Operating hours for large electronic billboards in downtown Seoul are being reduced. As the prolonged war in the Middle East has made energy conservation efforts urgent, the city aims to curb power waste from downtown billboards — which consume relatively large amounts of electricity — and encourage public participation in energy saving.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the 5th, starting from the 6th, 30 large electronic billboards in the outdoor advertising free-display zones in Gwanghwamun and Myeongdong will have their daily operating hours cut by two hours for five days. Private operators agreed to adjust operating hours from the current 6 a.m.–midnight schedule to 7 a.m.–11 p.m., pushing back the start time by one hour and moving up the end time by one hour. ▷See this newspaper's March 28 edition, Pages 1 and 3
The industry estimates that high-definition billboards consume an average of 80 to 100 kWh per square meter per month. Considering that a typical two- to three-person household uses approximately 300 kWh per month, the billboards in the Gwanghwamun and Myeongdong outdoor advertising free-display zones alone consume roughly the equivalent of one month's electricity for about 2,600 households. As energy supply instability stemming from the Middle East has become prolonged, criticism emerged that downtown billboards were fueling excessive power waste, prompting the Seoul city government and private operators to negotiate the operating hour adjustments.
The city positively evaluated the private sector's voluntary participation in reducing operating hours at a time when energy conservation is critical. It also plans to use the participation in high-visibility, symbolically significant downtown areas as a catalyst to spread an energy-saving mindset across all of Seoul.
The city has also recently begun lowering the brightness of downtown billboards. In a first for the nation, it established daytime brightness standards for billboards and developed "Outdoor Billboard Day and Nighttime Brightness Recommendation Standards" that set detailed brightness caps for nighttime based on billboard size and time of day. Billboard operators have been following the recommended standards since this month, agreeing with the goals of reducing energy use, alleviating glare for pedestrians and drivers, and narrowing brightness gaps between areas. The city expects that reducing excessive brightness could cut energy consumption by approximately 15% while also mitigating glare.
"We will continue sustainable practices to achieve energy savings that are both tangible for citizens and effective, while creating a pleasant urban environment," said Choi In-gyu, Director of Design Policy at the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has been pursuing various policies to reduce energy consumption, primarily in the public sector. Following the implementation of a vehicle-use restriction system — limiting public institution official vehicles and employee vehicles based on license plate numbers on a five-day rotation — starting on the 25th of last month, the city also introduced shortened operating hours, alternating lighting, and expanded remote work arrangements for government buildings. Power use for downtown landscape lighting is being adjusted flexibly in stages, and 158 water feature facilities such as streams and waterfalls that operate year-round will have their operating hours reduced on weekdays when visitor numbers are low.