• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.191-202
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• 2024

Global warming is causing abnormal climates worldwide due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, negatively affecting ecosystems and humanity. In response, various countries are attempting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in numerous ways, and interest in blue carbon, carbon absorbed by coastal ecosystems, is increasing. Known to absorb carbon up to 50 times faster than green carbon, blue carbon plays a vital role in responding to climate change. Particularly, the tidal flats of South Korea, one of the world's five largest tidal flats, are valued for their rich biodiversity and exceptional carbon absorption capabilities. While previous studies on blue carbon have focused on the carbon storage and annual carbon absorption rates of tidal flats, there is a lack of research linking tidal flat area changes detected using satellite data to carbon storage. This study applied the direct difference water index to high-resolution satellite data from PlanetScope and RapidEye to analyze the area and changes of the Nakdong River estuary tidal flats over six periods between 2013 and 2023, estimating the carbon storage for each period. The analysis showed that excluding the period in 2013 with a different tidal condition, the tidal flat area changed by up to approximately 5.4% annually, ranging from about 9.38 km² (in 2022) to about 9.89 km² (in 2021), with carbon storage estimated between approximately 30,230.0 Mg C and 31,893.7 Mg C.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.909-930
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• 2022

Although the electricity tariff for each customer class in Korea has an institutional basis which can be linked to cost fluctuations caused by the increase in fuel cost, there is a situation in which it cannot be raised in a timely manner, considering the national economic burden such as inflation. There can be some disagreements about unconditionally raising electricity rates when cost increases occur. It is, however, well known that Korean domestic electricity rates are very low around the world and are in an environment in which rates are not easily adjusted. Moreover, as Korean electricity rates cannot be easily raised due to various factors, domestic electricity rates for each customer class itself have not delivered a desirable price signal for power consumption. Based on historical data such as fuel costs and power production by power source from 2017 to 2020, this study estimated how much power consumption would change if electricity rates were adjusted in 2030 and price signal distortion was resolved. As a result of the estimation, power consumption will be reduced by 9,000 GWh if the current electricity bill is adjusted to a level which can be 100% recovered even with the supply cost alone. This led to a reduction of about 3.82 million CO₂tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the Korean power sector.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.472-481
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• 2000

This experiment used the enclosed bench-scale reactors was conducted to find out optimal aeration rate for reducing the emission of odors and producing the good-quality compost with the mixture of dairy manure and rice straw. The reactors with gas sampler were aerated at four different rates of 0.09, 0.18, 0.90 and $1.79l\;min^{-1}kg^{-1}$dry solids for 574 hours. The oxygen content within composting pile instantly decreased after aeration. Oxygen limitation(below 15%) in the treatments of $0.90l\;min^{-1}kg^{-1}$ and less was exponentially negative relationship with aeration rates and in the range of 35 to 300 hours after aeration. However, the treatment of $1.79l\;min^{-1}kg^{-1}$ didn't show the oxygen limitation. The oxygen consumption rate and the cumulative amount of oxygen consumed by different aeration rates was ranged in $0.80{\sim}1.57O_2g\;h^{-1}\;kg^{-1}VS^{-1}$, $460{\sim}900O_2g\;kg^{-1}VS^{-1}$, respectively, and they were high in the order of 0.90, 1.79, 0.18, $0.09l\;min^{-1}kg^{-1}$. The maximum oxygen consumption rate was estimated in the range of $1.2{\sim}1.3lmin^{-1}kg^{-1}$. The emission concentrations of sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide and methylmercaptan were remarkably high in the initial composting time. Then they were rapidly decreased with the passing of composting time and clearly with increasing aeration rates. Their average concentrations were in the range of 0.03~2.18, 0~0.50, $0.07{\sim}3.38mg\;kg^{-1}$, respectively and high in the order of methylmercaptan, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfur dioxide. Concentrations of sulfur compounds emitted from composting showed exponentially negative relationship at 1% statistically with the oxygen concentration. It was estimated that hydrogen sulfide and methylmercaptan suddenly increased in the level of 5% oxygen concentration and below, that they were little emitted in 15% and over but sulfur dioxide was emitted in the level of 20% oxygen.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.47-75
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• 2023

