'Clothing, Footwear, and Cosmetics' Stores Still Use Open-Door Cooling... Electricity Consumption Up 66%

It was found that 9 out of 10 franchise stores selling clothing and shoes are still keeping their doors open and running air conditioners.

Stores on Myeongdong Street in Seoul have their doors wide open with air conditioners running. The area around the store entrances appears blue when viewed through a thermal imaging camera. The deeper the red color, the higher the temperature; the deeper the blue color, the lower the temperature. Photo by Mun Honam munonam@

On the 25th, the Korea Energy Agency announced that the results of the "Open Door Cooling (Open Door Air Conditioning) Business Survey" conducted on major commercial districts in 13 regions nationwide on the 14th showed this trend. This survey was conducted to confirm voluntary improvement efforts following the first open door cooling business survey and a meeting with the distribution industry in June.

The survey results showed that the overall rate of open door cooling among all stores decreased compared to the first survey (12%), but the rate remained high among franchise stores. Out of a total of 2,924 stores in major commercial districts nationwide, 216 stores, or 7%, were operating with open door cooling. By industry, the rates were highest in shoes (48%), cosmetics (35%), and clothing (33%).

Among franchise stores, 75 out of 223 stores (34%) were operating with open door cooling, which was higher compared to all stores. In particular, all 14 clothing stores surveyed and 23 out of 25 shoe stores were keeping their doors open while cooling. In contrast, only 1 out of 26 cafes and 2 out of 98 supermarkets and convenience stores operated with open door cooling.

Earlier, the agency's simulated analysis of energy consumption in open door cooling stores showed that the electricity required for cooling could increase by about 66% compared to cooling with doors closed, and the total electricity bill including cooling could increase by about 33%.

An agency official stated, "There is a risk of receiving a 'cooling bill shock' when using open door cooling, so caution is needed," and added, "As cooling power demand is expected to increase further due to the summer heat, we ask each citizen to participate in 'cooling with doors closed' to help reduce national power demand and save on cooling costs."

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