• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.69 no.2
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• pp.78-87
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• 2024

The risk of global warming is increasing due to rapid climate change and increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Among the greenhouse gases, methane has a strong warming effect; in particular, 51.2% of the agricultural sector's methane emissions are from flooded rice fields. According to the current standard rice cultivation method, rice is grown during the maximum tillering stage with an intermittent drainage period of approximately 2 weeks. During the flooding period, methane-producing bacteria are active, but the activity of methane-producing bacteria and the amount of methane gas produced are reduced when the soil becomes oxidized through watering. Accordingly, this study used multiple-sensing technology to analyze the growth response according to the intermittent drainage period and to identify the extended intermittent drainage period with less impact on rice production. The equipment used for growth observations included NDVI, PRI, and IR sensors. The results confirmed that growth indices related to stress, such as NDVI and PRI, were not significantly different from those of the control when treated within 3 weeks of drainage, but drastically decreased when the drainage period was extended beyond 4 weeks. These results appear to result from the fact that soil water content (volumetric water content) also dropped to below 20% 4 weeks after irrigation, creating actual drought stress conditions. The 22^nd day after treatment, when the soil moisture content reached 20%, was considered the point in time when drought stress conditions were formed. The point at which the SPAD value decreased to 0.6% of normal was estimated to be 23.5 days after treatment by using the regression equation between NDVI and SPAD.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.65-73
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• 2008

Because main barley straw management is changing these days from off-fields to burning that may relate to air quality concerning the global warming, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of barley-straw management practices on greenhouse gas emissions during rice cultivation in rice-barley double cropping system. The treatments were barley straw burning, off-field usage of barley straw and incorporation of barley straw in paddy fields. Laboratory experiment showed that burning of barley straw at the rate of $4.5Mg\;ha^{-1}$ emitted GHGs in the amounts of 4,607, 19.5, and $0.9kg\;ha^{-1}$ of $CO_2$, $CH_4$, and $N_2O$, respectively. During the rice cultivation of the rice-barley double cropping system, the highest GHG emission by evaluated close-static chamber method was observed from the soil incorporation of barley straw with 387 and $1.0kg\;ha^{-1}$ of $CH_4$ and $N_2O$, respectively. The GHGs emissions from the barley straw burning and off-field usage treatments were 233 and $160kg\;ha^{-1}$ for $CH_4$ and 0.80 and $0.79kg\;ha^{-1}$ for $N_2O$, respectively. The barley straw burning treatment showed the greatest GHGs emission among barley straw management practices in rice-barley double cropping system when considering GHGs emissions both during burning and from paddy fields during the cropping seasons. As a result, the GHGs emissions recorded in the barley straw incorporation to soil and off-field usage treatments were 22.4 and 66.8%, respectively, less than sum of GHGs emissions from the burning of barley straw and from paddy fields during rice cultivation.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.233-248
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• 2012

The national emission from energy sector accounted for 84.7% of all domestic emissions in 2007. Of the energy-use emissions, the emission from mobile source as one of key categories accounted for 19.4% and further the road transport emission occupied the most dominant portion in the category. The road transport emissions can be estimated on the basis of either the fuel consumed (Tier 1) or the distance travelled by the vehicle types and road types (higher Tiers). The latter approach must be suitable for simultaneously estimating $CO_2$, $CH_4$, and $N_2O$ emissions in local administrative districts. The objective of this study was to estimate 31 municipal GHG emissions from road transportation in Gyeonggi Province, Korea. In 2008, the municipalities were consisted of 2,014 towns expressed as Dong and Ri, the smallest administrative district unit. Since mobile sources are moving across other city and province borders, the emission estimated by fuel sold is in fact impossible to ensure consistency between neighbouring cities and provinces. On the other hand, the emission estimated by distance travelled is also impossible to acquire key activity data such as traffic volume, vehicle type and model, and road type in small towns. To solve the problem, we applied a hierarchical cluster analysis to separate town-by-town road patterns (clusters) based on a priori activity information including traffic volume, population, area, and branch road length obtained from small 151 towns. After identifying 10 road patterns, a rule building expert system was developed by visual basic application (VBA) to assort various unknown road patterns into one of 10 known patterns. The expert system was self-verified with original reference information and then objects in each homogeneous pattern were used to regress traffic volume based on the variables of population, area, and branch road length. The program was then applied to assign all the unknown towns into a known pattern and to automatically estimate traffic volumes by regression equations for each town. Further VKT (vehicle kilometer travelled) for each vehicle type in each town was calculated to be mapped by GIS (geological information system) and road transport emission on the corresponding road section was estimated by multiplying emission factors for each vehicle type. Finally all emissions from local branch roads in Gyeonggi Province could be estimated by summing up emissions from 1,902 towns where road information was registered. As a result of the study, the GHG average emission rate by the branch road transport was 6,101 kilotons of $CO_2$ equivalent per year (kt-$CO_2$ Eq/yr) and the total emissions from both main and branch roads was 24,152 kt-$CO_2$ Eq/yr in Gyeonggi Province. The ratio of branch roads emission to the total was 0.28 in 2008.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.399-407
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• 2008

