• Title/Summary/Keyword: environmental crisis

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Toward Net-Zero Energy Retrofitting: Building-Integrated Photovoltaic Curtainwalls

  • Kim, Kyoung Hee;Im, Ok-Kyun
    • International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.35-43
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    • 2021
  • With the rapid urbanization and growing energy use intensity in the built environment, the glazed curtainwall has become ever more important in the architectural practice and environmental stewardship. Besides its energy efficiency roles, window has been an important transparent component for daylight penetration and a view-out for occupant satisfaction. In response to the climate crisis caused by the built environment, this research focuses on the study of net-zero energy retrofitting by using a new building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) curtainwall as a sustainable alternative to conventional window systems. Design variables such as building orientations, climate zones, energy attributes of BIPV curtainwalls, and glazed area were studied, to minimize energy consumption and discomfort hours for three cities representing hot (Miami, FL), mixed (Charlotte, NC), and cold (Minneapolis, MN). Parametric analysis and Pareto solutions are presented to provide a comprehensive explanation of the correlation between design variables and performance objectives for net-zero energy retrofitting applications.

Effect of Temperature and Humidity on the Performance Factors of a 15-W Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

  • Dien Minh Vu;Binh Hoa Pham;Duc Pham Xuan;Dung Nguyen Dinh;Vinh Nguyen Duy
    • Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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    • v.34 no.3
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    • pp.241-246
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    • 2023
  • Fuel cells are one of the renewable energy sources that have sparked a lot of scientific attention for solving problems related to the energy crisis and environmental pollution. One of the most crucial subjects concerning the utilization of fuel cells is modeling. Therefore, an analytical steady-state and dynamic fuel cell model was described in this study. The parameter for the identification process was investigated, and the MATLAB/Simulink implementation was demonstrated. A 15-W proton exchange membrane fuel cell was used to apply the suggested modeling methodology. Comparing experimental and simulation findings indicated that the model error was constrained to 3%. This study showed that temperature and humidity affect fuel cell performance.

A Study on Establishing an Ecosystem Service Evaluation System in Response to Climate Change Focusing on Garden Value Evaluation Indicators

  • Yejin Park;Yunmi Park;ChangKeun Park
    • Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.277-303
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    • 2023
  • The importance of ecosystem service such as green spaces has risen due to restrictions on outdoor activities amid the climate crisis and COVID-19. While gardens significantly impact economic development, quality of life, and social well-being, comprehensive studies on their multidimensional values are lacking. This research categorizes garden values into social, cultural, environmental, and health dimensions and proposes an integrated assessment framework that introduces detailed elements and evaluation methods. An empirical assessment of carbon storage index in two Korean gardens, Semiwon and Juknokwon, reveals Semiwon's higher carbon storage per unit area. The proposed framework, emphasizing a quantitative approach, enables cross-national and regional comparisons, contributing to a broader understanding and evaluation of garden values beyond specific facilities.

A Study on the Estimation of Ecological Footprint in Gyeongsangbuk-do for Comparison of Environmental Capacity of Each Local Government (자치단체별 환경용량 비교를 위한 경상북도지역 생태발자국 추정연구)

  • Kang, Kee-Rae;Kim, Hee-Chae;Kim, Dong-Pil;Oh, Hyun-Kyung;Cho, Kwang-Jin;Shin, Young-Ho
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.28 no.6
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    • pp.769-778
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    • 2014
  • The rapid urbanization and increase in population due to industrialization have led to the extension of cities and the reduction in naturality as a necessity. Now, it is the biggest threat to virtuous circle of ecosystem. With the expansion of common recognition that this ecological crisis would be accompanied by the crisis of mankind, many countries all around the world are conducting researches to indicate the optimum consumption level of individual as an index in addition to cross-national environmental indicators such as ESI, EPI and SDI, by measuring environmental consumption of state, local government or individual, and comparing each region. Based on this background, this research was carried out to estimate the environmental capacity of 23 local government in Gyeongsangbuk-do. The result of EF estimation showed that EF value necessary for life per head in Gyeongsangbuk-do was 0.9534, and it showed an ecological deficit of 25.3 percent when analyzing it in consideration of the ecological capacity. Also, among the local governments in Gyeongsangbuk-do, Youngduk-gun displayed the highest EF, and Ulleung-gun displayed the lowest EF. But when analyzing the ecological deficit in consideration of the ecological capacity of each region, Gumi-city showed the greatest ecological deficit, and Youngyang-gun showed the biggest ecological capacity. The environmental capacity estimated in this study is to digitize the ecological capacity and ecological deficit of each local government in Gyeongsangbuk-do. The estimated optimum environmental capacity of each local government suggests the scale of environmental preservation and proper development and furthermore, could be used as fundamental data for persuading members of each local government when selecting a location of development facility or preservation area.

