• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.517-523
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• 2016

South Korea is the 8th biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world due to its phenomenal economic growth based on manufacturing, and it is ranked first among OECD members for the rate of increase in emissions. Thus, the Korea government has voluntarily presented a reduction target and demonstrated global leadership. For the reduction of nation's GHG emission, importance of CCU(Carbon Capture and Utilization) along with CCS(Carbon Capture and Storage) technology development is increased. CCU technology is $CO_2$ utilization technology for the usage of $CO_2$ from flue gas and it can create a new economic value while reducing $CO_2$ emission. Therefore, with continued technology development, the number of application of CCU technology is increasing globally.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2014

UN-REDD (United Nations programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in Developing Countries) and AR-CDM (Afforestation/Reforestation-Clean Development Mechanism) is currently being emerged as one of important mechanism to reduce carbon dioxide in relation to the deforestation. Discussion on North Korea as UN-REDD/AR-CDM project target continues with a view to preventing deforestation and to securing CER(certified emission reduction) for South Korea. The forests in Mt. Baekdu are degraded, deforestation is occurred, nevertheless, portion of forested area is still high, where both REDD and AR-CDM investment potential are quite high. Accordingly, this study is intended to explore a simultaneous registration potential to UNREDD/AR-CDM for Mt. Baekdu although separate registration to UN-REDD or AR-CDM has already gained worldwide recognition as a typical method in the process of GHG (Greenhouse Gas) reduction project. The results indicate that selecting UN-REDD or AR-CDM in accordance with sub-watershed forest condition could capture 53.2% more carbon dioxide than REDD alone and 21.9% more than AR-CDM alone. It is anticipated that this research output could be used as a realistic evidence to introduce carbon sequestering project in accordance with sub-watershed forest condition.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.55-93
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• 2012

In Korea, energy policies are actualized through various energy-related plans. Recently, however, as high-ranking plans, which are very vision-oriented, continually set higher sector-by-sector goals, subordinate action plans, which require consistency, encounter distortions in their establishment process. Also, each subordinate action plan reveals limitations in terms of securing flexibility of the plan in responding to uncertainties of the future. These problems pose potential risks such as causing huge social costs. In this regard, with an aim to provide empirical evidence for discussions on improving the procedure for developing and executing Korea's energy plans, this study mainly analyzes the Basic Plan on Electricity Demand and Supply-one of the most important subordinate action plans-in order to explain the problems of the Basic Plan in a logical manner, and potential problems that could occur in the process of sustaining consistency between the Basic Plan and its higher-ranking plans. Further, this paper estimates the scale of social costs caused by those problems assuming realistic conditions. According to the result, in the case of where maximum electric power is estimated to be 7% (15%) less than the actual amount in the Basic Plan on Electricity Demand and Supply, the annual generation cost will rise by 286 billion won and (1.2 trillion won) in 2020. Such social costs are found to occur even when establishing and executing the Basic plan according to the target goal set by its higher-ranking plan, the National Energy Master Plan. In addition, when another higher-ranking GHG reduction master plan requires the electricity sector to reduce emissions by additional 5% in the GHG emissions from the right mix in electricity generation with 'zero' cost of carbon emission, the annual generation cost will rise by approximately 915 billion won in 2020. On the other hand, the analysis finds that since economic feasibility of electric powers in Korea varies significantly depending on their type, Korea is expected to face very small potential social costs caused by uncertainties over the future price of carbon dioxide in the process of establishing the Basic Plan.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.356-370
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• 2017