Compared to the EU, which legislates the Carbon Border Adjustment System (CBAM), the United States' carbon border adjustment policy movement is still relatively slow. Recently, however, a related bill has been proposed in the United States, and research institutes have been presenting research results on how to introduce an upstream carbon tax rather than an emission trading system and carry out carbon border adjustment based on it. Therefore, in this study, we looked at the economic and environmental effects of introducing this type of upstream carbon tax and carbon border adjustment in Korea. If an upstream carbon tax of KRW 30,000 per ton of CO₂ is applied to the net supply of domestic fossil energy, the expected carbon tax revenue is approximately KRW 22.9961 trillion, equivalent to about 5.7% of the total revenue of the Korean government of KRW 402 trillion in 2019. In addition, the carbon dioxide content of the steel sector, calculated based on the energy supply and demand status of the steel sector, which emits the most greenhouse gas emissions in Korea and has a considerable amount of overseas exports, was 106.22 million tons of CO₂. On the other hand, assuming that the upstream carbon tax of 30,000 won per ton of CO₂ embodied is directly passed on to the production cost of the steel sector, the carbon tax burden in the steel sector is estimated to reach approximately KRW 3.1865 trillion. Even after deducting KRW 1.1599 trillion in export refunds estimated by using the share of exports of steel products, the net carbon tax burden on steel products for domestic demand amounts to KRW 2.0266 trillion, which is analyzed to act as a factor in increasing the price of steel products.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.356-370
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• 2017

The energy savings and $CO_2$ emission reductions obtainable from the situation that the Smart Grid system (SGs) is assumed to be applied in Korea up to 2030 is quantitatively analyzed with many reported data. For calculation, SGs is divided into five sectors such as Smart Transmission and Distribution (ST&D), Smart Consumer (SC), Smart Electricity Service (SES), Smart Renewable Energy (SRE) and Smart Transportation (ST). Total annual energy savings in 2030 is estimated to be approximately 103,121 GWh and this is 13.1% of total electricity consumption outlook. Based on this value, total amount of reducible $CO_2$ emissions is calculated to 55.38 million $tCO_2$, which is 17.6% of total nation's GHG reduction target. Although the contribution of energy saving due to SGs to total electricity consumption increases as years go by, that of $CO_2$ emission reduction gradually decreases. This might be because that coal fired based power generation is planned to be sharply increased and the rate of $CO_2$ emission reduction scheduled by nation is very fast. The contributable portion of five each sector to total $CO_2$ emission reductions in 2030 is estimated to be 44.37% for SC, 29.16% for SRE, 20.12% for SES, 5.11% for ST&D, and 1.24% for ST.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2020

Geological CO₂ sequestration is a global warming response technology to limit atmospheric emissions by injecting CO₂ captured on a large scale into deep geological formations. The presented results concern mineralogical and hydrogeological investigations (FE-SEM, XRD, XRF, and MICP) of mudstone samples from drilling cores of the Pohang basin, which is the research area for the first demonstration-scale CO₂ storage project in Korea. They aim to identify the mineral properties of the mudstone constituting the caprock and to quantitatively evaluate the hydrogeologic sealing capacity that directly affects the stability and reliability of geological CO₂ storage. Mineralogical analysis showed that the mudstone samples are mainly composed of quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase and a small amount of pyrite, calcite, clay minerals, etc. Mercury intrusion capillary pressure analysis also showed that the samples generally had uniform particle configurations and pore distribution and there was no distinct correlation between the estimated porosity and air permeability. The allowable CO₂ column heights based on the estimated pore-entry pressures and breakthrough pressures were found to be significantly higher than the thickness of the targeting CO₂ injection layer. These results showed that the mudstone layers in the Yeongil group, Pohang basin, Korea have sufficient sealing capacity to suppress the leakage of CO₂ injected during the demonstration-scale CO₂ storage project. It should be noticed, however, that the applicability of results and analyses in this study is limited by the lack of available samples. For rigorous assessment of the sealing efficiency for geological CO₂ storage operations, significant efforts on collection and multi-aspect evaluation for core samples over entire caprock formations should be accompanied.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.366-379
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• 2015

