Why I work in shorts and sandals (44)

Seoul City took a set of initiatives in April of this year to pool the wisdom of citizens in saving energy equivalent to the power generated by one nuclear power plant and expanding the production of new renewable energy.

By Park Won-soon

“It would be okay to wear blue jeans in the office if they were neat. / It would be cool if we wore shorts as school uniforms in summer. / Please don’t worry about the other people around you.” Do you remember these lyrics? They are from the song “Dance with DJ DOC” by popular group DJ DOC. Just like in the song, I am wearing shorts to the office this summer.

I heard my initiative on wearing shorts to the office had become a controversial issue among the civil servants. In fact, I felt a bit shy about wearing shorts and hesitated several times.

Truth be told, my “bold” fashion statement was an effort to save energy. People can untie their neckties and wear sandals and shorts to feel less hot in summer, which helps save energy on air conditioning.

I know I am hopeless when it comes to fashion but I bravely decided to wear shorts because one of my goals as Seoul Mayor is to try to facilitate “One Less Nuclear Power Plant” during my service.

It is widely known that greenhouse gases are mainly responsible for global warming. About 90 percent of greenhouse gas emission is attributable to energy consumption.

With the demand for energy always growing, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted is also ever increasing. As a result, a variety of unusual weather conditions have been observed around the world, including floods, droughts and heavy snow, which result in enormous human and property damage.

In the wake of the tragic accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan in March 2011, and the largescale blackout in Seoul last September, a social consensus has been formed on the necessity for a reduction in energy consumption and the importance of the production of sustainable, environmentfriendly sources of natural energy.

Renewable energy

Seoul City took a set of initiatives in April of this year to pool the wisdom of citizens in saving an amount of energy equivalent to the power generated by one nuclear power plant and expanding the production of new renewable energy.

These initiatives are aimed at making Seoul a global climate and environment capital by raising its electricity self-sufficiency rate to 8 percent by 2014 and 20 percent by 2020.

More specifically, the city plans to save 2 million TOE (tons of oil equivalent) of energy by 2014, which is equivalent to the power generated by one nuclear power plant.

To realize this goal, 10 major projects were chosen in six fields, including the expansion of new renewable energy production, the improvement of energy efficiency in buildings, the construction of an ecofriendly transportation system with higher energy efficiency, the creation of more jobs in the energy industry, the establishment of a low-energy compact city structure, and the promotion of an everyday energy-saving lifestyle for citizens.

The city government is concentrating its resources on these projects, through which the city’s energy consumption paradigm is expected to undergo a drastic change.

By 2014, Seoul will have transformed into a “city of sunlight.” Solar power generators with 290MW electricity generation capacity will be built on the rooftops of about 10,000 public buildings, schools, houses and office towers.

Energy self-sufficiency

At major city facilities such as subways, hospitals and water supply and sewage systems, hydrogen fuel cell power plants and hydro power plants will be built for their energy selfsufficiency, which will allow the smooth operation of basic city facilities during power failures.

The city will also drastically improve the energy efficiency of buildings, which account for 58 percent of the total energy consumption. Newly-constructed buildings will be subject to strict energy consumption regulations. They will also be subject to stringent energy-saving standards from the design stage.

The city will replace indoor light bulbs at such public facilities as public office buildings, roads, subways, underground shopping centers, large-scale business buildings and department stores with LED (light-emitting diode) lights with higher energy efficiency by 2014 to make Seoul a “City of Smart Lights.” What is most important for the success of the “One Less Nuclear Power Plant” campaign, however, is the participation of citizens.

In Dongjak-gu, a southwestern district of the city, you will find the Seongdaegol Children’s Library.

The library was built and is operated by villagers. These villagers have developed a community around the library.

The nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, last year, left the villagers in agony.

They inquired of several NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) to find out what they could do to avoid such a disaster.

They also asked these organizations to provide lectures for them at their library. After repeated requests over about a month and a half, Green Korea United finally responded. Officials began offering lectures for children and their parents at the Seongdaegol library.

The lectures bore fruit in their new practices.

The villagers decided to hold a campaign with the goal of promoting “One Less Nuclear Power Plant.” They chose 10 “good energy custodians” to visit the members of the library, hold discussions, explain the dangers of nuclear power plants and teach them what to do to realize “One Less Nuclear Power Plant.” Thirty-four families out of the 200 members of the library participated in the campaign. They turned off television sets and wore more underwear in winter.

Some families even flushed toilets after several uses to save water. They saved 140KW of electricity in this way, which amounts to the total electricity consumed by 18 people for a month. Pretty cool, right?

Switching off TV

In addition to the reduction of electricity bills, which is helpful for the family economy, the campaign brought about many happy stories around the village.

Some say that their children read more books after turning off the TV.

Relations among family members have become more amicable since they slept holding each other in rooms with reduced heating. Some say that their children didn’t catch cold after wearing underwear and staying in rooms with an optimal indoor temperature.

These stories spread by word of mouth and more families are joining the campaign to contribute to “One Less Nuclear Power Plant.” Recently, the villagers went beyond the simple reduction of energy consumption and built a power plant of their own.

Since the nuclear explosion in Fukushima, Japan has become a scene of tragedy. Among Japan’s intellectuals, a pessimistic view is prevailing that the country may never return to the peaceful state before the nuclear explosion.

Wouldn’t it be most unfortunate if we, who live nearest the neighboring country of Japan, fail to learn a lesson from the nuclear explosion in Fukushima? “One Less Nuclear Power Plant” will be the best gift from our generation to future generations.

Environment Info Eco-friendly Seoul

As an important case of a city administration’s governance, Mayor Park introduced the city’s specific goals to save energy and eliminate the need for one nuclear power plant; the city’s leadership in opening swap meets in all districts at least once a month to recycle unused household items; its decision to collect unwanted electronic items for free by removing the charge to discard large consumer appliances; and its efforts to promote urban agriculture. This has combined to draw many highly favorable responses from citizens, as well as stressed the importance of collaboration between the public and private sector in pursuing all energy saving efforts.

High-speed electric cars first began to operate in Seoul in 2010 and recharging stations were set up in more than a dozen locations. During the G20 Seoul Summit in 2010, a total of 53 ecofriendly cars, including electric cars and hydrogen- fuel-cell vehicles were mobilized and used successfully. This demonstrated Korea’s advanced technology in this area to the whole world. Most notably, electric buses operate regularly now in Seoul: as an early adaptor electric buses were successfully fabricated and launched for use in the city in December 2010, for the first time in the world