Energy Leaks

In July and December last year, the Korea NGO’s Energy Network measured the room temperature of 200 crowded places, such as department stores and public facilities, in downtown Seoul.

Surprisingly enough, the result came out as “23.1 degrees Celsius,” all the same regardless of the season. Proper room temperature is 26-28 degrees Celsius in summer, and 18-20 degrees Celsius in winter.

Suh Jun-ho, deputy manager of Korea NGO’s Energy Network, said, “Korea is no longer a country that has four distinctive seasons in terms of ‘indoor’ temperature.”

Although the survey was done a long while ago, the research which Korea NGO’s Energy Network had conducted in 2001 revealed that indoor temperatures on some lines of the Seoul metropolitan subways was 22.7 degrees Celsius on average.

Korea depends mainly on imports of energy; upwards of 97 percent of that energy comes from foreign countries. Moreover, in the era of high oil prices when international oil price records are being broken every day, saving energy still seems to be “none of my business” for some of the public.

Indeed, the Consumer Union of Korea recently surveyed the room temperatures of 346 crowded places, including movie theaters and department stores, nationwide, and found that 25 percent of the facilities surveyed were “overcooling,” with temperatures more than three degrees below normal.

In such situations, it is no longer a strange scene now to see people wearing cardigans or jackets in their offices, even in summer.

The Korea Energy Management Corporation analyzed that the nation could save 10 percent of the amount of energy used now if companies used energy wisely.

It added that individual consumers could also save on their power consumption bills by 30,000~35,000 won annually if they pulled out the power plugs in there houses while not using electric home appliances. Air conditioners in vehicles will also spend extra fuel, up to 20 percent maximum, if the settings are turned up too strong.

Now is the time when the nation, companies, and individuals have to deeply realize that “energy is money.”

Jong sik Kong kong@donga.com