Objectives: The objective of this study is to assess airborne particulate matter(PM) pollution and its effect on health of residents living near Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex in Daegu metropolitan region. Methods: The California Puff(CALPUFF) dispersion model, version 5.8, which can estimate the dispersion direction and range of airborn $PM_{10}$ was used to determine the possible areas affected by $PM_{10}$ pollutants emitted from Ansim briquette fuel complex. The CALPUFF modeling with 200 m grid-cell resolution was performed based on $PM_{10}$ emissions estimated from the amount of coal consumption in the fuel complex for four months in 2012. The Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF) fields were processed using CALMET to produce CALPUFF-ready meteorological inputs. Also, the distance from Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex to the residence of each environmental pneumoconiosis patient was analyzed. In addition, the affecting region of the pollutants emitted from briquette factories in Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex was determined. Results: CALPUFF modeling results showed that the highest concentrations of $PM_{10}$ were found near around the fuel complex. The modeled $PM_{10}$ distributions were characterized by significant decreases in concentration with distance from the complex. Seasonally, the highest concentration of $45{\mu}g/m^3$ was calculated in October which was mostly due to the distinct variation of amount of emission. Additional modeling with the maximum $PM_{10}$ emission of about 88 tons per year in 1986 showed that the highest concentration in October was nearly increased by 8 times than the concentration modeled with emission of 2010. As a result of medical examination and interviews for the residents in Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex and its surroundings, 8 environmental pneumoconiosis patients were found. These patients do not have occupational exposure and history. These patients have lived 0.3~1.1 km area in Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex and its surroundings. Conclusions: Airborne particles emitted from Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex can contribute to significant increase in $PM_{10}$ concentration in residential areas near around the complex. Especially, the residents near fuel complex may exposed to the pollutants emitted from the factories in Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.3 s.58
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• pp.585-598
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• 1997

Background : Although there are growing concerns about the adverse health effect of air pollution, not much evidence on health effect of current air pollution level had been accumulated yet in Korea. This study was designed to evaluate the chronic health effect of ai. pollution using Korean Medical Insurance Corporation (KMIC) data and air quality data. Medical insurance data in Korea have some drawback in accuracy, but they do have some strength especially in their national coverage, in having unified ID system and individual information which enables various data linkage and chronic health effect study. Method : This study utilized the data of Korean Environmental Surveillance System Study (Surveillance Study), which consist of asthma, acute bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), cardiovascular diseases (congestive heart failure and ischemic heart disease), all cancers, accidents and congenital anomaly, i. e., mainly potential environmental diseases. We reconstructed a nested case-control study wit5h Surveillance Study data and air pollution data in Korea. Among 1,037,210 insured who completed? questionnaire and physical examination in 1992, disease free (for chronic respiratory disease and cancer) persons, between the age of 35-64 with smoking status information were selected to reconstruct cohort of 564,991 persons. The cohort was followed-up to 1995 (1992-5) and the subjects who had the diseases in Surveillance Study were selected. Finally, the patients, with address information and available air pollution data, left to be 'final subjects' Cases were defined to all lung cancer cases (424) and COPD admission cases (89), while control groups are determined to all other patients than two case groups among 'final subjects'. That is, cases are putative chronic environmental diseases, while controls are mainly acute environmental diseases. for exposure, Air quality data in 73 monitoring sites between 1991 - 1993 were analyzed to surrogate air pollution exposure level of located areas (58 areas). Five major air pollutants data, TSP, $O_3,\;SO_2$, CO, NOx was available and the area means were applied to the residents of the local area. 3-year arithmetic mean value, the counts of days violating both long-term and shot-term standards during the period were used as indices of exposure. Multiple logistic regression model was applied. All analyses were performed adjusting for current and past smoking history, age, gender. Results : Plain arithmetic means of pollutants level did not succeed in revealing any relation to the risk of lung cancer or COPD, while the cumulative counts of non-at-tainment days did. All pollutants indices failed to show significant positive findings with COPD excess. Lung cancer risks were significantly and consistently associated with the increase of $O_3$ and CO exceedance counts (to corrected error level -0.017) and less strongly and consistently with $SO_2$ and TSP. $SO_2$ and TSP showed weaker and less consistent relationship. $O_3$ and CO were estimated to increase the risks of lung cancer by 2.04 and 1.46 respectively, the maximal probable risks, derived from comparing more polluted area (95%) with cleaner area (5%). Conclusions : Although not decisive due to potential misclassication of exposure, these results wert drawn by relatively conservative interpretation, and could be used as an evidence of chronic health effect especially for lung cancer. $O_3$ might be a candidate for promoter of lung cancer, while CO should be considered as surrogated measure of motor vehicle emissions. The control selection in this study could have been less appropriate for COPD, and further evaluation with another setting might be necessary.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.15-32
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• 2011

