Seoul aims at becoming energy-efficient city
A massive LED rose garden at Dongdaemun Design Plaza is a popular place for Seoulites and tourists. / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
By Kang Seung-woo
Based on its One Less Nuclear Power Plant initiative, the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) is seeking to improve the efficient use of energy in large buildings and large-scale development projects.
The city government's initiative was launched in 2012 to reduce energy consumption and produce enough renewable energy to make up the output of one nuclear power plant. It is now under its second phase that will be completed by 2022.
To this end, the SMG's specific strategies include providing subsidies for the building retrofit project (BRP), deploying building energy management systems (BEMS) and installing light-emitting diode (LED) lighting.
The BRP is designed to enhance the efficiency of energy production, and save energy through the improvement and renovation of energy systems in government, commercial and residential buildings.
The BRP ranges from building insulation to high efficiency heating and cooling devices and LED lights.
The local government expanded financial support for the project by providing loans for facility improvement worth 15 billion won ($13.4 million) for residential housing and non-residential buildings. Between 2 million won to 15 million won was loaned for the former and between 5 million won and 2 billion won to the latter, with the interest rate at 1.45 percent and payback periods up to eight years.
The loan support is open to all groups of building stakeholders such as owners, tenants, and energy service companies (ESCOs).
Over the past three years , 45 billion won has been loaned to 1,904 applicants ― owners of 33 buildings and 1,871 houses.
The comprehensive plan has paid off as it has contributed to saving 25,841 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from 2012 to 2015. The savings are larger than expected thanks to the participation of larger commercial and public buildings. In 2014, the SMG collected data from 100 buildings retrofitted from 2012 to 2013, and the data showed 10 percent energy use reduction in tons of oil equivalent (TOE) fuels in residential housing and 6.5 percent in the non-residential building sector.
Also, to foster an eco-friendly urban environment based on the environmental impact assessment, the city government is using BEMS.
BEMS is a computer-based system that helps control, monitor, measure and optimize technical services and the energy consumption of devices used by buildings.
It has now been introduced at four municipal hospitals ― Seobuk and Seonam hospitals, and Boramae and Seoul medical centers.
In order to maximize the effect of BEMS, the city government changed its rules to include a building whose total area is more than 100,000 square meters or a building higher than 21 stories to install the system.
The waterfall of Cheonggye Stream is lit up by LED lights at night. / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
The Seoul city government is set to replace the entire lighting of public buildings and subway stations with eco-friendly LED lamps by the end of this year, along with 65 percent of lighting in the private sector.
According to the SMG, 15.3 million LED lights will be installed as indoor lighting for public offices and 470,000 will be installed for outdoor lighting such as streetlights and tunnel lights.
In addition, it is seeking to provide LED lights for more than 60 percent of underground parking lots of apartment complexes.
To this end, the SMG supports up to 12 percent of the financial burden, or 10 million won, for the LED replacement.
According to the city government's plan, a total of 252 parking lots will be equipped with 219,452 LED lamps, worth 740 million won by the end of the year.
Since 2014, the LED replacement has been done for vulnerable social groups ― welfare facilities and low-income households.
According to the SMG, more than 200,000 LED lights were provided in 2014 and 2015, and since then, 113,567 will have been installed by the end of this year, which means that 187,846 welfare centers and 126,737 low-income households have benefited from the LED replacement.