• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.358-383
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• 2015

The concept of 'carbon footprint' has been developed as a means of quantifying the specific emissions of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that cause global warming. Although there are still neither clear definitions of the term nor rules for units or the scope of its estimation, it is broadly accepted that the carbon footprint is the total amount of GHGs, expressed as $CO_2$ equivalents, emitted into the atmosphere directly or indirectly at all processes of the production by an individual or organization. According to the ISO/TS 14067, the carbon footprint of a product is calculated by multiplying the units of activity of processes that emit GHGs by emission factor of the processes, and by summing them up. Based on this, 'carbon labelling' system has been implemented in various ways over the world to provide consumers the opportunities of comparison and choice, and to encourage voluntary activities of producers to reduce GHG emissions. In the agricultural sector, as a judgment basis to help purchaser with ethical consumption, 'low-carbon agricultural and livestock products certification' system is expected to have more utilization value. In this process, the 'cradle to gate' approach (which excludes stages for usage and disposal) is mainly used to set the boundaries of the life cycle assessment for agricultural products. The estimation of carbon footprint for the entire agricultural and forestry sector should take both removals and emissions into account in the "National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report". The carbon accumulation in the biomass of perennial trees in cropland should be considered also to reduce the total GHG emissions. In order to accomplish this, tower-based flux measurements can be used, which provide a direct quantification of $CO_2$ exchange during the entire life cycle. Carbon footprint information can be combined with other indicators to develop more holistic assessment indicators for sustainable agricultural and forestry ecosystems.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.256-262
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• 2011

Currently among the several methods to estimate an environmental impact of products, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technique is mostly used. The Ministry of Environment has been performed the carbon footprint labelling to give the carbon record of product by using this method. But the calculation of carbon footprint in primary agricultural product which is raw material of the processed food cannot be made because there is lack of methodology and LCI DB at agriculture sector. Therefore, LCA carried out to estimate carbon footprint, and established LCI DB for complex fertilizers (21-17-17 1 kg, 17-21-17 1 kg, 15-15-15 1 kg, Unspecified 1 kg) in the production system. The result of LCI DB analysis focussed on the GHG, and it was observed that the values of carbon footprint were $2.42E+00kg\;CO_2-eq.kg^{-1}$ for 21-17-17, $2.10E+00kg\;CO_2-eq.kg^{-1}$ for 17-21-17, $2.23E+00kg\;CO_2-eq.kg^{-1}$ for 15-15-15 and $3.56E+00kg\;CO_2-eq.kg^{-1}$ for Unspecified. For the analysis of LCIA (Life Cycle Impact Assessment) on complex fertilizers in the production system, the carbon footprint from pre-manufacturing phase is contributed to 98.96%, 98.81%, 98.88% and 99.30% on each complex fertilizer with 21-17-17, 17-21-17, 15-15-15, and Unspecified, respectively. These results will be used in basic data for estimation of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.189-197
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• 2014

Carbon footprint of apple was a sum of $CO_2$ emission in the step of manufacturing waste of agri-materials, and greenhouse gas emission during apple cultivation. Input amount of agri-materials was calculated on 2007 Income reference of Apple by Rural Development Administration. Emission factor of each agri- materials was based on domestic data and Ecoinvent data. $N_2O$ emission factor was based on 1996 IPCC guideline. Carbon dioxide was emitted 0.64 kg $CO_2$ to produce 1 kg apple fruit, and carbon dioxide was emitted 43.6% in the step of the manufacturing byproduct fertilizer, 1.3% in the step of the manufacturing single fertilizer, 4.7% in the step of the manufacturing composite fertilizer, 6.3% in the step of the manufacturing agri-chemicals, 14.6% in the step of the manufacturing fuel, 11.5% in the step of the fuel combustion, 17.7% of $N_2O$ emission by nitrogen application and 0.18% of disposal of agri-materials. It is needed for farmers to use fertilization recommendation based on soil testing (soil. rda.go.kr) because scientific fertilization is a major tools to reduce carbon dioxide of apple production. The fertilization recommendation could be also basic data in Measurable-ReporTablele-Verifiable (MRV) system for carbon footprint.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.1143-1152
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• 2012

We established a top-down methodology to estimate carbon footprint as national mean value (reference) with the statistical data on agri-livestock incomes in 2007. We also established LCI (life cycle inventory) DB by a bottom-up methodology with the data obtained from interview with farmers from 4 large-scale farms at Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do province to estimate carbon footprint in 2011. This study was carried out to compare top-down methodology and bottom-up methodology in performing LCA (life cycle assessment) to analyze the difference in GHGs (greenhouse gases) emission and carbon footprint under conventional rice cultivation system. Results of LCI analysis showed that most of $CO_2$ was emitted during fertilizer production and rice cultivation, whereas $CH_4$ and $N_2O$ were mostly emitted during rice cultivation. The carbon footprints on conventional rice production system were 2.39E+00 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ by top-down methodology, whereas 1.04E+00 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ by bottom-up methodology. The amount of agro-materials input during the entire rice cultivation for the two methodologies was similar. The amount of agro-materials input for the bottom-up methodology was sometimes greater than that for top-down methodology. While carbon footprint by the bottom-up methodology was smaller than that by the top-down methodology due to higher yield per cropping season by the bottom-up methodology. Under the conventional rice production system, fertilizer production showed the highest contribution to the environmental impacts on most categories except GWP (global warming potential) category. Rice cultivation was the highest contribution to the environmental impacts on GWP category under the conventional rice production system. The main factors of carbon footprints under the conventional rice production system were $CH_4$ emission from rice paddy field, the amount of fertilizer input and rice yield. Results of this study will be used for establishing baseline data for estimating carbon footprint from 'low carbon certification pilot project' as well as for developing farming methods of reducing $CO_2$ emission from rice paddy fields.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.247-250
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• 2009

