• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.35-43
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to analyze emergy flows of rice for evaluating the value of rice production and sustainability. Emergy analysis evaluates the sustainability of systems or processes considering all the inputs to make a product or a sevice. In this study, we analyzed the emergy flows and indices of rice productionand compared the regional emergy values using statisticcal analysis: input materials, hours per unit area(10a), and production costs. As the results, we found that the rates of external investment (EIR= 18.87) and environmental loading (ELR=21.7) are significantly high during the rice cultivation. However, emergy yield ratio(EYR) shows that rice is a valuable resource because EYR is 5.12 and environmental Sustainability IndexSI value is as low as 0.24 and it shows rice has low sustainability. This study also shows that Chungcheongnam-do has the highest SI value for rice production due to low environmental loading and abundant natural energy during rice cultivation. These results of rice emergy flows and sustainability assessments could provide a way of sustainable rice cultivation with decrease of environmental loading from fertilizer.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.335-343
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• 2017

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an important policy implemented before starting development projects to estimate and reduce environmental impact. However, the difficulty of quantification on several rating categories has hampered comprehensive analysis. Instead of it, the current EIA just summarizes outcome of investigation. Therefore, EIA fails to definitively ascertain whether the development shold be approved or not. This study aimed at providing the way to comprehensive decision-making by applying Emergy analysis and Emergy indicators to EIA. Production (P), Emergy Yield Ratio (EYR), Environmental Loading Ratio (ELR) and Emergy Sustainability Index (ESI) were selected for indicators. The indicators of range approving the development were set up with comparing before and after development or according to circumstances of which view of average that was classified as region or industry is appropriate to analysis. As a result, the value after development of P should be higher than the value before development. EYR and ESI of the value before development should be higher than region or industry average. On the contrary to these, ELR of the value after development should be lower than region or industry average. To verify applying Emergy indicators to EIA comprehensive analysis, Emergy evaluation was conducted to real case. As a result, applying Emergy analysis could suggest whether the development is appropriate or not. These indices and the result of this research are expected to be applied decision-making on environmental impact for sustainable development.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.87-92
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• 2002

The emergy (spelled with an 'm') concept was introduced to provide a new insight into ecosystem restoration efforts in Korea. The emergy is defined as the available energy of one kind previously required directly and indirectly to make a product or service. It is an effort to evaluate the true contributions of natural resources to our economy. It tries to include both contributions from natures free works and human services to develop and process natural resources. The emergy evaluation can be used to select a restoration alternative that yields more to the economy with less stress to the environment, by comparing different alternatives with indices expressed in emergy. It can also be used to assess the success of ecosystem restoration projects. Pulsing dynamics in which a slow build-up of production is followed by a frenzied consumption in relatively short time period seems to be a general feature of all systems. Any ecosystem restoration effort, therefore, should consider the whole pulsing cycle for a successful implementation.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.689-700
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• 1996

Fisheries products have to be produced and maintained by work processes from the environment, sometimes helped by people. In Korean fisheries both environmental production and its economic use are included within the windows of system approach. EMERGY is the sum of all inputs expressed as one form of solar energy required directly and indirectly to make a product. Calculating EMERGY flows into Korean fisheries evaluates the real wealth contributed by environmental production and its economic use. Several indices calculated from EMERGY analysis table and a three-arm diagram give perspective on the type and efficiency of the environmental uses. Net EMERGY yield ratio is a measure of its net contribution to the economy beyond its own operation. For adjacent waters fisheries in Korea, the net contribution to the economy is 11.85 or higher, which is a stimulus to the economy that is able to purchase it. EMERGY investment ratio measures the intensity of the economic development and the loading of the environment. The ratio for Korean fisheries as a whole is 0.50, for the adjacent waters fisheries 0.09 and for the shallow-sea cultures 1.28, which is lower than the same index for the industry of the developed country (7.0). The component of environment drawn into production are large compared to purchased investment in Korean fisheries. Much more EMERGY is contained in fisheries products than in the paid services used to process the products. The EMERGY exchange ratio for Korean fisheries as a whole is 6.98, for the adjacent waters fisheries is 10.69 and for the shallow-sea cultures is 1.25. Using market values to evaluate wealth of environment resources is found to be many times too small. Money is paid only to people for their contribution, and never to the environment for its contribution. Macroeconomic value is the appropriate measure for discussing large-scale considerations of an economy, including environment and human goods & services.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.507-514
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• 2013

The Nakdong River being used as drinking water sources for the Busan metropolitan city has the vulnerability of water management due to the fact that industrial areas are located in the upper Nakdong River. This study used emergy analysis method to evaluate ecological-economics of water treatment systems of D water treatment plant (WTP) where located in the downstream of the Nakdong River. The emergy methodology is a system evaluation tool that uses energy as the common currency to compare different resources on a common basis. Emergy yield ratio (EYR) and emergy sustainability index (EmSI) of D WTP were 1.16 and 0.18, respectively. It means not resources and sustainable system but consumer goods and not sustainable system. Ratio of emergy benefit to the purchaser (EBP) shows 2.7 times higher than economic costs. To change the weak water source and situations we need to diversity water intake.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.169-179
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• 2005

