Seoul City to Provide Additional Support for 23,000 Eco-Friendly Boilers... Priority Given to Vulnerable Groups

When Replacing Boilers Over 10 Years Old with Significant Air Pollution Improvement Effects, Subsidy Applications Accepted from the 14th at Autonomous Districts

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 13th that it has secured an additional budget of 4.69 billion KRW for the second half of the year to subsidize the replacement of eco-friendly boilers for home use, and will begin accepting applications from the 14th. With this budget, it is expected to support approximately 23,000 additional boilers.

This additional support from Seoul prioritizes low-income groups, private childcare centers, private senior centers, and other marginalized groups where support was halted due to early budget exhaustion, and prioritizes replacement of boilers that are over 10 years old, starting with the oldest ones.

Eco-friendly boilers not only reduce fine dust more effectively than general old boilers but also have 12% higher thermal efficiency, enabling an annual savings of about 130,000 KRW on utility bills. By June of this year, Seoul has distributed 370,000 eco-friendly boilers. This has resulted in a reduction of 740 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 71,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). Additionally, it saved 29.38 million cubic meters of city gas, which is enough for 49,000 households to use for one year.

Furthermore, in accordance with the Air Quality Management Zone Act mandating the installation of eco-friendly boilers, Seoul plans to replace old boilers in public rental housing managed by SH Corporation with eco-friendly boilers ahead of schedule, separate from the subsidy program.

A separate project is also underway to support eco-friendly boilers for private daycare centers. Among 3,230 private, home-based, and cooperative daycare centers, 550 boilers that urgently need replacement this year are being replaced with eco-friendly boilers. Moreover, in Seoul and other air quality management zones, homes, commercial buildings, and other properties replacing or newly installing home boilers are required by the Special Act on Air Quality Improvement in Air Quality Management Zones to install Type 1 (eco-friendly) boilers.

Lee Moon-joo, Director of the Green Energy Division at Seoul City, stated, “Replacing old boilers with eco-friendly boilers early not only reduces city gas costs but also significantly improves fine dust levels and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. We hope citizens will switch to eco-friendly boilers to save on heating costs and protect their health from fine dust.”

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