Due to greenhouse gas increased by human activities, abnormal climate changes are continuously occurring everywhere in the world and internationally people make efforts to reduce the emission of greenhouse gas. Our country also is making endeavors to realize low carbon society on the foundation of the green growth and for this low carbon consumption pattern settlement through green life is necessary. Therefore for the nationals the offering of the information on greenhouse gas emission that is reduced through the change to low carbon life is required. In this study the objects are beef and wine whose weight of import is high among the beverages and foods consumed in the country and we calculated the food mileage and emission of carbon dioxide of the domestic and foreign product beef and wine and estimated the potential amount that can be reduced when replacing the imported products with domestic products. As the year 2007 being standard if we replace 10% of imported beef with domestic products it is possible to reduce 14,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year and on one day out of a year if we replace imported beef with domestic beef the reduction of 384 tons of carbon dioxide is appeared to be possible. In the same standard year if we replace 10% of imported wine with domestic product we can reduce 1,396 tons and on one day out of a year if we replace imported wine with domestic wine reduction of 38 tons of carbon per year appeared to be possible. Through active promotion and expansion of variety of domestic foods and beverages in the real life of the nationals the consumption pattern of natural low carbon life should be achieved and offering of more systematized greenhouse gas emission DB is thought to be necessary.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.304-311
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• 1999

This experiment was conducted to find out the optimum condition of aeration rates for removal of malodor and to improve the compost quality. The aspect of ammonia emission and amounts of volatilization were investigated in the enclosed composting reactor of 242 liters piled with mixed materials of dairy manure and rice straw, which adjusted to 65% of initial moisture content and controlled by four different aeration rates. Mature temperature increased suddenly in initial composting time and decreased with Increasing aeration rates. The treatment of $1.79l\;min^{-1}kg\;dry-solids^{-1}$ results in overcooling and rapid drying of composting materials because of too much aeration. The average concentration of ammonia emitted from composting for 24 days was the range of 25.3 to $239.8mg\;l^{-1}$ and was highest in the treatment of $0.09l\;min^{-1}kg\;dry-solids^{-1}$, followed by 0.90. 0.18 and $1.79l\;min^{-1}kg\;dry-solids^{-1}$. The range of maximum concentration by different aeration rates was $335{\sim}2279mg\;l^{-1}$ and it wan highest in the treatment of $0.09l\;min^{-1}kg\;dry-solids^{-1}$, followed by 0.18, 0.09 and $1.79l\;min^{-1}kg\;dry-solids^{-1}$. Relationship between the ammonia concentration emitted and temperature matured under different aeration rates showed an exponential positive correlation with 1% significance and had a trend of clear increase in ammonia concentration with increasing temperature over $50^{\circ}C$. Most of ammonia volatilized within plays after composting. The volatilization rate of ammonia ranged from 0.056 to 0.453 per dry solids of materials and it was highest in the treatment of $0.09l\;min^{-1}kg\;dry-solids^{-1}$, followed by 0.18, 0.09 and $1.79l\;min^{-1}kg\;dry-solids^{-1}$. Amounts of ammonia volatilized under composting condition of this experiment was estimated to be highest in the aeration range of 0.9 to $1.0l\;min^{-1}kg\;dry-solids^{-1}$.