• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.595-625
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• 2012

Recently environment-friendly pellet boilers have interests as emissions of greenhouse gases are regulated internationally and energy security becomes more important to oil addicted countries including Republic of Korea. But the Korean market for pellet boilers is on the initial stage due to the high production costs relative to other conventional boilers. Hence the Korean government has supported financially and promoted the pellet boiler business. In this sense, it would contribute market stratergy and effective promotion policy for both of the government and private companies if we can forecast market shares of pellet boilers appropriately. For this purpose, this study surveyed potential consumers' preferences on pellet boilers among various alternatives using a choice experiment reflecting intangible costs. As the market share of new technology increases, intangible costs decline. According to different intangible cost scenarios, we experimented people's preferences on oil, gas, electric, and pellet boilers. A multinomial logit model was employed to estimate coefficient parameters of common attributes for various alternative boilers. Based on the estimates, we forecasted market shares of individual boilers. We found that as intangible costs decline, the market share of pellet boiler increase substantically while market shares of electric and gas boilers decrease dramatically. The market share of oil boiler did not change significantly. Meanwhile, as people are more rich, more educated, and exposed to advertisement on pellet boilers, the likelihood of choosing the pellet boiler increases.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.607-625
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• 2021

The objective of this study is to estimate the relationship between CO₂ emissions and both nuclear power and renewable energy generation, and compare the cost efficiencies of nuclear power and renewable energy generation in reducing CO₂ emissions in Korea. The results show that nuclear power and renewable energy generation should be increased by 1.344% and 7.874% to reduce CO₂ emissions by 1%, respectively. Using the estimated coefficients and the levelized costs of electricity by source including the external costs, if the current amount of electricity generation is one megawatt-hour, the range of generation cost of nuclear power generation to reduce 1% CO₂ emissions is $0.72~$1.49 depending on the level of external costs. In the case of renewable energy generation, the generation cost to reduce 1% CO₂ emissions is $6.49. That is, to mitigate 1% of CO₂ emissions at the total electricity generation of 353 million MWh in 2020 in Korea, the total generation costs range for nuclear power is $254 million~$526 million for the nuclear power, and the cost for renewable energy is $2.289 billion for renewable energy. Hence, we can conclude that, in Korea, nuclear power generation is more cost-efficient than renewable energy generation in mitigating CO₂ emissions, even with the external costs of nuclear power generation.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.151-166
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• 2012

The major findings are(were) as follows: 1) The Eco-friendly consumption behavior was divided into three(3) clusters, namely "The Middle Group" of eco-friendly consumption behavior(cluster I), "The Inferior group" of eco-friendly consumption behavior(cluster II), and "The Excellent Group" of eco-friendly consumption behavior(cluster III). 2) The differences in the general characteristics among the three clusters were founded on the experience of green consumption information and sources of information. 3) The characteristics of cluster I(The Middle Group) were(are) found to be eco-conscious, and aware of the consequences of behaviors, green market conditions and environmental issues. This cluster was the middle-average group. The characteristics of cluster III(The Excellent Group) were(are) found to have the willingness to pay additional costs, being aware of the social norms of the reference group, having an awareness of eco-institutional conditions, being knowledgeable about environmental policy, and finally, being personally involved in green consumption behavior. This cluster was the high-average group, whereas cluster II(The Inferior Group) was the low-average group.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.175-183
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• 2010

Windows are widely used for natural ventilation of the various buildings. Especially high level windows as a part of industrial ventilation systems, play a crucial role in natural ventilation. Compared to mechanical ventilation system, natural ventilation has the advantage of lower installation and operating costs. In general, high level windows for industrial buildings have three types; louver type, 45$^{\circ}$ open type and 90$^{\circ}$ open type. Based on previous studies, it was found that the louver type and 45$^{\circ}$ open type are very effective in reducing rainwater penetration, but they did not have enough ventilation efficiencies. Preliminary tests were performed with the various types of windows. It was found that a 90$^{\circ}$ open double layer type window was the best among those which tested in our preliminary tests. Simulated rain was used to estimate the amount of rain penetrated through windows and to observe the paths of rain penetration. Various 90$^{\circ}$ open windows were tested to find the windows with minimum rain penetration and maximum ventilation efficiency.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.12
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• pp.941-949
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• 2020

This study aims to investigate the factors which impact the possibility of Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) implementation in automobile companies in Vietnam. A survey was carried out with automobile enterprises' managers, getting 198 usable respondents, with data and theoretical model analyzed by using SPSS with EFA method. Results indicated that in Vietnamese automobile enterprises, the possibility of EMA implementation was driven by elements including motivation to reduce production costs, reactions to environmental issues, compliance to legislation, procedures and processes in the working environment which they are in business. The government and professional institutions should play a vital role in promoting EMA practices by issuing specific guidelines and continuous training. Besides, tax authorities should apply the favor policies such as tax incentives to stimulate interest enterprises to implement EMA. However, this study's results only reflect about 63.7% of the impact to the implementation of EMA in Vietnamese automotive enterprises, so there are still some other factors that should be found out in the future researches. This is the first attempt to systematically analyze enterprises' perception and willingness to apply EMA in Vietnamese automobile industry. This study contributes to not only the existing empirical literature of EMA but also enterprises' managers in Vietnam and other transitional economies.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.59-66
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• 2013

