• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1087-1099
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• 2017

Emergy methodology was used to analyze the biophysical basis of Korean agriculture and assess its sustainablility. Total yearly emergy input into Korean agriculture was $7.72{\times}10^{22}sej/yr$ in 2013. Purchased inputs were the dominant emergy source, accounting for 90.1% ($6.95{\times}10^{22}sej/yr$) of the annual input. This clearly indicates that the Korean agriculture is a modern, industrialized system that depends mostly on market goods and services derived from nonrenewable resources. The monetary equivalent of the total emergy input was 18.9 trillion \/yr, 1.5 times greater than the total production cost from farm expense surveys. Emergy return on investment of Korean agriculture was low, with an emergy yield ratio of 1.11. Korean agriculture appears to exert pressure on the environment as revealed by the high environmental loading ratio of 9.30. With very low emergy input from renewable sources (9.7%) and high environmental pressure, Korean agriculture is not sustainable, with an emergy sustainability index of 0.12. This study suggests that higher use efficiency of and lower dependence on nonrenewable purchased inputs need to be prioritized in an effort to enhance the sustainability of Korean agriculture.

• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
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• v.10 no.S_1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2001

An emergy evaluation of the natural environment ant economy of Seoul revealed that Seoul used 1.27 E23 sej/yr of emergy in 1997. The emergy input from the Han River accounted for most of the renewable emergy sources. Emergy imported from foreign countries and other parts of Korea accounted for 97% of the total emergy use in Seoul in 1997, revealing that the economy of Seoul is more dependent on outside emergy sources than for the entire Korean economy. The emergy use per unit area(2.09 E14 sej/$m^2$/yr) was higher than that for the entire country or Pusan, whereas the emergy use per capita(1.22 E16 sej/person/yr) was lower than that for the entire country or Pusan. These results reflect the overcrowded conditions in Seoul where about one fourth of the Korean population now live. They also seem to indicate a lower living standard in Seoul than the average in Korea. The quality of living in Seoul could also be judged by a high environmental loading ratio and a low sustainability index. All there indices suggest that people in Seoul live under a higher environmental stress than the average person in Korea.

• 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.

• 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 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 Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.591-597
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• 2013

The input emergy of an advanced treatment plant for reducing the 1 kg of TN and TP was estimated 4.14E+14 sej/kg, 5.02E+15 sej/kg, respectively. In addition, the input emergy of constructed wetland for reduction of the 1 kg of TN and TP reduction was estimated to be 2.48E+14 sej/kg, 3.38E+15 sej/kg, respectively. The cost reducing 1 kg of TN and TP for an advanced treatment plant was estimated 197,466 won and 2,388,739 won respectively and constructed wetland was estimated 117,976 won and 1,609,213 won respectively. As a result, All of the emergy source of constructed wetland for reducing non-point source is renewable resource. If we use the constructed wetland, it results in enhancing economic value by reducing of non-point pollution, controlling a flood and providing the habitat of animals or plants. Improving water quality program in the Nakdong River Basin should be changed into an ecological treatment facilities from expansion of the sewage treatment facilities and advanced treatment plant using high cost and non-renewable energies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.135-143
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• 2008

An emergy concept was used to evaluate the environment and economy of the estuarine areas of Yeongsan River, Seomjin River, and Han River in Korea. The emergy evaluations clearly showed ecological and socioeconomic characteristics of the estuarine areas that act as ecological and economic centers of surrounding areas. River, tide, and rain provided most of the renewable emergy inputs to the estuarine areas with their contribution to the total emergy input less than 8%. The estuarine areas mostly relied for their operation on the purchased emergy which accounted for $92{\sim}98%$ of the total emergy input to the systems. Emergy indices such as emergy use per unit area, population carrying capacity, environmental loading ratio, and emergy sustainability index revealed that the estuarine areas of Yeongsan River, Seomjin River, and Han River are not sustainable at the current level of economic activities in the areas. The ecological economic values of the environment of the areas were in the range of $7.29{\sim}22.06$ million Em\/ha/yr. They are more than twice that for the whole country, indicating the ecological and economic importance of the eatuarine areas. It is, therefore, urgent to establish and implement estuarine management policies to protect and restore the ecological and economic potentials of the estuarine areas of Yeongsan River, Seomjin River, and Han River. Management plans for the estuarine areas should include both demand-side measures such as reduction of population and economic concentration and consideration of ecological carrying capacity in planning stages for utilization and development of the areas, and supply-side ones such as restoration of degraded ecosystems and construction of new productive ecosystems.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2013

An emergy concept was used to evaluate the contributions of the Youngsan River Estuary to the Korean economy from systems and ecosystem service perspectives. Total emergy input to the estuary was $9.42{\times}10^{20}$ sej/yr with the chemical potential of river inflow accounting for 73% of the total and tidal energy for the remaining 27%, reflecting the unique environmental characteristics of estuaries where rivers meet sea. From the systems perspective, the estuary ecosystem contributed 179.9 billion em\/yr (14.91 million em\/ha/yr or 13,526 em$/ha/yr). Four ecosystem services of the Youngsan River Estuary were selected for the emergy evaluation: fishery production, pollutant removal, aesthetic function, and scientific research information. Aesthetic function contributed the most to the Korean economy with 179.9 billion em\/yr, followed by fishery production (101.1 billion em\/yr), pollutant removal (32.6 billion em\/yr), and scientific research information (934 million em\/yr). Emergy-based values of the selected ecosystem services of the estuary were higher than those calculated by economic methodologies.