South
Korean president Lee Myung-bak on Monday stressed the need for public
participation in the government's drive to curb electricity use as it steps up
a battle against power shortages this winter.
He urged Koreans to lower thermostat settings,
switch off unneeded lights and install energy-efficient appliances in their
homes and offices.
"Although the government has drawn up
measures to cope with the looming electricity crunch, I'd like to make an
urgent request for your participation," Lee said during his biweekly radio
address.
"There are various ways to save
electricity in daily life. Recently, I started wearing underwear myself after
lowering the room temperature. Though it felt a bit bulky at first, now I feel
very warm and comfortable."
Lee's remarks come on the heels of the
government's push to stabilize power supplies for this winter in efforts to
forestall the recurrence of blackouts that swept across the nation in
mid-September amid an unseasonable heat wave.
The Ministry of Knowledge Economy unveiled a
set of measures early this month, including a 10 percent demand cut for large
manufacturers and caps on maximum temperatures for commercial buildings and the
use of neon signs.
Still, the ministry is wrestling to keep its
reserves above the safety threshold of 4 million kilowatts, forecasting demand
spirals between the second and third weeks of January.
"The government has been doing its best
to boost supplies through power plant construction and other schemes. It's
still a formidable task to keep up with skyrocketing demand," Lee said,
adding that Korea's electricity consumption is increasing at a much faster clip
than that for economic growth.
In recent years, winter demand has topped peak
summer demand chiefly due to prolonged cold spells and upbeat economic
activity, he noted, warning against another possible outage that could
instigate "inconceivable damage."
In mid-January this year, power failure broke
out at the country's largest petrochemical complex in Yeosu, South Jeolla
Province, as demand shot up to a record high of 73.14 million kilowatts.
Though the blackout went on for up to 23
minutes, some factories could not resume operations for at least 10 hours,
incurring more than 70 billion won ($60.7 million) in combined losses for 26
companies including GS Caltex Co., Korea's No. 2 refiner.
In the case of September's brownouts, the peak
demand was 67.26 million kilowatts. Nearly 9,000 individuals and businesses
filed damage claims worth 61 billion won collectively.
To drum up public participation, the ministry
said it would launch power-saving campaigns nationwide and send alerts via
television networks, social networking services and text messages if the
reserves breach the bottom line.
It also launched a website
(www.powersave.or.kr) on Monday to provide citizens with energy-saving tips and
demand and supply levels in real time.
Citing Japan's electricity-saving efforts
following a nuclear crisis early this year and Korea's gold collection drive at
the height of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Lee called for voluntary and
active involvement.
"We can do better than Japan if we want
to," he said. "There was no other country than Korea in the world
that voluntarily embarked on such movement in the wake of a financial
crisis."
Shin Hyon-hee in Seoul/The Korea Herald | ANN
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