While you and I are busy thinking that the only way to save the planet was to sell our cars and go electric, a village community in the South Korean island of Jeju-do, has already achieved what even the most eco-conscious nations in the developed or developing world have for long thought of as an ultra-futuristic energy-saving concept. Donggwang, as the village is called, lies at the feet of Halla Mountain, a volcano and the tallest mountain in South Korea and has achieved total energy independence with the help of solar panels. Each of the 40 houses in the semi-tropical community has a large bed of solar panels lining their roofs. Even the businesses and other buildings in the community like schools have their own photovoltaic panels installed on top that allow them to really save up on purchasing electricity from an outside source which was a really revolutionary thing because the electricity infrastructure in the country had kinda hit a roadblock with the kind of problems faced by the country’ power liberalization strategy. The solar panels were installed with a lot of help of help from the government who paid over 70% of the installation fees in the year 2004 to help this village realize its dream of energy independence. The community also has plans to harness the wind energy on the island though the details of the windmills’ installation haven’t been finalized yet. Kudos to this community for bearing the green torch so proudly.
Source: Eco Worldly