Characteristics of VOCs and Formaldehyde Emitted from Floorings (바닥재로부터 방출되는 휘발성유기화합물과 폼알데하이드 특성)

  • Park, Hyun-Ju;Jang, Seong-Ki;Seo, Soo-Yun;Lim, Jun-Ho
    • Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.38-45
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    • 2009
  • Since the seventies and the oil crisis, energy-saving measures have led to a reduction in the ventilation of room. The use of synthetic materials which emit various chemical substances had led to an increase in the concentration of indoor pollutants. "Sick building syndrome (SBS)" and "Sick house syndrome (SHS)" are worldwide problems. Also, the number of complaints about indoor air pollution caused by VOCs (Volatile organic compound) and HCHO (Formaldehyde) has increased. It is important that evaluating and understanding emission of indoor air pollutant from building materials. The object of this study was to evaluate emission test method for flooring such as wood based flooring, carpet tile, rubber tile, PVC sheet and tile, and to determine emission of TVOC and form-aldehyde. The quantity of TVOC and carbonyl compounds emission were sampled and measured by Tenax TA and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MSD), 2,4-DNPH cartrige with ozone scrubber and high performance liquid from flooring. The TVOC concentration emitted from carpet tile was ($7.419\;mg/m^2 h$) the highest among 5 groups of test materials. In wood based flooring and PVC tile, the emitted concentration of toluene was high. And the dodecane emission was highest in carpet. The concentration of TVOC decreased by an increase in emission test period. After 7 days, the concentration of TVOC from floorings were about 50% below of the concentration at the first day. TVOC emission from wood based flooring, carpet tile, rubber tile, PVC sheet and tile were decreased in 28 days and remained steady after about 15 days. The concentration of formaldehyde emission from floorings showed extremely low.

Vulnerable Occupations to COVID-19 and Measures for Protecting Workers from Infectious Biological Hazards at Workplaces (우리나라 COVID-19 확진자 직업 분포와 노동자 보호 방안)

  • Hong, Jongwoo;Choi, Sohyeon;Park, Jeongim
    • Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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    • v.30 no.3
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    • pp.256-269
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    • 2020
  • Objectives: Everyone has been affected in some way by the COVID-19 pandemic, while some workers face threats to their health due to their jobs as well as worries about spreading the virus to intimate family members. With these concerns in mind, this study aims to identify occupations more vulnerable to COVID-19 and suggests the necessity of providing proper control measures against the risks in a timely manner in Korea. Methods: Daily briefing reports by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) were compiled (n=120) between January 20 and May 31, 2020. A total of 11,486 confirmed cases were included, which were sorted by occasion, area, and occupation. Among them, 2,411 cases were classified with specific occasions and/or areas of infection, while only 544 cases were determined with identifiable occupations. Guidelines for biological hazard management and COVID-19 guidelines for workplaces from domestic and international bodies were enlisted and compared. Results: It is unsurprising to find that healthcare professionals are experiencing the most immediate threat from COVID-19. In addition, service workers with face-to-face practices or indirect contact are also facing high risks. Religion facilities and eating places (dining, drinking bar, café, etc.,) follow. Guidelines and manuals for biological hazards are still lacking in Korea compared to the US and EU. Workplace manuals for managing COVID-19 are neither as comprehensive as the approaches of NIOSH's hierarchy of controls nor inclusive enough for minimizing secondary or tertiary suffering. Conclusions: The COVID-19 crisis is still ongoing and there is no doubt there will be more such events in the future. This analysis suggests that occupational health professionals, amid a pandemic including COVID-19, are urged to anticipate emerging risks related to all sorts of occupations, identify vulnerable workers and working environments, and plan and take actions to protect workers' health.

Comparison of Solar Power Generation Forecasting Performance in Daejeon and Busan Based on Preprocessing Methods and Artificial Intelligence Techniques: Using Meteorological Observation and Forecast Data (전처리 방법과 인공지능 모델 차이에 따른 대전과 부산의 태양광 발전량 예측성능 비교: 기상관측자료와 예보자료를 이용하여)

  • Chae-Yeon Shim;Gyeong-Min Baek;Hyun-Su Park;Jong-Yeon Park
    • Atmosphere
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    • v.34 no.2
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    • pp.177-185
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    • 2024
  • As increasing global interest in renewable energy due to the ongoing climate crisis, there is a growing need for efficient technologies to manage such resources. This study focuses on the predictive skill of daily solar power generation using weather observation and forecast data. Meteorological data from the Korea Meteorological Administration and solar power generation data from the Korea Power Exchange were utilized for the period from January 2017 to May 2023, considering both inland (Daejeon) and coastal (Busan) regions. Temperature, wind speed, relative humidity, and precipitation were selected as relevant meteorological variables for solar power prediction. All data was preprocessed by removing their systematic components to use only their residuals and the residual of solar data were further processed with weighted adjustments for homoscedasticity. Four models, MLR (Multiple Linear Regression), RF (Random Forest), DNN (Deep Neural Network), and RNN (Recurrent Neural Network), were employed for solar power prediction and their performances were evaluated based on predicted values utilizing observed meteorological data (used as a reference), 1-day-ahead forecast data (referred to as fore1), and 2-day-ahead forecast data (fore2). DNN-based prediction model exhibits superior performance in both regions, with RNN performing the least effectively. However, MLR and RF demonstrate competitive performance comparable to DNN. The disparities in the performance of the four different models are less pronounced than anticipated, underscoring the pivotal role of fitting models using residuals. This emphasizes that the utilized preprocessing approach, specifically leveraging residuals, is poised to play a crucial role in the future of solar power generation forecasting.

