• Energy Research
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• 4. Education close
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• Yonsei University close

Abstract The South Korean government has been actively promoting an educational-facility improvement program as part of its energy-saving efforts. This research seeks to develop a decision support model for selecting the facility expected to be effective in generating energy savings and making the facility improvement program more effective. In this research, project characteristics and electric-energy consumption data for the year 2009 were collected from 6282 elementary schools located in seven metropolitan cities in South Korea. In this research, the following were carried out: (i) a group of educational facilities was established based on electric-energy consumption, using a decision tree; (ii) a number of similar projects were retrieved from the same group of facilities, using case-based reasoning; and (iii) the accuracy of prediction was improved, using the combination of genetic algorithms, the artificial neural network, and multiple regression analysis. The results of this research can be useful for the following purposes: (i) preliminary research on the systematic and continuous management of educational facilities’ electric-energy consumption; (ii) basic research on electric-energy consumption prediction based on the project characteristics; and (iii) practical research for selecting an optimum facility that can more effectively apply an educational-facility improvement program as a decision support model.

Production and utilization of producer gas from mixed plastic wastes were investigated in a pilot-scale moving-grate gasification process. A 500 kWth moving-grate gasifier was developed, including ...

An anaerobic moving bed membrane bioreactor (AnMBMBR) fed with synthetic domestic wastewater was investigated under hydraulic retention time (HRT) shocks to assess the effects on the microbial (bacteria and archaea) community and reactor performance. 16S rDNA targeted polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) approach was optimized to relate the metabolic and community composition with biogas generation, methane content and COD removal efficiency. From the drastic decrease of HRT (from 8 h to 4 h), the methane production was significantly reduced due to the HRT shock, while the COD removal efficiency was not affected. The enhanced growth of homoacetogenic bacteria, Thermoanaerobacteraceae competes with methanogens under shock period. When the HRT was recovered to 8 h, the methane generation rate was higher than the initial operation before the shock HRT changes, which would be ascribed to the activity of new emerging hydrogenotrophic archaea, Methanocella sp. and Methanofollis sp.

The present study is designed to evaluate the potential of deoiled algal biomass (DAB) residue as an alternative resource for the production of bioethanol and biopolymers in a biorefinery approach. Hybrid pretreatment method resulted in higher sugar solubilization (0.590 g/g DAB) than the corresponding individual physicochemical (0.481 g/g DAB) and enzymatic methods (0.484 g/g DAB). Subsequent utilization of sugars from hybrid pretreatment for bioethanol using Saccharomyces cerevisiaeresulted in maximum bioethanol production at pH 5.5 (0.145 ± 0.008 g/g DAB) followed by pH 5.0 (0.122 ± 0.004 g/g DAB) and pH 6.0 (0.102 ± 0.002 g/g DAB). The experiments for biopolymer (PHB: polyhydroxybutyrate) production resulted in 0.43 ± 0.20 g PHB/g DCW. Extracted polymer on NMR and FT-IR analysis showed the presence of PHB. Exploration of DAB as an alternative renewable resource for multiple biobased products supports sustainability and also enables entirety use of DAB by addressing the DAB-residue allied disposal issues.

Hot gas cleaning of producer gas generated from a gasification process has many advantages in terms of thermal efficiency, gas-quality improvement, compact gas-cleaning devices, and economic feasibility. In this study, the characteristics of molten tin as a working fluid for hot gas cleaning were examined. To evaluate the hot gas cleaning performance of molten tin, the producer gas generated from the gasification of empty fruit bunch pellets was tested with a molten-tin-based gas cleaning system connected to the downstream of the gasifier. Gas chromatographic analysis of the producer gas shows that the removal efficiencies of hydrogen sulfide and non-condensable tar were about 97% and 80%, respectively, in a molten tin bed maintained at 400 °C. The results suggest that molten tin could be used as a multifunctional gas-cleaning medium for the simultaneous removal of tar and hydrogen sulfide from the producer gas.

The use of temperature-regulating material (TRM)-based food packaging is recently trending in the food science and technology sectors. Although this technology is still not fully commercially viable, it has good potential to control the temperature of perishable and high-value agricultural products during transport. Scope and approach: Firstly, this paper describes all the aspects of TRM packaging, including their classification, various technical approaches, and commercial applications, with special focus on the direct integration of TRMs into food packaging systems. Secondly, to provide useful guidelines for future research in the field, this paper discusses some important aspects that still hinder the full exploitation of TRM technology within the food packaging industry. To make the TRM packaging systems commercially viable, future research needs to consider some important aspects including cost, consumer acceptance and confidence, regulatory aspects (e.g., labeling), and multi-functionality.

This study investigated lifecycle CO2 (LCCO2) emission reductions through application of double-window casement systems (DWCS) in residential units in Korea, compared with conventional single windows (SWs). The DWCS is a double window system that is energy-efficient, reducing energy consumption during operation. However, this system incorporates increased embodied CO2 emissions. We evaluated LCCO2 reductions associated with use of the DWCS by calculating CO2 emissions during space conditioning as well as the embodied CO2 emissions of the DWCS. The results showed that use of DWCS in a residential unit during the cooling season had 26.2 and 27.4 t CO2 fewer emissions than SWs in the natural ventilation and minimum ventilation modes, respectively. Although implementation of DWCS is expected to substantially reduce LCCO2 emissions, the large embodied CO2 emissions of the aluminum frame reduce the benefits of the DWCS.

This study explores the role of community-led governance in innovation adoption by drawing determinants of RFID waste pricing system adoption. The Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea adopted an individual-incentive based RFID waste pricing system for apartment complexes in 2013 in an effort to reduce food waste. After invention and wide usage during World War Two, RFID has received lots of intention especially in public policy field. This innovative system using RFID machines and RFID tag-embedded cards showed effectiveness in waste reduction. Residents of each apartment complex decide whether and when to adopt the RFID system. Based on innovation diffusion theory, we would like to draw which determinant factors most affect RFID pricing system adoption. Although innovation diffusion is dependent on community level, many previous studies surveyed individuals and asked them about organizational adoption. We use non-perceptional data representing the characteristics of the level of apartment complex. This study, relying on ecological variables collected from 2018 apartment complexes across 25 autonomous districts located in Seoul City, explores significant factors related to the process of the RFID adoption. According to the empirical results, there were two important determinants: how much information the government provided, and how the apartment complex residents have opportunity to gather opinion and decide the RFID pricing system adoption. We emphasize the importance of community-led governance in adopting an innovative environmental system and how community-led governance contributes to sustainable innovation adoption.