Awareness of resource conservation and pollution prevention has been continually increasing. The proven benefits from CFRP's unique combination of light weight and high strength compare to conventional material is well suited for minimizing fuel consumption during vehicle in particular rail operation. Responding the awareness, this work intends to study CFRP's recycling method that is not only technical performance but also environmental view point. According to prior work of technical performance test, this work aims at quantifying the footprint of energy and GHG derived from the two appreciated performance of pyrolysis and acids recycling methods. The streamline LCA is the concept for systematic assessment. The boundary is scoped at the recycling activity, consequently, the data in and out from the specific target activity are obtained under the gate to gate data collection. Its function is recovery carbon fiber. To count and compare function, functional unit is set at 60% of recycling rate. Korea database is mainly source for acquiring the footprint of both. The numerical results presented that the energy footprint of acids and pyrolysis is 164.95 and 1,199.88 MJ-eq., respectively. Meantime, the GHG footprint of is 1,196.22 and 5,916.08 g CO2 eq. for acids and pyrolysis. In summary, the acids recycling method is, in regarding the environmental performance, better than pyrolysis recycling method.

• Water for future
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.36-44
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• 2011

• The monthly packaging world
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• s.196
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• pp.76-80
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• 2009

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.374-380
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• 2014

To estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, the inventory of rice cultivation at the farming without agricultural chemicals was established from farmers in Gunsan, Jeonbuk province in 2011~2012. The objectives of this study were to calculate carbon footprint and analyse the major factor of GHGs. To do this, we carried out a sensitivity analysis using the analyzed main factors of GHGs and estimated the mitigation potential of GHGs. Also we suggested agricultural methods to reduce GHGs that can be appled by farmers at this region. At the farming system without agricultural chemicals, carbon footprint of rice production unit of 1 kg was 2.15 kg $CO_2.-eq.kg^{-1}$. Although the amount of carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) emission was the largest among GHGs, methane ($CH_4$) emission had the highest contribution to carbon footprint on rice production system when it was converted to carbon dioxide equivalent ($CO_2-eq.$) multiplied by the global warming potential (GWP). Main source of $CO_2$ emission in the rice farming system without agricultural chemicals was combustion of fossil fuels used by agricultural machinery. Most of the $CH_4$ was emitted during rice cultivation practice and its major emission factor was flooded paddy field in anaerobic condition. Also, most of the $N_2O$ was emitted from rice cultivation process. Major sources of the $N_2O$ emission was application of fertilizer such as compound fertilizer. As a result of sensitivity analysis in energy consumption, diesel had the highest sensitivity among the energy inputs. With the reduction of diesel consumption by 10%, it was estimated that $CO_2$ potential reduction was about 2.0%. With reducing application rate of compound fertilizer by 10%, the potential reduction was calculated that $CO_2$ and $N_2O$ could be reduced by 0.5% and 0.9%, respectively. At the condition of 10% reduction of silicate and compost, $CO_2$ and $CH_4$ could be reduced by 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively. With 8 days more drainage than the ordinary practice, $CH_4$ emission could be reduced by about 4.5%. Drainage and diesel consumption were the main sources having the largest effect on the GHG reduction at the farming system without agricultural chemicals. Based on the above results, we suggest that no-tillage and midsummer drainage could be a method to decrease GHG emissions from rice production system.

• 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.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.1664-1673
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• 2022

Achieving sustainable development requires an increasing share of green technologies. World energy demand is expected to rise significantly especially in developing economies. The increasing energy demands will be entertained with conventional energy sources at the cost of higher emissions unless eco-friendly technologies are used. This study examines the asymmetric effects of nuclear energy on carbon emissions for Pakistan from 1974 to 2019. Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips Perron (PP) unit root tests suggest that variables are integrated of order one and bound test of Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and nonlinear ARDL confirm a long-run relationship among selected variables. The ARDL, Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) results show that the coefficient of nuclear energy has a negative and significant impact on emissions in both short and long run. Further, the NARDL finding shows that there exists an asymmetric long-run association between nuclear energy and CO₂ emissions. The vector error correction method (VECM) results indicate that there exists a bidirectional causal relationship between nuclear energy and carbon emissions in both the short and long run. Additionally, the impact of nuclear energy on ecological footprint has been examined and our findings remain robust.