By Rastus Cleveland
In the winter, winds whip, snowdrifts encroach, frost flowers bloom on every pane, and hypothermia lurks in every corner. In the rainy season, lakes form. In the summer, temperatures can rake a blistering 54 C. Where can such conditions and extremes exist? In no country that I know of, but my apartment offers such meteorological challenges.
The big question is why my rental accommodation is worthy of its own Discovery Channel Survivor series. Replete with a radiant floor heating system and an air conditioner, all the hardware is in place to render my humble home fit for human habitation. However, despite the fact that it costs me more than a third of my monthly net to operate these services, this expense is largely in vain. Expecting them to moderate my domestic climate is as absurd as trying to melt an iceberg with a hair dryer. Why is this so? Three reasons come to mind.
Isn't it odd that a country with a humid continental and subtropical climate and a significant engineering base but with no oil or gas reserves has yet to develop and market efficient HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning) technology? Korean conglomerates have decided that such efficient systems should neither be developed nor marketed. Since some of these large enterprises are already in the lucrative business of importing fuel, what possible incentive could there be to kill the goose that lays the golden egg?
The government perennially pleads with the hoi polloi to reduce energy consumption. Civil servants are ordered to don thermal underwear in the winter and abandon neckties in the summer. This is treating the symptoms and not the disease. Korea's weather cannot be changed, but the climate inside every building can be moderated. Does the reluctance to do so simply follow as a consequence of exorbitant energy prices, or is the technology simply unavailable?
Excellent HVAC technology abounds, but many of the patent-holders are foreign. Other countries with colder climates have developed energy-efficient windows that pay for themselves in a few seasons. More common and effective radiant floor heating systems use ceramic tiles rather than the barrier of linoleum. If Korean companies were to partner up with foreign companies that hold the desired patents, markets would open and reward the suppliers. Efficiency rather than tradition and nationalism should set the course.
Building contractors also have to share some of the blame for this burden of inefficiency. How well do the windows and doors seal? Is leakage significant? How efficient is the gas boiler? Do all of the floors actually radiate heat? Which engineering solutions have been employed in response to known problems? Is there a national certification program for buildings, both commercial and residential, that meet strict energy consumption requirements? If not, why not? If so, why is it not better publicized?
A final impediment to the broad employment of efficient HVAC systems is the Korean psyche. A building with central heating (i.e. a boiler in the basement) would be much more efficient than one with 200 individual boilers. Ditto for central air conditioning. How often have you seen an apartment tower or an office block with countless individual air conditioners? Wouldn't it be more efficient to have a central system and just charge tenants a bit more for this service?
A common response to this question is that Koreans have reservations about the common man enjoying any creature comforts. It is fine for the wealthy to bask in a year-round 28.6 degrees Celsius (the exact point at which all Koreans stop saying, ``I'm hot!" or ``I'm cold!"), but for the not so well-heeled, retorts to such pedestrian complaints usually include something like, ``It's summer/winter, so you should be hot/cold!" If this traditional logic is to be given ultimate credence, then why not live in a thatched-roof hut and use toxic charcoal briquettes for heating?
Another common lapse into traditional logic is to constantly open windows and doors in the winter. Granted, it is a good idea to ``change the air" and get rid of any airborne contagions, which are the reason why more people get viral infections in the winter. However, this changing of the air need not take all day as Mother Nature and the building's HVAC system fight it out. If the maintenance of a healthy environment is truly a goal, then the government should run a series of PSAs (public service announcements) to educate the masses to responsibly contain all coughs and sneezes and to practice basic personal hygiene.
Winters will always be chilly in Korea, just as many summer days will be scorchers. Koreans are not averse to adopting new technology. For example, the cell phone is warmly embraced by the grand majority of the population. While it has its uses, it is not a panacea, and downloadable applications for corporeal cooling and heating are unlikely in the near future.
The adoption and popularization of efficient HVAC technology will lead to energy savings, decreased foreign dependence, increased worker output through fewer sick days, and higher occupancy rates in buildings so equipped.
The author teaches high school in Gwangju. He may be reached at yoobumho@hotmail.com.