• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.335-342
• /
• 2013

Since the seriousness of environmental pollution came to the fore recently, various efforts have been made globally for the reduction of the environmental load. In particular, in the field of construction, an industry responsible for a considerable amount of pollution, studies have been actively conducted to reduce $CO_2$ emissions and energy consumption. However, most conventional research about pollution as it relates to construction is focused on the maintenance stages where $CO_2$ emissions are the greatest. Research related to the design stage is in its infancy, as it has only been conducted thus far on steel buildings and RC buildings. In fact, in order to achieve environmentally friendly construction considering the Life Cycle Assessment(LCA), the building design should be derived to reduce the $CO_2$ emissions from the early building design stage, and structural engineers should be able to suggest a design plan considering its environmental friendliness. In this study, optimal structural design method for steel reinforced concrete(SRC) columns considering $CO_2$ emissions is presented. The trends of $CO_2$ emissions in SRC columns according to the variations of steel shapes, concrete strengths and loads are investigated.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.44 no.6
• /
• pp.1279-1285
• /
• 2011

Korea is currently underway research to estimate carbon footprint in agriculture centered on the RDA (Rural Development Administration). This study was estimated carbon footprint for major 47 crops. In addition, contribution of inorganic chemical fertilizers, main elements for production of crops were analyzed. The carbon footprint of $5.78E+00kg\;CO_2\;eq.\;kg^{-1}$ for citrus fruit in greenhouse was highest, grape in greenhouse, sweet pepper in greenhouse, ginseng, green pepper in greenhouse were followed by $4.61E+00kg\;CO_2\;eq.\;kg^{-1}$, $4.34E+00kg\;CO_2\;eq.\;kg^{-1}$, $4.23E+00kg\;CO_2\;eq.\;kg^{-1}$, $4.04E+00kg\;CO_2\;eq.\;kg^{-1}$ respectively. Next, production phase contribution of inorganic chemical fertilizer to carbon footprint of crop 1 kg were analyzed mean value 1.88%, 9.06% for single fertilizers and complex fertilizers respectively. And use phase accounted for mean value 14.24%. Therefore, to reduce the fertilization of inorganic chemical fertilizer will be reduced $CO_2$ from crop production, also greenhouse gas emissions of agricultural sector will be reduced.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
• /
• v.4 no.3
• /
• pp.201-210
• /
• 2013

In recent years, with the rising interest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the demand for using environmentally friendly product with low greenhouse gas emission is increasing in the printing industry as well. In this study, the carbon footprint of environmentally friendly product mineral paper that uses less plastic and wood than normal printing paper materials was analyzed by utilizing the life cycle assessment (LCA) technique. An analysis utilizing the LCA technique was done per the Korea carbon footprint certification guidelines and, for scope of study, it included the premanufacturing stage and manufacturing stage except for the use and disposal stages. As a result of the study, the emission coefficient of the mineral paper was calculated to be $0.81kg\;CO_2eq/kg$ and the emission from electricity usage of the entire greenhouse gas emission was calculated to be 45.85% ($0.37kg\;CO_2eq/kg$). In order to reduce greenhouse gas emission, required are the efforts to reduce the environmental loads by using energies that have relatively lower environmental loads, such as improvement in electricity usage efficiency and renewable energy, by increasing product completion rates during the manufacturing process of mineral paper.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.129-142
• /
• 2012

This study was carried out to evaluate carbon footprint during unhulled rice production and to compare mitigation technologies of methane, main carbon source during rice production, Carbon footprint of unhulled rice was a sum of $CO_2$ emission of agri-materials manufacture, rice cultivation and waste treatment. It was emitted 1.40 kg $CO_2$ during unhulled rice production, its distribution was 71.1% by $CH_4$ emission of rice cultivation, 11.8% of $N_2O$ emission by nitrogen application and 7.6% of complex fertilizer manufacture. $CH_4$ emission could be mitigated by some technologies; cultivation of the early maturing rice variety emitted lower by 44.4% than the mid maturing variety, intermittent drainage of submerged water by 43.8% than the continuous flooding condition, direct seeding by 32.0% than transplanting cultivation, no-ploughing by 20.9% than ploughing cultivation. It means that LCA on Global Warming Potential and the statistical data on innovated technical practice are key tools to systemize Measurable-Reportable-Verifiable (MRV) system for carbon footprint and carbon emission trade in the farm base.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.357-368
• /
• 2008

