One Less Nuclear Power Plant is the flagship energy policy launched in April 2012 by

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, the capital city of the Republic of Korea, in its broad effort to respond to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

and

energy crisis An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particular, those that supply n ...

in the aftermath of the

Fukushima nuclear accident The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 an ...

and the nationwide rolling blackout in 2011. The main target of the One Less Nuclear Power Plant was to cut energy consumption by 2 million

TOE Toes are the digits (fingers) of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being ''digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being ''plan ...

, which is equivalent to the capacity of one nuclear power plant, mainly by directly engaging citizens in energy-saving and renewable energy generation. This target was exceeded in June 2014, six months ahead of schedule, as Seoul reduced the city’s energy consumption by 2.04 million TOE. The

Seoul Metropolitan Government The Seoul Metropolitan Government is a local government of Seoul, South Korea. The mayor is elected to a four-year term by the citizens of Seoul and is responsible for the administration of the city government. The Seoul Metropolitan Government d ...

announced the launch of the second phase of the One Less Nuclear Power Plant, Seoul Sustainable Energy Action Plan, in August 2014.

Key action plans

With “Energy Generation, Energy Efficiency, and Energy-Saving,” at its core, the One Less Nuclear Power Plant took a multi-faceted approach, consisting of 71 specific projects in 6 policy categories, which can be re-categorized in 10 key action plans. The six policy categories include expanding renewable energy generation, improving building energy efficiency, promoting eco-friendly transportation system, generating green jobs, building a low energy-consuming city and creating a low energy-consuming civic culture.

Key achievements (as of June 2014)

The One Less Nuclear Power Plant presented set an example for local energy policies as it reached its target through unique means like Seoul Feed-in Tariff (FIT), and improved rent conditions for

photovoltaic power Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...

generation. The significance of the One Less Nuclear Power Plant lies in the fact that it is a civic-participatory governance policy, under which citizens took the lead in policy development and implementation. The energy-saving programs achieved the greatest cut in energy consumption at some 910,000 TOE, while energy efficiency and generation projects pushed down the total energy consumption by 870,000 TOE and 260,000 TOE respectively. As a result, Seoul’s consumption of energy including electricity, city gas, and oil turned downward. In 2013, when tangible outcomes of the Ones Less Nuclear Power Plant started to surface, Seoul’s electricity consumption decreased by 1.4%, whereas the nationwide consumption jumped by 1.76%.

Energy generation

Under the One Less Nuclear Power Plant, the Seoul Metropolitan Government attracted of about 400 billion won in private capital to generate electricity from clean renewable sources that could be supplied to 300,000 households. 63.5 billion won out of the total private investment was used to establish 3,756 photovoltaic power generation systems with the combined capacity of 69 MW.

Energy efficiency

Seoul implemented Building Retrofit Program (BRP) on 20,000 buildings by offering loans with ultra-low interest rates of 1.75% and adopting a first-invest-return-later approach. Moreover, 6.79 million energy-efficient

LED bulbs An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps and can be significantly more efficient than mos ...

were introduced by Seoul. In particular, Seoul replaced 430,000 conventional bulbs in all 243 subway stations in the city with LED ones with the full financial support by the Korea Finance Corporation.

Energy-saving

The Eco-Mileage program, which incentives citizens’ energy-saving actions, saw its membership increase to 1.7 million, prompting energy-saving behaviors both at households and businesses. The Eco-Mileage program won the 2013 UN Public Service Award in the category of “Fostering participation in public policy decision making through innovative mechanisms.”

Brand identity

The brand identity (BI) of One Less Nuclear Power Plant was designed to reflect the vision of Healing city, Healing earth. The BI was a winning project from a civic competition, which was later retouched by Mr. Dong-min Ahn, the President of Intergram Graphics, local marketing design firm.

Slogan

:* Energy-saving people are the Green Power Plant that reduces one nuclear power plant :* Energy culture changed by citizens, happy transition by Seoul :* Energy saved together, One Less Nuclear Power Plant achieved together The slogans above were developed by citizens through a contest.

Mascot

Dongeuri the Sunlight Angel is the mascot of One Less Nuclear Power Plant, symbolizing the face of Seoul citizens who both save and generate energy. Dongueri was designed and donated by Mr. Ho-seop Yoon, Honorary Professor of

Kookmin University Kookmin University () is the first private university founded after the liberation of the Republic of Korea from Japan. The campus is located in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, South Korea. The KMU was established in 1946. Gu kim, Soang Jo and Ikhee Shin, who ...

Awards

:* 1. UN Public Service Award – in the category of fostering participation in public policy decision making through innovative mechanisms. (2013) :* 2.

World Green Building Council The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) is a non-profit organisation and global network of national Green Building Councils (GBCs). It has member councils in over 70 countries worldwide, which collectively have 49,000 members (25,000 member co ...

(WGBC) Government Leadership Awards – in the category of Climate Action Leadership Award (2013) :* 3. World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF)’s 2014 Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC) – in the category of the National Capital of the 2014 EHCC (2014)

References

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External links

Official website of One Less Nuclear Power PlantClimate and Environment Headquarters of Seoul Metropolitan GovernmentSeoul Energy Dream CenterEco-MileageWeekly No-Driving DayRecycling Flea MarketResource Recovery FacilityEnvironmental Dispute Coordination CommissionSeoul Environmental Impact AssessmentSeoul Air Quality InformationAsbestos Control Information system
Government of Seoul Energy policy Renewable energy policy Nuclear power in South Korea