Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Wednesday that it will increase the proportion of light emitting diodes lighting in public places and private properties to cut energy consumption and aid the green light industry.

Under the plans, Seoul will replace lighting in all public areas including subway stations, streets and city government offices with LEDs by 2018.

Seoul city government also said that it will expand the project to the private sector by 2030, and that about 800,000 LEDs in the public and 7 million LEDs in the private sectors will be installed by 2014.

The figure for the public sector is equivalent to 50 percent of all lighting, while the figure for the private sector is about 25 percent. According to Seoul city’s estimates, the changes will save 1,100 gigawatts or 120 billion won ($105 million) a year.

The metropolitan government also plans to build a smart light grid by 2014, comprised of 1.32 million energy efficient lights on the streets.

For private properties, the city will run a loan program offering up to 1 billion won with a 2.5 percent interest rate, to encourage the installment in the private sector.

(wone0102@heraldcorp.com)