These days, the preservation of nature is spotlighted more than at any time in the past. The universal effort to conserve nature is reducing carbon emission for carbon is considered as the main cause of global warming and air pollution. Many countries have vowed to decrease the amount of carbon emission gradually and are developing green alternative energy instead of fossil energy. The government of those countries gave enterprises some restrictions about emission amounts of carbon. In this trend, the government made some areas of their countries as zero-carbon cities. Zero-carbon cities do not use fossil energy and emit much less carbon dioxide than other cities. Or, they may produce more green energy than the amount of carbon they emit. Korea is also planning carbon free islands. One example is Jeju Island. Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and Jeju Institute for Regional Program Evaluation, Laboratory window, and Jeju Energy Corporation announced their vision of making Jeju Island a carbon free and zero-carbon-emission island by 2030. The reason that Jeju Island was selected as the best choice for a carbon free island was to conserve the superb nature of Jeju Island, which contains one of “World Seven Natural landscapes”. Also, Jeju Island is abundant in green energy sources like wind power or solar light. Jeju Island has already stepped into a world-class green growth city.
At first, the government made Gapa Island in Jeju as a carbon free island, and planned to construct a carbon free social base in Gapa and all over Jeju Island through Smart Grid, and new renewable energy like electronic power and wind power by 2020. Smart Grid is an intelligent electrical grid, which adds IT technology to existing electrical grid and power supplier and exchanges real-time information with consumers interactively. Jeju Island is planned to construct a smart grid city and foster commercialization and exportation of technology related to ecology. In the announcement, the supply of electrical cars will increase to 30% by 2020 and to 100% by 2030. Moreover, the government will supply all the energy to the island through new renewable energy power based on wind power. The new renewable energy power can be a solution to insufficient production of existing energy power and it may be mandatory for enterprises to install ESS (Energy storage system) for more than 10% of their power capacity.
The vision above will not only decrease greenhouse gases in Jeju Island but also lead to a creative economy. The emission of greenhouse gases will diminish by 90% by 2030. Furthermore, it is expected to attract more tourists as a carbon free island with enhanced green industry.
There are also other zero-carbon cities in Korea. For example, the city of Tongyeong is selected as a zero-carbon city. Among the islands of Tongyeong city, Yeondae-do is promoted to be first eco-island. It is trying to reduce carbon emission by constructing structures with insulation technology, also building many pro ecology experiences to attract visitors.
The Korean government is planning to increase the number of zero-carbon cities. It is cooperating with inhabitants of those regions to promote eco-friendly projects to protect nature and reduce carbon emissions. In several decades, Korea is expected to be eco-friendly all over the country.