Importance of climate change and its impact on agriculture and environment has increased with a rise of greenhouse gases (GHGs) concentration in Earth's atmosphere, which had caused an increase of temperature in Earth. Greenhouse gas emissions such as methane($CH_4$) and nitrous oxide($N_2O$) in the field need to be assessed. GHGs fluxes using chamber systems in the fields(2004~2005) with pepper cultivation were monitored at the experimental plots of National Academy of Agricultural Science(NAAS), Rural Development Administration(RDA) located in Suwon city. $N_2O$ emission during pepper growing period was reduced to 74.0~82.1% in sandy loam soil compared with those in clay loam soil. Evaluating $N_2O$ emission at different levels of soil water conditions, $N_2O$ emission at -50 kPa were lowered to 13.2% in clay loam soil and 40.2% in sandy loam soil compared with those at -30 kPa. $CH_4$ emission was reduced to 45.7~61.6% in sandy loam soil compared with those in clay loam soil. Evaluating $CH_4$ at different levels of soil water conditions, $CH_4$ emission at -50 kPa was lowered to 69.6% in clay loam soil and 55.8% in sandy loam soil compared with those at -30 kPa. It implied that -50 kPa of soil water potential was effective for saving water and reducing GHG emissions. From the path analysis as to contribution factors for $N_2O$ emission, it appeared that contribution rate was in the order of mineral N(51.2%), soil temperature (25.8%), and soil moisture content(23.0%) in clay loam soil and soil moisture content(39.3%), soil temperature (36.4%), and mineral N(24.3%) in sandy loam soil.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.283-295
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• 2011

Many actions against climate change have been taken to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions at home and abroad. As of 2007, the GHGs emitted from buildings accounted for about 23 % of Korea's total GHGs emission, which is the second largest GHG reduction potential following industry. In this study, we introduced Carbon Zero Building (CZB), which was constructed by the National Institute of Environmental Research to cut down GHGs from buildings in Korea, and evaluated the main applied technologies, the amount of energy load and reduced energy, and economic values for CZB to provide data that could be a basis in the future construction of this kind of carbon-neutral buildings. A total of 66 technologies were applied for this building in order to achieve carbon zero emissions. Applied technologies include 30 energy consumption reduction technologies, 18 energy efficiency technologies, and 5 eco-friendly technologies. Out of total annual energy load ($123.8kWh/m^2$), about 40% of energy load ($49kWh/m^2$) was reduced by using passive technologies such as super insulation and use of high efficiency equipments and the other 60% ($74.8kWh/m^2$) was reduced by using active technologies such as solar voltaic, solar thermal, and geothermal energy. The construction cost of CZB was 1.4 times higher than ordinary buildings. However, if active technologies are excluded, the construction cost is similar to that of ordinary buildings. It was estimated that we could save annually about 102 million won directly from energy saving and about 2.2 million won indirectly from additional saving by the reduction in GHGs and atmospheric pollutants. In terms of carbon, we could reduce 100 ton of $CO_2$ emissions per year. In our Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis, the Break Even Point (BEP) for the additional construction cost was estimated to be around 20.6 years.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.160-167
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• 2018