On July 31, 2008, the Government issued the construction and operation permit for the first low and intermediate level radioactive waste disposal facility in the Republic of Korea. In this paper, the fundamental regulatory framework, regulatory requirements and technical standards of the disposal facility are introduced, and the phased review process adopted for evaluation of the safety of the facility is briefly described. The Atomic Energy Act sets forth a stepwise regulatory framework for the whole life-cycle of the disposal facility such as siting, design, construction, operation, closure and institutional control. More detailed regulatory requirements and technical standards are stipulated in the subsequent regulations of the Atomic Energy Act and a series of Notices issued by the Ministry of Eduction, Science and Technology. The Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, as entrusted by the Ministry under the Atomic Energy Act, conducted safety review on the disposal facility, and evaluated the compliance with relevant criteria in all technical elements(i.e. siting and structural safety, radiological environmental impact, operational safety, systems and components, quality assurance, and total systematic performance assessment, etc.). The overall safety review process can be phased into inception phase, initial review phase, main review phase and completion phase. The review results were reported to and deliberated by the five Sub-committees of the Special Committee on Nuclear Safety, and then reported to the Ministry. The Ministry issued the construction and operation permit of the disposal facility through the deliberation of the review results by the Nuclear Safety Commission. Hereafter, the safety of the repository will be reassured by a series of subsequent regulatory inspections and reviews under the Atomic Energy Act. In addition, the licensee's continuous implementation of the "Safety Promotion Plan" may also enhance the long-term safety of the repository and contribute to build-up the confidence of the safety case.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.477-486
• /
• 2016

We investigated the growth pattern of Red-tongued viper snakes (Gloydius ussuriensis), which were captured from the islet of the Jeju Island, Gapado between April, 2006 and November, 2009. The results indicated that there were some snakes that grew relatively fast, but most snakes either almost did not grow or grew around 10mm in snout-vent length during one year period. High growth rates was April and June. Since the growth rate of snakes is highly correlated with their foods, these results implied that the feeding activity of Red-tongued viper snakes is high during this period compared to other months. In female, difference in body condition between good-conditioned and bad-conditioned snakes became large as time elapsed from April to June. The body condition of the male Red-tongued viper snakes improved with the progression of time from April till June. Many of the Red-tongued viper snakes were captured between April and June, while they were rarely captured between July and September. Some of the Red-tongued viper snakes were captured during the autumn season. This tendency was because snakes were rarely active during hibernation and peak summer seasons. Thus, Red-tongued viper snakes are active between April and June and between September and November. They then go into hibernation as the temperature dropped in November. Furthermore, the limitation of the movement period of the Red-tongued viper snakes restricted their feeding activities while foods became scarce, which ultimately restricted their overall growth rate. The growth rate of the snakes decreased with age. The snout-vent length of the Red-tongued viper snakes and growth rate showed a negative correlation (r = -0.591), however, it was not statistically significant due to small sample size. The findings from this study could provide meaningful information in the further study of the life cycle of Red-tongued viper snakes.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.87-100
• /
• 2014

Environmental problems and the shortage of natural resources are currently gathering more attention in Korea and international countries. With these problems, it is reported that most current domestic buildings are emitting approximately 138 million tons of greenhouse gas. According to a recent report from the investigation of Korean housing population, the total number of households is approximately 12.9 millions, and the apartments that were built more than 15 years ago amounted to 3.1 millions. This shows that the rates of old apartment housings are increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the deteriorated facilities and environmental improvement. Also, the construction industry is benefited by improving these housings which may need either remodeling or reconstruction. Environmental friendly buildings are a rising consideration for remodeling and reconstruction projects; it helps to determine many business matters in construction. The main purpose of this research is to improve environmental condition in apartments with comparison analysis between remodeling and reconstruction alternatives. This research is focused on characteristics of remodeling and reconstruction and it sets up the same condition with each level in order to evaluate the value of environmental friendliness and analyze its definition. The result of this research provides a unique emitting rate at a novel framework and this will cause the reduction of $CO_2$. It is analyzed that the remodeling construction can reduce the great amount of $CO_2$. Therefore, it will be a good decision guideline in selecting the most eco-friendly alternative to improve environment for building construction. Although reconstruction is a popular alternative nowadays in Korea, this research can provide a reason why decision makers should put more emphasis on remodeling as an environment-friendly alternative.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.43 no.5
• /
• pp.728-733
• /
• 2010

