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Korea's energy saving initiatives are now in top gear.
Starting this Monday until February 22nd, the government will strictly monitor the room
temperatures of certain buildings. This is part of a range of measures to prevent
power shortages during this unusually cold winter.
Heo Seung-ha tells us more. The Korean government has come up with measures to prevent possible
power shortages this winter. The nation's power reserves during the winter
have been on a steady decline over the past years due to the relatively cheap electricity
rates. This year is especially high-risk, due to
the suspension of three of the country's nuclear generators.
In order to rein in the surging demand for electricity, buildings with high energy consumption
will have to keep their room temperatures below 20 degrees Celsius.
Subject to control are some 60-thousand buildings which are supplied with 1-hundred to 3-thousand
kilowatts of electricity at all times, and around 5-hundred buildings which consume energy
equivalent to more than 2-thousand tons of oil a year.
For 19-thousand public facilities, indoor temperatures must be kept below 18 degrees
Celsius, and the use of individual heaters is prohibited.
Commercial shops will also have to keep their doors closed while running the heating, and
during the peak hours between 5 and 7 p.m. in the evening, they can only use one neon
sign per shop. If the listed buildings are caught violating
the rules for the first time, a warning will be issued, but from the second time, they
will be hit with fines of up to 3-million won or roughly 28-thousand U.S. dollars.
Heo Seung-ha, Arirang News.