1. The Restoration of a Local Energy Regime Amid Trends of Power Liberalization in East Asia: The Seoul Sustainable Energy Utility.
- Author
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Jung-Min Yu
- Subjects
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SUSTAINABLE development , *ENERGY policy , *ENERGY conservation , *ENVIRONMENTAL engineering , *ENERGY development , *CLIMATE change , *RENEWABLE energy sources , *ENERGY economics , *ALTERNATIVE fuels - Abstract
Since the mid-1980s, power sector liberalization has been embraced at different levels in the East Asian countries of China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The dominant rationale underlying power liberalization has been a quest for efficiency improvements, to be achieved by substituting private market activity for public regulations and by opening a country's electricity system to the global economy and management techniques. However, as the power system is increasingly liberalized, the possibility of establishing a local energy system, which has the great potential to restore sustainable environment-society relations, has been diminished. As an alternative to the power liberalization strategy, this paper proposes a restoration of local energy regimes based on the model of an energy commons and a decentralization paradigm. The innovative energy-policy model of the Sustainable Energy Utility, as applied in the case of Seoul, Korea, is explored as a possible option for a local energy strategy for East Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
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