The energy savings and $CO_2$ emission reductions obtainable from the situation that the Smart Grid system (SGs) is assumed to be applied in Korea up to 2030 is quantitatively analyzed with many reported data. For calculation, SGs is divided into five sectors such as Smart Transmission and Distribution (ST&D), Smart Consumer (SC), Smart Electricity Service (SES), Smart Renewable Energy (SRE) and Smart Transportation (ST). Total annual energy savings in 2030 is estimated to be approximately 103,121 GWh and this is 13.1% of total electricity consumption outlook. Based on this value, total amount of reducible $CO_2$ emissions is calculated to 55.38 million $tCO_2$, which is 17.6% of total nation's GHG reduction target. Although the contribution of energy saving due to SGs to total electricity consumption increases as years go by, that of $CO_2$ emission reduction gradually decreases. This might be because that coal fired based power generation is planned to be sharply increased and the rate of $CO_2$ emission reduction scheduled by nation is very fast. The contributable portion of five each sector to total $CO_2$ emission reductions in 2030 is estimated to be 44.37% for SC, 29.16% for SRE, 20.12% for SES, 5.11% for ST&D, and 1.24% for ST.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.463-476
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• 2017

Climate change is considered as the greatest threat to our future and descendants. The Korean government has set a target for 2030 to reduce emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) by 37% from the business-as-usual levels which are projected to reach 851 million metric tons of $CO_2eq$ (Carbon dioxide equivalent). In Korea, GHGs emission from agriculture account for almost 3.1% of the total of anthropogenic GHGs. The GHGs emitted from agricultural land are largely classified into three types: carbon dioxide ($CO_2$), methane ($CH_4$), and nitrous oxide ($N_2O$). In Korea, rice paddies are one of the largest agricultural $CH_4$ sources. In order to analyze domestic research trends related to $CH_4$ emission from rice paddies, 93 academic publications including peer reviewed journals, books, working papers, reports, etc., published from 1995 to September 2017, were critically reviewed. The results were classified according to the research purposes. $CH_4$ characteristics and assessment were found to account for approximately 65.9% of the research trends, development of $CH_4$ emission factors for 9.5%, $CH_4$ emission reduction technology for 14.8%, and $CH_4$ emission modeling for 6.3%, etc. A number of research related to $CH_4$ emission characteristics and assessment have been studied in recent years, whereas further study on $CH_4$ emission factors are required to determine an accurate country-specific GHG emission from rice paddies. Future research should be directed toward both studies for reducing the release of $CH_4$ from rice paddies to the atmosphere and the understanding of the major controlling factors affecting $CH_4$ emission.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.41-50
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to review the U.S. renewable energy policies implemented by the federal government and the state governments to investigate potential barriers of renewable energy expansion and to develop policy implications for the successful renewable energy policy making in Korea. Recently, the restructuring in the energy supply chain has been being a new trend in many countries that shows a transition from traditional fossil fuels to sustainable renewable energy sources. The United States has enforced effective renewable energy policies (i.e., regulatory policies, financial incentives), which have led to the exploding growth of renewable energy facilities and productions over the last ten years. For example, many state governments in the U.S. are implementing Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) policies that require increased energy supply from renewable energy sources (i.e., solar, wind and geothermal). These RPS policies are expected to account for at least 10-50 percent of total electricity production in the next fifteen years. As part of results, in the recent three years, renewable energy in the U.S provided over 50 percent of total new power generation constructions. On the other hand, Korea initiated to develop climate change policies in 2008 for the Green Growth Policy that set up a target reduction of national Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions up to 37 percent by 2025. However, statistical data for accumulated renewable energy capacity refer that Korea is still in its early stage that contribute to only 7 percent of the total electricity production capacity and of which hydroelectric power occupied most of the production. Thus, new administration in Korea announced a new renewable energy policy (Renewable Energy 3020 Plan) in 2017 that will require over 95 percent of the total new generations as renewable energy facilities to achieve up to 20 percent of the total electricity production from renewable energy sources by 2030. However, to date, there have not been enough studies to figure out the barriers of the current policy environment and to develop implications about renewable energy policies to support the government plan in Korea. Therefore, this study reviewed the U.S. renewable energy policies compared with Korean policies that could show model cases to introduce related policies and to develop improved incentives to rapidly spread out renewable energy facilities in Korea.