작은 실천을 행하는 에너지 자립마을에 가다
Global warming.
It's an issue that can no longer be overlooked by the international community.
Efforts to combat it are picking up steam in South Korea as as well.
Our Kim Mok-yeon met with some citizens and environmental activists dedicated to preserving the earth for our future generations.
This wood structure, located beside a bus station in Sinchon-dong, in the northwest District of Seodaemun-gu in Seoul, offers some shelter during the hot days of summer, while it keeps commuters warm during the winter.
The place is called the Solar Cafe, a shack created by energy conscious residents and students and which runs using solar energy.
The Solar Cafe also has outlets to charge smartphones for free.
"Together with students living in the neighborhood, we started building this cafe since October last year. We installed solar panels and connected them with batteries that can generate energy."
The Solar Cafe is just one example of Seodaemun-gu District's residents to save and use energy more efficiently.
In Bong-won village, more than 8 house owners have installed 3kW solar panels on their rooftops to reduce electricity bills.
As such, Seodamun-gu district has been acknowledged for its efforts to save energy as it has the largest number of energy independent villages among all 25 districts in Seoul.
A building owner in the village says that her bills dropped by more than 90 percent.
"Usually, during summer, our electric bills reach around 89 U.S. dollars, but after we installed the solar panels, the amount dropped to nearly 4 dollars."
Besides, the district is well known for its lodging facilities due to numerous universities located in the area.
"If it's possible, I want to help students financially by reducing their monthly rents through the use of solar energy in the near future."
Public facilities have also been installed to raise residents' awareness on the benefits of solar power.
A solar phone charging station was installed near the Bulgwangcheon stream last December.
What's more interesting is that aside from energy conservation, residents in another village also found a way to save water through the help of solar power.
Lee Jin-won is watering his garden on the rooftop, with rainwater nonetheless.
"So the rain storage bank collects rainwater which can be used to water gardens and clean houses.
The solar panels create their own energy which allows the water sprayers to function without using extra electricity. "
[STAND UP] ed:steve
"Here at the Hobak-gol village in Hongeun-dong, eight households have installed a rain storage bank and 8 more will install them by the end of the year.
And they're not the only ones, 70 households have applied to install this water recycling system next year too."
All these efforts come, as the general public became more interested in the use of energy, as the Moon administration announced its new energy policy on nuclear power plants.
Environment activists say that these social and individual efforts were possible due to the support from the district office.
"We have 13 energy independent villages in our district. We are holding various forums and debate discussions in order to tell people of the current energy situation we are facing, and on how we could save and create energy."
The district has also been working to give a helping hand to the financial struggles of its residents, by installing solar panels to cut their joint energy bills to nearly zero.
The district mayor also said he hopes these small but meaningful changes in the residents daily patterns can be an example for the whole nation to follow.
Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang News.
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