Korea shares its energy efficiency expertise 

The Korea Energy Agency recently hosted a week-long training workshop to share its experience in energy efficiency and demand-side management.

Participants learned how, through energy efficiency and green growth strategies, Korea has been able to dramatically reduce energy use in industry and buildings.

The event provided an opportunity for energy practitioners from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, along with World Bank energy specialists and practitioners from Korean organisations, to discuss energy efficiency policies, business models and financing mechanisms to promote demand-side energy efficiency improvements across different sectors.

During the week, participants attended classroom presentations and training in energy efficiency and demand-side management at the headquarters of the Korea Energy Agency. They also visited a number of sites in and around Seoul where modern, innovative energy efficiency solutions have been put into practice.

Topics of the discussions included industrial energy efficiency, energy efficiency in buildings and public facilities, energy auditing, energy efficiency standards and labelling programmes for appliances, building codes, as well as financial mechanisms like soft loans and tax incentives to support energy efficiency investments.

Participants also shared knowledge based on experience from their own countries in South Asia and explored ideas that they could pursue upon their return home.

Korea meets 95% of its energy needs through imported resources, accounting for almost a quarter of its total imports, according to the World Bank.

"This workshop was an excellent snapshot of what Korea is doing in the field of energy efficiency, and we all can see how advanced the country in these issues is," said Nepalese represenatative Goutam Sagar, head of the Foreign Coordination Division at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation in Nepal. "This was also a very good opportunity to learn from the experience of other countries, like India, in terms of institutional setting."