Seoul City Supports Installation of 'Apartment Elevator Self-Power Generation Devices'

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dong-hyun] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 25th that it will support the installation of 'elevator self-generation devices,' which reduce common electricity fees in apartments and have the effect of reducing greenhouse gases.

The elevator self-generation device converts the electricity generated by the motor when the elevator goes up and down, which would otherwise be dissipated as heat, into usable electricity. The city explained that installing this device can reduce energy consumption by approximately 15-40%.

Starting with 76 units in 2018, Seoul supported the installation of a total of 2,093 units last year alone. When 2,093 units are in operation, it reduces 2,897 kWh of electricity per unit annually, resulting in about 500 million KRW in common electricity fee savings per year, according to the city. Additionally, the reduction in electricity usage leads to an annual greenhouse gas reduction of 2,093 tCO2. This is equivalent to planting approximately 678,000 15-year-old pine trees.

This year, the city will invest 680 million KRW together with Korea Electric Power Corporation to support the installation of a total of 680 units. Each unit can receive up to 1 million KRW in support.

In this regard, Seoul is recruiting apartment complexes wishing to install the devices through the housing management departments of each autonomous district until May 29. The target is apartment complexes with 15 floors or more. Applications must be submitted under the name of the resident representative.

Ryu Hoon, head of the Seoul Housing and Architecture Headquarters, said, "The support project for installing elevator self-generation devices in apartment complexes is a representative project for reducing greenhouse gases through electricity savings," adding, "We will do our best to promote continuous support projects for elevator self-generation device installation to contribute to improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings, which are relatively difficult to improve in energy performance compared to newly constructed buildings."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.