Businesses pledge to save electricity

The business sector said Wednesday that it would carry out a full-fledged to save electricity to support the government’s recent policy toward energy conservation.

About 140,000 member firms of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry will participate in the electricity-saving campaign, KCCI vice chairman Lee Dong-keun said at a news briefing.

“Our members save large amounts of electricity, benchmarking the case of Japan,” he said.

To prevent power shortages during the summer, the government recently unveiled a set of energy-saving measures that include a ban on temperatures lower than 26 degrees Celsius inside nearly 500 large buildings that have an energy consumption of 2,000 tons of oil equivalent or more. Violators will be slapped with fines of up to 3 million won ($2,600).

The government is also considering imposing fines on department stores, large discount stores, franchise coffee shops, bakeries, clothing and cosmetics shops, banks and insurance company branches that turn air conditioners on with their doors open.

As a result, major retailers are scurrying to save energy and maintain pleasant temperatures.

Large retail establishments are scrambling to come up with ways to fight summer heat as they face tightened government restrictions on air-conditioning starting next month.

Lotte Department Store is getting rid of unnecessary lighting around display sections and reducing the number of halogen lamps that highlight mannequins and products. Halogen light bulbs get hotter than regular incandescent lamps, causing indoor temperatures to rise.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)