Fillers have been used for printing paper to improve printability, sheet formation and optical properties and to reduce production costs by replacing expensive wood pulps. However, an increased filler content will decrease paper strength because filler particles interfere with fiber-fiber bonding. In order to increase filler content without sacrificing too much paper strength in high filler content papers, the surface of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) has been modified by adsorbing anionic polyacrylamide and cationic starch in series. The adsorbed polymer layers would enhance interactions between the filler surface and the fiber surface, improving internal bonding. It was found that the modified PCC increased paper strength at a given filler content compared to the coventional method. Negligible differences in optical properties and formation of paper, filler and fines retention and drainage on the wire section were observed between the modified and the conventional PCC. However, the decreased bulk of paper was observed when the modified PCC was used.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.268-276
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• 2015

Solid waste production increases due to population and consumption increments. Landfill is the ultimate destination for all kinds of municipal solid waste; and is the most convenient waste disposal method in developing countries. To minimize investment and operational costs and society's opposition towards locating landfills nearby, proper landfill sizing and siting are essential. In this study, solid waste forecasting using Autoregressive Integrating Moving Average (ARIMA) was integrated with government future plans and waste composition to estimate the required landfill area for the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Landfill siting criteria were then prioritized based on expert's preferences. To minimize ambiguity and the uncertainty of the criteria prioritizing process, the expert's preferences were treated using integrated Median Ranked Sample Set (MRSS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) models. The results show that the required landfill area is 342 hectares and the environmental criteria are the most important; with a priority equal to 48%.

• IE interfaces
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.237-248
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• 1997

The purpose of this study is to make an economic analysis of power plant utilities by examining electricity generating costs with environmental consideration. Economic growth has caused pollutant emission, and subsequent environmental pollution has been identified as a very real limit to sustainable development. Considering the enormous role of electricity in the national economy, it is thus very important to study the effect of environmental regulations on the electricity sector. Because power utilities need large investments during construction, operation and maintenance, and also require much construction lead time. Economic analysis is the very important process in the electric system expansion planning. In this study, the levelized generation cost method is used in comparing economic analysis of power plant utilities. Among the pollutants discharged of the electricity sector, this study principally deals with the control activities related only to $CO_2$, and $NO_2$, since the control cost of $SO_2$, and TSP (Total Suspended Particulates) is already included in the construction cost of utilities. The cost of electricity generation in a coal-fired power plant is compared with one in an LNG combined cycle power plant. Moreover this study surveys the sensitivity of fuel price, interest rate and carbon tax. In each case, this sensitivity can help to decide which utility is economically justified in the circumstance of environmental regulations.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.321-340
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• 2007

Structural control technologies have attracted great interest from the earthquake engineering community over the last few decades as an effective method of reducing undesired structural responses. Traditional structural control systems employ large quantities of cables to connect structural sensors, actuators, and controllers into one integrated system. To reduce the high-costs associated with labor-intensive installations, wireless communication can serve as an alternative real-time communication link between the nodes of a control system. A prototype wireless structural sensing and control system has been physically implemented and its performance verified in large-scale shake table tests. This paper introduces the design of this prototype system and investigates the feasibility of employing decentralized and partially decentralized control strategies to mitigate the challenge of communication latencies associated with wireless sensor networks. Closed-loop feedback control algorithms are embedded within the wireless sensor prototypes allowing them to serve as controllers in the control system. To validate the embedment of control algorithms, a 3-story half-scale steel structure is employed with magnetorheological (MR) dampers installed on each floor. Both numerical simulation and experimental results show that decentralized control solutions can be very effective in attaining the optimal performance of the wireless control system.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.59-66
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of pre-aeration on sludge solubilization and the behaviors of nitrogen, dissolved sulfide, sulfate, and siloxane. The results of this study showed that soluble chemical oxygen demand in sewage sludge could be increased through pre-aeration. The pre-aeration process resulted in a higher methane yield compared to the anaerobic condition (blank). The pre-aeration of sewage sludge, therefore, was shown to be an effective method for enhancing the digestibility of the sewage sludge. In addition, this result confirms that the pre-aeration of sewage sludge prior to its anaerobic digestion accelerates the growth of methanogenic bacteria. Removal rates for $NH_3$-N and T-N increased simultaneously during pre-aeration, indicating simultaneous nitrification and denitrification. The siloxane concentration in sewage sludge decreased by 40% after 96 hr of pre-aeration; in contrast, the sulfide concentration in sewage sludge did not change. Therefore, pre-aeration can be employed as an efficient treatment option to achieve higher methane yield and lower siloxane concentration in sewage sludge. In addition, reduction of nitrogen loading by pre-aeration can reduce operating costs to achieve better effluent water quality in wastewater treatment plant and benefit the anaerobic process by minimizing the toxic effect of ammonia.