• 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.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.45-51
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• 1999

Emergy concept was used to evaluate the contributions of a dam construction to the real wealth of our economy. A dam that is proposed as a multi-purpose dam was used to illustrate emergy evaluation methodology. Models for emergy evaluation were constructed with energy systems language, a symbolic modeling language which presents network properties of systems holistically. Water supply was the most important contribution in terms of emergy, which reflects that the dam is proposed for stable water supply to a local region. Generation of electricity was the second in emergy benefits of the dam. Emergy costs were more evenly distributed among the costs which would occur as a result of the dam construction. Emergy yield ratio was 1.30 if sediments are not included, and 1.15 if sediments are included, which results in net yield in both cases. The ratio would, however, fall below 1.0 if rare species within the system boundary are lost as a result of the dam construction because of the high emergy value included in biotic species, which means that emergy costs will be greater than emergy benefits. This study illustrated a new methodology in environmental impact assessment to better manage our environments in an age of diminishing resources.

• 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.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.629-636
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• 1996

The developments of mariculture fisheries depend on both the natural environmental inputs such as sun, rain, wind, tide and the economic inputs such as ships, fuels, facilities, labor. for the enhancement of mariculture productivity in Deukryang Bay, a new attempt has been made to connect the environmental resources and the economic activity within one system. This study applies EMERGY analysis that evaluates environmental energies, fuels, goods and services in terms of solar emjoelus. In total EMERGY use $(69.65\times10^{20}\;sej/yr)$ the natural environment inputs is $78\%\;(54.60\times10^{20}\;sej/yr)$. This means that the mariculture in Deukryang Bay depends on mainly environmental resources. Net EMERGY yield ratio was 4.63 which indicated high value as a resource, EMERGY investment ratio was 0.28 that means to gain 3.6 times energy from the natural environment than those of economy. If the fisherie's products are made by renewable EMERGY input to Deukryang Bay, the calculated carrying capacity of fishes, crustaceans, shellfish and seaweeds were 1,140, 110, 1,553 and 9,074 ton/yr, respectively. If the quantity of renewable EMERGY input to mariculture grounds in Deukrysng Bay was calculated-based on only shellfish product, shellfish products was estimated as about 1,195 ton/yr.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.102-115
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• 2015

Several emergy researches have been carried out to estimate the value of marine ecosystem services in Korea over the last decade. Their results cannot be compared mainly due to inconsistency in emergy-money ratios used to convert emergy unit into monetary unit. This study aimed at providing a standardized format for the emergy evaluation of the Korean economy and environment for different emergy evaluations to be compatible. Even though the area of the continental shelf increased in this study compared to those of previous studies, areaweighted average tidal range for the entire continental shelf of Korea resulted in smaller tidal range, decreasing the final emergy input from tide. However, emergy inputs from nonrenewable resources and purchased goods and services increased with new categorization and use of more detailed data, combined with updated unit emergy values. This led to higher emergy-money ratio for the Korean economy, indicating that previous emergy valuations might have overestimated the contributions of marine ecosystem to the real wealth of the Korean society. The base year for gross domestic product used in the emergy evaluation needs to be clearly indicated due to its impact on the calculation of the emergy-money ratio. A standardized emergy table for the Korean economy will contribute to ensuring consistency among future emergy researches on the valuation of marine ecosystem services.

• 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.13 no.4
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• pp.349-357
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• 2004

Emergy is a measure of the processes required to produce something expressed in units of the same energy form. Emergy based indices can provide insights into the thermodynamic efficiency of the process, the quality of its output, and the interaction between the process and its surrounding environment. However, in an industrial system, the inputs are mostly nonrenewable, renewable energy source is nearly zero, ultimate purpose is pursuit of profits in economic activity. In study, we present two indices based on emergy - EEE(Ecological Economic Efficiency) and ERI(Environmental Responsibility Index). The EEE is taken into account real value of product in market economy. The ERI is shown to be a function of the net yield of the economy, its ‘load’ on the environment and ecological economic efficiency. Manufacturing industry of Korea produced the 30% of total GDP in 2001. We applied these indices to manufacturing industry for environmental management and further sustainable industry. As a results, the highest ERI is 0.34 in recycling industries, the lowest ERI is 0.01 in coke, refined petroleum products which is dominated by ELR. The higher ERI, the more friendly to environment. The suggested indices help us understand relative contributions of various alternatives in company's production and consumption activity, and provide a tool of decision-making for the rearrangement of future industries. Furthermore, they contribute to environmental friendly operation and consumption.

• 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.