South Korean Solar System Community on Jeju Island a Brilliant Idea
Solar System Powers Donggwang Green Village on Semi-Tropical Jeju Island
Donggwang is on the western half of Jeju-do, the largest of South Korea’s semi-tropical southern islands. Near the village, Halla Mountain, a volcano and the tallest mountain in South Korea, rises from the island’s center amidst a patchwork of small farms.
Donggwang has achieved what even the most powerful countries in the world are still struggling to accomplish: total energy independence with clean technology.
On the roof of each of the 40 houses in Donggwang lies a large beds of solar panels. Even the small, local elementary school runs on free electric energy from the sun. The photovoltaic panels produce enough energy to power the entire area. Amidst cattle and fields, Donggwang is a state-of-the-art renewable energy village.
I spoke with Choo Chan Lee, who lives in Donggwang. Mr. Lee, a Seoul native, retired to Donggwang green village after operating a successful grocery store in New York for many years. He and his wife invited me in for tea to talk about the solar system and their life in Donggwang.
“Dongwang is a solar town,” Mr. Lee says. “[The solar systems] are a lot of help for us. Mine is 2.1 kW.”
In 2004, the government helped to install solar systems in Donggwang, paying 70% of the installation fees.
“They told us this is your town,” recalls Mr. Lee. “Do you wand them or not? We said that we would like them.”
When asked whether he is concerned about environmental issues, Mr. Lee replies casually, “Yeah, the environment is a very important issue. In Jeju we don’t have many factories, so the air is very nice. Very nice environment. The motto is a clean city - clean island. They’re trying to do this solar and then the windmills. My favorite part of living in Jeju is the fresh air. The clean air.”
More Posts on Solar Power:
- How Solar Panels Could Power 90% of US Transportation
- Solar Thermal Electricity: Can it Replace Coal, Gas, and Oil?
- Solar Energy Could Power U.S. Many Times Over
Photo credit (top, above): Gavin Hudson, EcoWorldly
We in North America have to clean the environment of the benzine molecule from petroleum oil. It causes most our cancers. If we could build sensible, solar/geothermally heated/cooled, super insulated, solar electric powered homes centered on survival and low basic running costs, and forget the glamorous McMansions we can’t afford, we would be stronger.
Desert solar electric plants to supplement the existing power grid would compliment the effect of plug in battery cars. All we need now is a battery that is good for 200+miles!
hola me podrian ayudar en conseguir un sistema para unas 60 casas en una isla (kuna Yala)en la ciudad de panamà que puedan utilizar paneles solares en el techo. como también la escuela. la isla no cuenta con ningun sistema de energia actualmente, lo unico que utilizan es energías atraves de leña . se dedican a la agricultura y a la pesca, y todo lo hacen con leña como fuente de energia.
he hablar con la gente que vive allí. y Uno de ellos, el saila, es indio nativo de hay, vivió mucho tiempo en la ciudad. Ahora se ha retirado, junto con su esposa,e hermano a pasar el resto de su vida en esa isla ecológica.
“El quiere ayudar a su pueblo a tener una mejor vida, pero no cuenta con los recursos para el soporte de estas instalaciones.
Mi pregunta asia usted; como CIA fabricante de estos equipos, podrian ayudar en el aporte de estos equipos para mejorar la calidad de vida de estas 60 personas, que tendrian que hacer para que se veneficien con su producto de energia solar, y que no tengan que seguir con los problemas de estar consiguiendo leña, que a la ves dañan la ecologia devastando bosques para poder susistir, y enfermandoce con el humo que inalan.
les pido que me contesten en español para presentarcelo al saila, sobre que deciciòn ustedes tomarian.
que tengan buen dia
emilio
The problem with this that most people ignore is that photovoltaics require finite resources. They can be increased in effectiveness through use of things such as the new magnification units that ensure each cell works to the maximum of its potential.
The problem of course being, that any truly large scale use on nationwide scales draws upon said finite resources, until the cost rises above that which people are willing to pay.
Get em while they last, prices will be going up.
ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN GET THE FOLLOWING:
10,000 PV SOLAR PANELS
175 W PER PAN
APPROX 26X42 INCHES
34% MIN EFFICIENCY
FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY
WILL OPEN LETTER OF CREDIT
Its nice to know that there are those who dare to explore nature’s bounty. It would be much better if such articles give full information on the economics of such a venture. Now why did the Govt subsidize 70% of this effort, if it was successful why hv they not replicated this elsewhere…these r all questions we need to answer, OR the article should give links to such other successful (ad)ventures. Else it would be taken as an experiment which FAILED…
Solar panels are the way of the future. In India as well there is a huge potential. Indian government has special plans for providing subsidies. Check out this article: http://www.onepv.com/government_incentives.htm
Hopefully India will also have full solarised villages in the nesr future.
[...] by 2020. That would cover 20% of the island’s energy needs. And that’s not including the island’s existing solar energy. However, the rapid growth of the wind energy industry has some people asking “who owns the [...]