The role played by reservoirs in the biogeochemical cycles of elements is a subject of ongoing debate. Recent research has revealed that reservoirs emit significant levels of greenhouse gases. To assess the importance of reservoirs in monsoon climate areas as a source of methane gas into the atmosphere, we investigated variations in organic carbon (OC) input into the reservoir, oxic state changes, and finally the amount of methane emitted (focusing on the ebullition pathway) in Lake Soyang, which is the largest reservoir in South Korea. Total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations were higher during summer after two years of heavy rainfall. The sedimentation rates of particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate organic nitrogen (PON) were higher in the epilimnion and hypolimnion than the metalimnioin, indicating that autochthonous and allochthonous carbon made separate contributions to the TOC. During stratification, oxygen depletion occurred in the hypolimnion due to the decomposition of organic matter. Under these conditions, $H_2S$ and $CH_4$ can be released from sediment. The methane emissions from the reservoir were much higher than from other natural lakes. However, the temporal and spatial variations of methane ebullition were huge, and were clearly dependent on many factors. Therefore, more research via a well-organized field campaign is needed to investigate methane emissions.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.167-198
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• 2011

The Korean government recently announced greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions reduction target as 30% of 2020 business as usual (BAU) emission projection. As carbon emissions trading is widely used to achieve reductions in the emissions of pollutants, this study deals with the sectoral allocation of initial carbon emission permits in Korea. This research tests the effectiveness of a variety of allocation rules based on the bankruptcy problem in cooperative game theory and hybrid input-output tables which combines environmental statistics with input-output tables. The impact of initial emission permits allocation on economic growth is also analyzed through green growth accounting. According to the analysis result, annual GDP growth rate of Korea is expected to be 4.03%, 4.23%, and 3.67% under Proportional, Constrained Equal Awards, and Constrained Equal Losses rules, respectively. These rates are approximately from 0.69% points to 0.13% points lower than the growth rate of 4.36% without compulsory $CO_2$ reduction. Thus, CEA rule is the most favorable in terms of GDP growth. This study confirms the importance of industry level study on the carbon reduction plan and initial carbon emission permits should reflect the characteristic of each industry.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.65-76
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• 2015

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is the multi-lateral 'cap and trade' system endorsed by the Kyoto Protocol. CDM allows developed (Annex I) countries to buy CER credits from New and Renewable (NE) projects of non-Annex countries, to meet their carbon reduction requirements. This in effect subsidizes and promotes NE projects in developing countries, ultimately reducing global greenhouse gases (GHG). To be registered as a CDM project, the project must prove 'additionality,' which depends on numerous factors including the adopted technology, baseline methodology, emission reductions, and the project's internal rate of return. This makes it difficult to determine ex ante a project's acceptance as a CDM approved project, and entails sunk costs and even project cancellation to its project stakeholders. Focusing on hydro power projects and employing UNFCCC public data, this research developed a prediction model using logistic regression and CART to determine the likelihood of approval as a CDM project. The AUC for the logistic regression and CART model was 0.7674 and 0.7231 respectively, which proves the model's prediction accuracy. More importantly, results indicate that the emission reduction amount, MW per hour, investment/Emission as crucial variables, whereas the baseline methodology and technology types were insignificant. This demonstrates that at least for hydro power projects, the specific technology is not as important as the amount of emission reductions and relatively small scale projects and investment to carbon reduction ratios.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.233-241
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• 2015

In 2014, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed to submit the Intended Nationality Determined Contributions (INDCs) at the conference of parties held in Lima, Peru. Then, the South Korean government submitted the INDCs including GHGs reduction target and reduction potential on July, 2015. The goal of this study is to predict GHGs emission and to analyze reduction potential in agricultural sector of Korea. Activity data to estimate GHGs emission was forecast by Korea Agricultural Simulation Model (KASMO) of Korea Rural Economic Institute and estimate methodology was taken by the IPCC and guideline for MRV (Measurement, Reporting and Verification) of national greenhouse gases statistics of Korea. The predicted GHGs emission of agricultural sectors from 2021 to 2030 tended to decrease due to decline in crop production and its gap was less after 2025. Increasing livestock numbers such as sheep, horses, swine, and ducks did not show signigicant impact the total GHGs emission. On a analysis of the reduction potential, GHGs emission was expected to reduce $253Gg\;CO_{2-eq}$. by 2030 with increase of mid-season water drainage area up to 95% of total rice cultivation area. The GHGs reduction potential with intermittent drainage technology applied to 10% of the tatal paddy field area, mid-drainage and no organic matter would be $92Gg\;CO_{2-eq}$. by 2030.