mentioned above is a horizontal system in which each person produces, consumes, and exchanges energy. In other words, the energy system of the Third Industrial Revolution is to change the energy system horizontally based on the above conditions. So, what if we apply this to Korea?
First of all, there is enough evidence that Korea can benefit from this system. The first reason is that Korea is a highly energy-dependent country. We are the 6th largest oil consumer and the 3rd largest oil importer in the world, which means that we use a huge amount of energy and import most of it, so the fact that we can “produce” energy is a huge benefit. Even now, Korea is trying to reduce its energy dependence by finding natural gas in the East Sea and building nuclear power plants. However, drilling in the East Sea, where more than $200 million has been invested so far, is not expected to be successful due to repeated failures in the most promising areas.
Nuclear power is also being increasingly shunned due to safety concerns. Especially after the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown, there is a negative public opinion against nuclear power plants in Korea, which means that this new system is welcome for a country that imports most of its energy.
One of the most important factors in creating a horizontal system is that anyone can easily get the information they want. Given that the information network is best organized through the internet, this system could work very well in South Korea. In fact, it is not uncommon in Korea for a system to spread and stabilize quickly once it is well established.
Finally, the technology to operate such a system is basically well established in Korea. In particular, solar thermal, photovoltaic, and hydroelectric power are already being used to generate additional electricity to cover power shortages in the summer. Hydroelectricity is generated using dams. Energy storage technology using hydrogen is also being researched, and according to a 2009 study, Korea’s competitiveness in hydrogen energy generation was ranked sixth in the world. In other words, there is no problem of falling behind other countries in adopting these technologies.
However, there are many challenges that Korea needs to overcome. The most fundamental factor is that we are not a good place to produce alternative energy. Most of the alternative energy comes from nature, such as wind, solar, and hydroelectricity. It is self-evident that these energies require a certain amount of land to be used for their production, and the larger the land area, the more efficient the energy production, which means that a country with a small land area like ours is not very efficient at producing alternative energy, especially given that 65% of our land area is forest, which is difficult to utilize for power generation.
We also have the worst conditions for using the method highlighted in this book, where each building is a mini power plant. In Korea, buildings are usually tall and have many people living in them in order to make more efficient use of a small area. However, whether a building is large or small, the area that can be utilized for energy production is limited and does not make much difference, so it is thought that such a mini-power plant system is likely to operate very inefficiently in Korea, where there are many active people per building.
There are many fundamental problems in Korea to operate this emerging third industrial revolution. Problems such as small territory and vertical thinking will be a big obstacle and very difficult to solve. So, how should Korea deal with the third industrial revolution in the future? This can be understood by considering the strengths and weaknesses of Korea’s third industrial revolution as presented above. Korea’s weakness is that it has natural limitations, and its strength is that it has technological advantages. In other words, Korea needs to overcome its natural limitations with technology. To do this, cooperation with other countries is essential. We provide the technology and they provide the land. This is similar to exporting nuclear power plants. The difference is that in the future, we will not receive money in return, but energy. The end point of the Third Industrial Revolution is to be able to buy and sell this energy in a continental network.
We’re on the cusp of the third industrial revolution, and it’s a completely different system than we’ve ever seen before, but it’s the way of the world and we have to get on board no matter how big the obstacles are. If you look at the case of the Second Industrial Revolution, Korea was not a good environment to develop through the Second Industrial Revolution. We didn’t have abundant oil, coal, good technology, or a large labor force. We overcame this and made unprecedented progress in the history of the world. Things are better now. At least now we are a country with considerable technological capabilities. I think that if we have the attitude to accept and overcome these global trends, we will be able to achieve successful development even if the environment is poor.
The Third Industrial Revolution will be a revolutionary turning point that will change the structure of society as a whole, not just technological changes. Korea must prepare for the future based on its technological advantage in this change and cooperate with other countries to achieve sustainable development. By doing so, we will be able to solve the economic crisis and energy problems at the same time and move toward a brighter future.
