“We needed a campaign to shape the pattern of energy consumption at its root,” said a City Hall official who helps to manage EcoMileage. EcoMileage operates on just ₩5.3 billion a year, most of which comes from a Seoul City budget of around ₩600 billion. The program’s manager said there had been “questions” about its longevity; an annual 10 percent reduction in household energy consumption cannot last forever. If the long-term goal is to change the way Seoulites think about energy consumption, short-term incentives may not have a long shelf life. Hong, the EcoMileage user, said that although she had found it hard to keep reducing her energy consumption, the scheme has encouraged her to be more environmentally-minded.