• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.414-422
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• 2008

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and methane emissions from landfill sites have been linked to global warming. In this study, LandGEM (Landfill Gas Emission Model) was applied to predict landfill gas quantity over time, and then this result was compared with the data surveyed on the site, Cheongju Megalo Landfill. LandGEM allows the input of site-specific values for methane generation rate (k) and potential methane generation capacity $L_o$, but in this study, k value of 0.04/yr and $L_o$ value of $100\;m^3$/ton were considered to be most appropriate for reflecting non-arid temperate region conventional landfilling like Cheongju Megalo Landfill. Relatively high discrepancies between the surveyed data and the predicted data about landfill gas seems to be derived from insufficient compaction of daily soil-cover, inefficient recovery of landfill gas and banning of direct landfilling of food waste in 2005. This study can be used for dissemination of information and increasing awareness about the benefits of recovering and utilizing LFG (landfill gas) and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.462-469
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• 2016

This paper presents the results of thermodynamic cycle analysis and performance tests of alternative mixtures in low temperature applications. Two near-azeotropic binary mixtures R-152a/R-1270 (35:65 by wt.%) and R-290/E170 (35:65 by wt.%) are considered in this study. They have zero ODP (Ozone Depletion Potential) and much lower GWP (Global Warming Potential) than R-404A which is an alternative of R-502. Refrigeration cycle characteristics such as cooling capacity, coefficient of performance, suction and discharge pressures and temperatures are compared to those for the baseline refrigerants (R-502 and R-404A) cycles. The performance tests are conducted at the evaporation and condensation temperatures of $5^{\circ}C$ and $45^{\circ}C$, subcooling and superheating temperatures of $5^{\circ}C$, respectively. Performance comparisons between baseline and alternative refrigerants are conducted on the same cooling capacity. The system performance of newly proposed refrigerant mixtures show promising results.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.359-366
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• 2009

CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is considered as the most promising interim solution to deal with the greenhouse gas such as $CO_2$ responsible for global warming. Even though carefully chosen geologic formations are known to contain stored gas for a long time period, there are potential risks of leakage. Up to now, applicable risk assessment procedures for the leakage of $CO_2$ are not available. This study presents a basis for risk analysis applicable to a complex geologic storage system. It starts with the classification of potential leakage pathways. Receptors and the leakage effect on them are identified and quantified. Then, a fault tree is constructed, which yields the minimum cut set (i.e., the most vulnerable leakage pathway) and quantifies the probability of the leakage risk through the cut set. The methodology will provide a tool for risk assessment in a CCS project. The outcomes of the assessment will not only ensure the safety of the CCS system but also offer a reliable and efficient monitoring plan.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.71-79
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• 2022

Recently, the construction of tall buildings utilized by high strength-concrete in the whole world is tending to be on the rise. The application of high-rise structural system in buildings results in the excellent cut-down effect in construction materials due to section reduction. Therefore, in order to investigate the CO₂ and resource reduction effect for the high-rise structural system, comparisons of GWP and ADP in embodied energy of structural materlais between 4 type of high-rise structural system have been performed. As a result, GWP emission increased in the order of steel structure outrigger system, RC shear wall system, and RC outrigger system. On the other hand, ADP emissions increased in the order of RC shear wall system, RC outrigger system, and steel structure outrigger system.

• Atmosphere
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.213-227
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• 2005

The global mean surface temperature has already increased by $0.6{\pm}0.2^{\circ}C$ over the last century, and warming in Korea is approximately twice as large as the global average. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that the majority of warming over the past 50 years could be attributed to human activities (IPCC, 2001a). In addition, the global surface temperature is expected to increase by 1.4 to $5.8^{\circ}C$ depending on the greenhouse gas emission scenarios during the $21^{st}$ century.Climate change resulting from increased greenhouse gas concentrations has the potential to harm societies and ecosystems. Reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases and their concentration in the atmosphere will reduce the degree and likelihood of significant adverse conditions due to the anticipated climate change. Mitigation policy has generally been the primary focus of public attention and policy efforts on climate change. However, some degree of climate change is inevitable due to the combination of continued increases in emissions and the inertia of the global climate system. Adaptation actions and strategies are needed for a complementary approach to mitigation. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) currently addresses vulnerability and adaptation in the context of climate change negotiations and in future adaptation may be an important element of work under the Kyoto Protocol. There are several on-going programs to develop effective adaptation strategies and their implementation. But in general, many other countries are still on an initiating stage. The climate change science programs of the United States, Japan, England, and Germany are initiated to understand the current status of climate change science and adaptation researches in the developed countries. In this study, we propose the improvement on systems in policy and research aspects to effectively perform the necessary functions for development of nation-wide adaptation measures and their implementation. In policy aspect, the Korean Panel on Climate Change (KPCC) is introduced as a coordinating mechanism between government organizations related with climate change science, impact assessment and adaptation. Also in research aspect, there is a strong consensus on the need for construction of a national network on climate change research as trans-disciplinary research network.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.206-214
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• 2019

