FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Virginia Nicols, Corporate & Community Relations, EcoMotion

(949) 450-7153, vnicols@ecomotion.us

Irvine, CA December 16, 2008

EcoMotion Takes “Best Green Know-How” to Korea

Sponsored by The Hope Institute, President Ted Flanigan Gives Four Lectures During Week-Long Visit

The Hope Institute, founded three years ago by activist Won Soon Park, seeks to forge a blueprint for the future of an enlightened and sustainable Korean society. EcoMotion President Ted Flanigan was invited by the Institute to advise its Climate Change Division on sustainability reports and greenhouse gas reduction plans, and to present four lectures: two in Seoul, one in Hwaseong City, and one in Ansan City.

“The Hope Institute has become one of Korea’s foremost non-profits, intended to introduce innovative experiments,” said Flanigan. “It was an honor and pleasure to be able to participate in their process.”

Korea, like California, has about 60 gigawatts of electric capacity, with demand rising at close to 4% annually. Korea lacks conventional energy resources; it has virtually no oil or natural gas or uranium, and very limited coal, so it relies almost entirely on imported energy, mostly oil. Aggressive sustainability plans call for foreign oil’s share of primary energy use to drop from 50% to 35% by 2030, and for renewables to increase from 2% to 5% by 2011. They also call for 100,000 solar homes by 2012.

“Korea has set some bold goals for sustainability, including renewable energy,” said Flanigan. “And its incentive programs are attracting investment from outside the country. (In 2007 Korea had the highest solar incentives in the world.) But their experience hasn’t included the types of community involvement and outreach that we are used to here in the United States.”

Flanigan’s talk, “Sustainability Practices from America,” described a number of such grass-roots programs including Solar Santa Monica, now in its second year of being managed by EcoMotion, as well as Palm Desert’s sustainability planning process, that calls for input from the local community.

###

Based in Irvine, CA, EcoMotion’s mission is to promote positive change for a healthy,  sustainable future. To accomplish its mission, it applies the power of positive example – what Korea was looking for during the December tour. EcoMotion incorporates best practices in the energy-related programs it designs and implements for schools, organizations, cities and utilities.