Exploring consumer awareness and attitudes towards eco-friendly packaging among undergraduate students in Korea

  • Quedahm Chin;Seungjee Hong
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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    • v.50 no.4
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    • pp.697-711
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    • 2023
  • The global waste crisis has been escalating and its consequent impact on soil, water, air pollution, and eventually climate change acceleration has shed light on the importance of reducing waste. Amidst COVID-19 and the following surge in single-use plastics for food delivery, waste generation is on the incline. Companies and governments have embarked on developing various eco-friendly packaging technologies, but their effectiveness on the consumers is vague as definitions of eco-friendly packaging are vague, and research on its link to purchase intention remains scarce. Thus, the adoption of eco-friendly packaging has been slow. To address this issue, this study analyzes the awareness and purchase intention of four visual attributes of eco-friendly packaging-material, verbal statement, eco-label, and color-along with the environmental consciousness among undergraduate university students in Korea through online surveys and the ordered logit regression model. The study distinguished the attributes into evidence-based and conjectural categories. The findings revealed that eco-friendly visual attributes had a positive effect on purchase intention amongst undergraduate students in Korea; however the level of environmental consciousness had marginal effect on the purchase intention of eco-friendly visual attributes. The level of effectiveness also varied with each visual element. Analyses revealed that visual attributes to eco-friendly material had marginal effect on purchase intention; color was deemed not an "Eco-friendly attribute" by most students, and although eco-friendly labels were deemed as an eco-friendly attribute, trust in the labels varied according to environmental consciousness. These findings have implications for businesses and policymakers aiming to promote eco-friendly consumption within packaged food products.

Anlysis of the Environmental Load Impact Factors for IPC Girder Bridge Using Principal Component Anlysis (주성분 분석을 활용한 IPC 거더교의 환경부하량 영향요인 분석)

  • Kim, Joon-Soo;Jeon, Jin-Gu;Kim, Byung-Soo
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • v.19 no.6
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    • pp.46-54
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    • 2018
  • In the 21st century, the Earth has continued its efforts to reduce carbon emissions to overcome the crisis caused by climate change. The construction industry, which is a representative industry that produces large amounts of the environmental load during construction, should actively reduce the amount of the environmental load. From the planning stage of the construction facility, it is necessary to consider the environmental load such as route selection and structure type selection to reduce the environmental load. However, the environmental load can be estimated based on the input resource amount. However, in the planning stage, it is difficult to accurately calculate the environmental load due to lack of information on the construction amount. The purpose of this study is to select the environmental load factors for IPC girder bridges to be used in the environmental load estimation model in the planning stage. Specific information related to the environmental load was selected from a list of information available in the planning stage, reflecting the Life Cycle Assessment(LCA), correlation, principal components analysis and expert opinion. The list of selected planning stage information is 10 such as span length and bridge extension, and it is expected to be used as a basic data for the future development of environmental load estimation model.

Development of Curriculum for Dept. of Environmental Education toward a Sustainable Green Society (지속가능한 녹색 사회를 향한 환경교육과 교육과정 개발)

  • Choi, Don-Hyung;Kim, Dae-Hee;Lee, Jae-Young;Cheong, Cheol;Kim, Kee-Dae;Cho, Seong-Hoa;Ahn, Jae-Jung;Park, Hye-Gyeong;Hong, Hyun-Jin
    • Hwankyungkyoyuk
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.111-128
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    • 2011
  • This study was aimed at developing a common curriculum for the department of environmental education from 5 colleges of education. The need and background of curriculum reform can be summarized as follow; first, it has been recognized that new national curriculum of 2009 and 2011 created need for training teachers equipped with more integrated competency. Second, global environmental problems such as climate change and energy crisis asked for more responsible choice and action from all citizens. Third, the extremely low hiring rate resulted in the consideration of new working fields for teacher students majoring in environmental education. Fourth, the expansion of new environmental education paradigms including education for sustainable development called for practicing reconstruction of both contends and methods. From a series of research processes including analysis of current curriculum, DACUM, opinion survey and interest groups review, several new approaches for developing new curriculum had been identified as follow; first, content areas of environmental education should be extended beyond environmental natural science. Second, new learning approaches such as project-based learning need to be emphasized for strengthening the identity of environment as a separate subject. Third, more selective majoring system need to be applied in connection with environment government officials, researchers, and social environmental educators. It was recommended that the application of new curriculum developed by the study would be evaluated and managed by teaching conditions surrounding each of the five university members joined this developing processes. However, it needs to be noted that there is not much time because we had experienced zero hiring rate for the last 4 years and environmental policy and education programs are moving rapidly toward sustainable development.

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