This study investigates alternative refrigerants and refrigerant oils as well as the tendency of protecting the global environment in view of automobile air-conditioning systems. Since decades, the R12 refrigerant is not used in automobile air-conditioners because of the ozone depletion potential (ODP) problem, and for the last 20 years, the ODP-free R134a refrigerant is leading the new automotive air-conditioning market. However, owing to its high global warming potential (GWP), the R134a refrigerant use in automobile air-conditioning system is also prohibited by law, and alternative refrigerants with a low GWP need to be proposed. Therefore, recently, the application of R1234yf, R152a, or other alternative refrigerants has started worldwide. By contrast, natural refrigerant R744 was introduced in the market several years ago by VDA (Verband Der Automobilindustrie), which is a German association in the automotive industry. This study also deals with refrigerant oils. For a long time, polyalkylene glycol (PAG) oil has been traditionally used with automobile air-conditioners, and polyolester (POE) oil is suitable for HEV, PHEV, and EV air-conditioning systems, where it is used by the electrically driven compressor owing to its excellent electrical insulation properties. Finally, PAG is an excellent lubricant for all the R134a, R152a, R1234yf, and R744 refrigerants, and has the advantage that it can be applied rapidly to alternative refrigerant air-conditioning systems.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2018

POU (point of use) scrubbers were applied for the treatment of waste gases including PFCs (perfluorocompounds) exhausted from the CVD (chemical vapor deposition), etching, and cleaning processes of semiconductor and display manufacturing plant. The GWP (global warming potential) and atmosphere lifetime of PFCs are known to be a few thousands higher than that of $CO_2$, and extremely high temperature more than 3,000 K is required to thermally decompose PFCs. Therefore, POU gas scrubbers based on the thermal plasma technology were developed for the effective control of PFCs and industrial application of the technology. The thermal plasma technology encompasses the generation of powerful plasma via the optimization of the plasma torch, a highly stable power supply, and the matching technique between two components. In addition, the effective mixture of the high temperature plasma and waste gases was also necessary for the highly efficient abatement of PFCs. The purpose of this paper was to provide not only a useful technical information of the post-treatment process for the waste gas scrubbing but also a short perspective on R&D of POU plasma gas scrubbers.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.117-129
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• 2009

Evaporation over the world is expected to increase owing to increase in temperature by global warming. However, pan evaporation around the world has decreased in the past few decades. This study, which has been conducted in 18 meteorological gauging stations in Korean peninsula, investigates the changes in pan evaporation and climate variables such as precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, sunshine hours, and percentage of sunshine, which can affect evaporation processes; the changes in these variables have been recorded between 1960 and 2007. At most gauging stations, pan evaporation shows statistically significant downward trends. The relative humidity, wind speed, sunshine hours, and percentage of sunshine also show downward trends. On the other hand, precipitation and temperature show upward trends. The spatial distribution of the downward trend in sunshine hours and percentage of sunshine correspond to that of the downward trend in pan evaporation. Scatter plots imply that pan evaporation has a strong positive correlation with the sunshine hours and percentage of sunshine, while it has a negative correlation with precipitation. At the Gangneung gauging station, the open water evaporation estimated using the Penman equation does not show the significant downward trend shown by pan evaporation. This result implies that pan evaporation is not a good indicator of potential or open water evaporations during the investigation of their long-term variability. Finally, this study explains the complementary relationship between pan and actual evaporations. Decreases in the pan evaporation can act as an evidence for the ever-increasing actual evaporation.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.129-142
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• 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 The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.181-197
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to look into students' understandings of environmental issues, especially issues on global warming in South Korea and Singapore. We surveyed students (n=2,389, from 6 to 10 years) from 12 schools in South Korea and 5 schools in Singapore on how useful students believe various actions might be in reducing global warming, and their willingness to undertake such actions. We employed questionnaires developed by Boyes, Skamp, & Stanisstreet (2009), which consists of 44 questions on 16 pro-environmental actions. We analyzed the degree of students' beliefs, willingness to act, and the relationship between the believed usefulness of action and willingness to act. Differences between the two countries were determined by Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) using the ordinal data and the potential effectiveness of education was explored by plotting the measures of the degree of willingness to act for a particular action against the value of the believed usefulness of action and fitting the regression line. The degree of willingness to act and their beliefs in the usefulness of action was different from question to question between the two countries, however, the overall relationship between willingness to take action and beliefs in the action has shown to be stronger among Singaporean students than those of South Korean students. Based on the findings, we attempted to discuss about how environmental education needs to take into account the complexity of beliefs, willingness to act, and action taking.