With the industrialization in Korea, the economy has invested more resources on industry and less on agricultural production. However, agriculture is still an important industry, since the whole nation depends on rice for their living. And the proportion of agricultural land is relatively large, which leads issuing environmental aspects of agriculture in this country. This study was conducted to evaluate the environmental and economical aspects of agriculture in Korea, using system ecological concept, Emergy. The total Emergy inflow of Korean agriculture was $336.57{\times}10^{20}\;sej{\cdot}yr^{-1}$ in 2003. Emergy yield ratio, the ratio of non-renewable and imported Energy use to renewable Emergy use, was 5.21, which shows the agriculture in Korea has such a value as that of the world oil resources in 1986. Also, total agricultural product was $13.55{\times}10^{16}\;J{\cdot}yr^{-1}$ in 2003 and the Energy inflow was $121.09{\times}10^{20}\;sej{\cdot}yr^{-1}$. From these data, solar transformity of Korean agriculture was estimated as $8.68{\times}10^4\;sej{\cdot}J^{-1}$.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.185-191
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• 2000

Sustainable development has been the key concept, both in economic policies and in environmental management since 1970s. In the view of systems ecology, sustainable resource use strategies are considered to be essential in achieving sustainable development. During the last three decades, the discipline of systems ecology has applied ecological energetic analysis to the evaluation of the contribution of natural environments to economic systems. ENERGY analysis of main energy flows driving the economy of humans and life support systems of a city was made including environmental energies, fuel, and inputs, all expressed as solar emjoules. Total EMERGY use of Pusan was 3.89 E22 sej/yr, about 90 percent of it was purchased sources from outside during eleven years from 1985 to 1995. EMERGY flows from the environment were less than 10 percent. EMERGY yield ratio and environmental loading ratio were 1.10 and 10.45, respectively. EMERGY sustainability index is there(ore less than one, which is indicative of highly developed consumer oriented economies. Development of a city has been achieved in the short run by the economic growth, but it can be sustained in the long run by the use of renewable resource systems.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.482-496
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• 2023

Many changes in the scale and structure of the Korean rice cropping system have been made over the past few decades. Still, insufficient research has been conducted on the sustainability of this system. This study analyzed changes in the Korean rice cropping system's sustainability from a system ecology perspective using an emergy approach. For this purpose, an emergy table was created for the Korean rice cropping system in 2011, 2016, and 202, and an emergy-based indicator analysis was performed. The emergy analysis showed that the total emergy input to the rice cropping system decreased from 10,744E+18 sej year^-1 to 8,342E+18 sej year^-1 due to decreases in paddy field areas from 2011 to 2021, and the proportion of renewable resources decreased by 1.4%. The emergy input per area (ha) was found to have decreased from 13.13E+15 sej ha^-1 year^-1 in 2011 to 11.89E+15 sej ha^-1 year^-1 in 2021, and the leading cause was a decrease in nitrogen fertilizer usage and working hours. The amount of emergy used to grow 1 g of rice stayed the same between 2016 and 2021 (specific emergy: 13.3E+09 sej g^-1), but the sustainability of the rice cropping system (emergy sustainability index, ESI) continued to decrease (2011: 0.107, 2016: 0.088, and 2021: 0.086). This study provides quantitative information on the emergy input structure and characteristics of Korean rice cropping systems. The results of this study can be used as a valuable reference in establishing measures to improve the ecological sustainability of the Korean rice cropping system.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.134-143
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• 2016

This study analyzed the characteristics of emergy inputs from environmental sources that are essential in maintaining ecological processes and providing ecosystems services of the tidal flat ecosystems in Korea. Environmental sources provided a total of $4.98{\times}10^{21}sej/yr$ of emergy to the tidal flats of Korea. The emergy inputs from environmental sources were worth 1,141 billion ￦/yr. This is the value of environmental conditions that are the basis of ecosystem services provided by the tidal flat ecosystems. The emergy input per hectare to regional tidal flats decreased along the coastline from northwest to southeast, with the highest input in the Incheon-Gyeonggi area in the central western part of the Korean coast and the lowest input in the Busan area in the southeastern end. This reflects the general distribution pattern of the magnitude of tidal ranges along the Korean coast. There was no a clear-cut relationship between emergy inputs per unit area and fishery production(expressed in emergy quantity) per unit area. However, tidal flats in the west coast with higher emery inputs per unit area produced more fishery products than those in the south coast with lower emergy inputs, suggesting a possibility that the emergy inputs could be used for the rapid evaluation and comparison of the potential for ecosystem service provision by individual tidal flats.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.243-252
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• 2006

The emergy concept was used to valuate the contributions of a tidal flat ecosystem included in the fourth stage reclamation plan for the Youngsan River area to the Korean economy. Emergy contributions of the ecosystem were compared with those of economic valuations performed on the same ecosystem. The tidal flat ecosystem contributed 3.55 million EmW/ha annually. This, however, cannot be compared directly with those of the economic valuations because both methodologies approach the valuation of ecosystems in different perspectives. The emergy methodology is a donor-based valuation in which what goes into making a product or service is measured, while the economic valuation is a receiver-based approach in which human receivers determine the value of an ecosystem product or service. An emergy valuation was conducted for the three ecosystem functions included in the economic valuations to compare the results of both methodologies on the same basis. Fishery production and pollutants removal contributed 9.86 million EmW/ha/yr and 0.88 million EmW/ha/yr, respective1y. The conservation value of the tidal flat ecosystem was 3.55 million EmW/ha/yr. Overall, the emergy valuation that try to include works of both human and nature on the same basis resulted in higher economic contribution of the tidal flat ecosystem than that calculated by the economic methodologies in which only human works are measured based on the willingness-to-pay of people. This study showed that the emergy concept could provide an alternative tool for policy decision-making regarding utilization and conservation of ecosystems by approaching the ecosystem valuation from a different perspective than that of economic methodologies.