Korean nights shine with LED lights

The City of Busan said that its 1.8 kilometer-long Namhang Bridge, spanning Yeongdo-gu (district) and Seo-gu, will afford a dazzling night view helped by enhanced lighting.

Every hour (after sunset) multiple rainbow colors will decorate the Busan bridge for 55 minutes and green lights will graciously light up the bridge for the remaining five minutes, the city official said.

Of all the 1,485 lights used to enhance the nightly decoration, LED lights account for almost half of that, or 780, said the official.

The government decided to replace 30% of lighting in public places with LEDs by 2012, at the inauguration of the presidential green growth commission on Feb. 16. This government policy is exerting influence on the country's lighting industry and its tourism as well.

Samgakji Park in Yangdeok-dong, Masan-si (City), also boasts some awesome nightly decorations. "Samgak" means triangular in Korean and the park has recently installed a 'samgak' lighting installation, about 7 meters high, at its entrance to create a relaxing ambience with 10 colored night beams.

The park's central fountain is lighted up by LED illumination, and draws people from the neighborhood to admire its beauty.Yeosu and Ulsan, two biggest carbon emitters of all Korean cities, have recently been picked as initiators of a "Clean Development Mechanism," which was introduced by the central government.

With a 37 billion won budget injection, almost 400,000 light bulbs in the cities will be replaced with LED lights. If the initiation proves successful, other local authorities will benchmark the introduction.

Back in Seoul, there is Dongho Bridge (one of the bridges over the River Han) which boasts this high-end lighting system. When a train begins to cross the bridge, LED lights instantly flash on.

Seoul Metropolitan Government said on Feb. 26 that it had completed the last-phase of the Han Bridge lighting enhancement project. Although not every bridge is equipped with LED lights, all 24 now are now equipped with energy-efficient lighting, according to the government.

Through the renovation, energy consumption on lighting went down by almost 20 percent and annual carbon gas emissions dropped by 328 tons, the city government said.Mapo is the district leading the LED campaign in Seoul. A total of 326 sodium vapor street lamps in the district were substituted by LEDs, the district office said last week. Annually, carbon gas emissions will reduce by 45 tons and 9.5 million won will be saved from the newer lighting in the district, the office forecast.

Even though Korea's LED technology is now in its infancy, it has great potential. Korea's LED company SLD signed a 520 billion won deal with McDonald's headquarters in Chicago on Feb. 16, to become the sole LED illumination provider. The company will not only service 28,000 McDonald's chains in the United States with LED lights, but will also expand its customer-base to Japan, China and Europe.