This study was carried out to estimate carbon emission using LCA and to establish LCI database of potato production system. Potato production system was categorized into the fall season potato and the spring season potato according to potato cropping type. The results of collecting data for establishing LCI D/B showed that input of fertilizer for fall season potato production was more than that for spring season potato production. Input of pesticide for spring season potato production was much more than that for fall season potato production. The value of field direct emission ($CO_2$, $CH_4$, $N_2O$) were 2.17E-02 kg $kg^{-1}$ for spring season potato and 2.47E-02 kg $kg^{-1}$ for fall season potato, respectively. The result of LCI analysis focussed on the greenhouse gas (GHG), it was observed that carbon footprint values were 8.38E-01 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ for spring season potato and 8.10E-01 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ for fall season potato; especially for 90% and 6% of $CO_2$ emission from fertilizer and potato production, respectively. $N_2O$ was emitted from the process of N fertilizer production (76%) and potato production (23%). It was observed that characterization of values of GWP were 8.38E-01 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ for spring season potato and 8.10E-01 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ for fall season potato.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.246-253
• /
• 2007

The reproduction toxicity of several pesticides on two Korean water flea was investigated to develop a new standard species used for ecological risk assessment of pesticide. Moina macrocopa and Daphnia sp. were exposed to 4 different types of pesticides over 10 and 21 days, respectively. No-ohserved effect concentration (NOEC) for synthetic pyrethroid, fenpropathrin on Moina macrocopa and Daphnia sp. were 0.17 and $0.06\;{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, respectively. Diazinon, carbofuran and myclobutanil were in the order of their reproduction toxicity to cladocerans tested. There were large differences between Moina macrocopa and Daphnia sp. in their susceptibility to fenpropathrin, diazinon and carbofuran except myclobutanil. Daphnia sp. is more sensitive than M. macrocopa to pesticides tested. Therefore Daphnia sp. may be a good surrogate species to assess the reproduction effect of pesticides on aquatic invertebrates. M. macrocopa also be a good surrogate species because it is one of the most abundant cladocera in agricultural environment, especially rice paddy in Korea. In addition to it's ecological importance of wide spread distribution, it has also economical importance to make possible to shorten period for reproduction test using M. macrocopa due to it's short life cycle.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.44 no.6
• /
• pp.1245-1251
• /
• 2011

As a result of the growing livestock industry, varieties of organic solid and waste biomass are be generated in swine breeding and slaughtering stages. Anaerobic digestion is a promising alternative for the treatment of livestock waste biomass, as well as for the material recovery and energy production. Objectives of this study were to analyze the biochemical methane potential of swine waste biomasses that were generated from swine pen and slaughterhouse and to investigate the material recovery and methane yield per head. As pig waste biomass, swine slurry, blood, intestine residue, and digestive tract content were collected for investigation from pig farmhouse and slaughterhouse. The $B_{th}$ (Theoretical methane potential) and $B_0$ (Biochemical methane potential) of swine slurry generating in swine breeding stage were 0.525 and $0.360Nm^3\;kg^{-1}-VS_{added}$, the ratio of degradation ($B_0/B_{th}$) was 68.6%. $B_{th}$ of blood, intestine residue, and digestive tract content were 0.539, 0.664, and $0.517Nm^3\;kg^{-1}-VS_{added}$, and $B_0$ were 0.405, 0.213, and $0.240Nm^3\;kg^{-1}-VS_{added}$, respectively. And the ratio of degradation showed 75.1, 32.1, and 46.4% in blood, intestine residue, and digestive tract content. Material yield of swine waste biomass was calculated as TS 73.79, VS 46.75, TN 5.58, $P_2O_5$ 1.94, and $K_2O$ $2.91kg\;head^{-1}$. And methane yield was $16.58Nm^3\;head^{-1}$. In the aspect that slaughterhouse is a large point source of waste biomass, while swine farmhouse is non-point source, the feasibility of an anaerobic digestion using the slaughtering waste biomass need to be assessed in the economical aspect between the waste treatment cost and the profitable effect by methane production.