• Energy Research
• 11. Sustainability close
• 13. Climate action close
• 4. Education close
• KR close
• Sustainability close

Recently, the Republic of Korea has experienced natural disasters, such as typhoons and heavy rainfall, as well as social accidents, such as large-scale accidents and infectious diseases, which are continuously occurring. Despite repeated disasters, problems such as inefficient early response and overlapping command systems occur continuously. In this study, we analyzed the characteristics of disaster management systems by foreign countries, and the status of the damages by disasters for the past 10 years in the Republic of Korea, to suggest possible measures to improve the Republic of Korea’s integrated disaster management system. When a disaster occurs in the Republic of Korea, the Si/Gun/Gu Disaster Safety Measure Headquarters, under the command of the local governments, become the responsible agencies for disaster response while the central government supervises and controls the overall disaster support and disaster management. To improve the current disaster management system, we propose to incorporate all disaster types rather than dividing them by type into natural disasters and social disasters. To improve the disaster response and disaster management system, we propose to restructure the current administrative organization, revise the disaster-related laws, and overcome problems, such as inter-ministerial interconnectivity and overlapping regulation.

In an era of environmental crisis, the world is at a perilous moment. The fight between sustainability and economical choice has been a contentious matter and the world is facing environmental uncertainties today. The main purpose of the present study is to prepare an integrated exploration of the development of consciousness in all business categories. This study also focuses on the indispensable roles and impact of top management in merging the commitment and abilities to environmental leadership and thus, adds a contemporary insight into how businesses, economic stakeholders, government authorities, and the general human sphere can mitigate the runaway menace of environmental issues. Finally, the current authors conclude that the environment is the supernatural force that is making life a possibility on the planet. Therefore, every human operation should be regulated by the approaches mentioned in this study and efforts made through the strategic principles and theories of leadership.

This study introduces a novel methodology to calculate the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction related to residual emissions, calculating the CO2 emission reduction through a 2 MW (40 tCO2/day) carbon capture and utilization (CCU) plant installed at a 500 MW coal-fired power plant in operation, to evaluate the accuracy, maintainability, and reliability of the quantified reduction. By applying the developed methodology to calculate the CO2 emission reduction, the established amount of CO2 reduction in the mineral carbonation was evaluated through recorded measurement and monitoring data of the 2 MW CCU plant at the operating coal-fired plant. To validate the reduction, the accuracy, reproducibility, consistency, and maintainability of the reduction should be secured, and based on these qualifications, it is necessary to evaluate the contribution rate of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in each country. This fundamental study establishes the concept of CCU CO2 reduction and quantifies the reduction to obtain the validation of each country for the reduction. The established concept of the CCU in this study can also be applied to other CCU systems to calculate the reduction, thereby providing an opportunity for CCU technology to contribute to the NDCs in each country and invigorate the technology.

Global climate models (GCMs) are used to analyze future climate change. However, the observed data of a specified region may differ significantly from the model since the GCM data are simulated on a global scale. To solve this problem, previous studies have used downscaling methods such as quantile mapping (QM) to correct bias in GCM precipitation. However, this method cannot be considered when certain variables affect the observation data. Therefore, the aim of this study is to propose a novel method that uses a convolution neural network (CNN) considering teleconnection. This new method considers how the global climate phenomena affect the precipitation data of a target area. In addition, various meteorological variables related to precipitation were used as explanatory variables for the CNN model. In this study, QM and the CNN models were applied to calibrate the spatial bias of GCM data for three precipitation stations in Korea (Incheon, Seoul, and Suwon), and the results were compared. According to the results, the QM method effectively corrected the range of precipitation, but the pattern of precipitation was the same at the three stations. Meanwhile, for the CNN model, the range and pattern of precipitation were corrected better than the QM method. The quantitative evaluation selected the optimal downscaling model, and the CNN model had the best performance (correlation coefficient (CC): 69% on average, root mean squared error (RMSE): 117 mm on average). Therefore, the new method suggested in this study is expected to have high utility in forecasting climate change. Finally, as a result of forecasting for future precipitation in 2100 via the CNN model, the average annual rainfall increased by 17% on average compared to the reference data.

This study investigates the performance of the “green refurbishment” of existing buildings. Two ordinary rooms in an existing building were chosen for examination. Refurbishment measures such as additional insulation, high-performance glazing, and air-tightening were applied to the control room. Temperature and electricity use were monitored to identify heating performance in winter and then compared with a baseline. The results of the field tests showed that green refurbishment significantly improved heating performance. Lowered heating load and electricity use with increased airtightness were also verified through building performance simulations. The empirical investigation suggests a predictive model to obtain indoor minimum temperatures as a function of outdoor temperature swings.

This study analyzes the changes in energy consumption of the Korean manufacturing sector using the index decomposition analysis (IDA) method. To capture the production effect based on actual physical activities, we applied the activity revaluation (AR) approach in the analysis. We also developed energy consumption data in terms of primary energy supply to consider conversion loss in the energy sector to avoid any distortions in the intensity effect. The analysis covers every manufacturing subsector in Korea over the period between 2006 and 2018. Combining two distinctive approaches from the previous literature, the AR approach and primary energy-based analysis gives us helpful findings for a climate policy. First, the overall activity effect estimated from the physical output indicator is lower than that from the monetary output indicator. The monetary indicator shows that the share of energy-intensive industries decreases, whereas the physical indicator shows the opposite. Second, in terms of energy efficiency, the intensity effect is estimated as an increasing factor of energy use, whereas inversed results are shown when we use the monetary indicator. Lastly, unlike the previous studies, the AR approach results indicate that Korean manufacturing sectors have been shifting toward an energy-intensive, so it is hard to anticipate positive intensity effects, which means decreasing energy consumption factor, for a while. These results support why analyzing the driving forces of energy consumption through the AR approach and primary energy base is highly recommended.

Direct mineral carbonation (MC) is used to mitigate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This method has the great advantages of reducing the amount of industrial residues and creating valuable materials by incorporating CO2. Waste gypsum, industrial waste including flue gas desulfurization (FGD) gypsum (25.27–53.40 wt% of CaO), and phosphogypsum (30.50–39.06 wt% of CaO) can be used for direct MC (conversion rate up to 96%). Mineral carbonation converts waste gypsum into calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which can be recycled during desulfurization. Furthermore, ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4), which is used as a fertilizer, can be prepared as a by-product when the carbonation reaction is performed using ammonia (NH3) as a base. In this study, recent progress in the carbonation kinetics and preparation of CaCO3 using FGD gypsum and phosphogypsum with NH3 was investigated. Temperature, CO2 partial pressure, CO2 flow rate, and NH3 concentration were reviewed as factors affecting carbonation kinetics and efficiency. The factors influencing the polymorphs of the prepared CaCO3 were also reviewed and summarized. A state-of-the-art bench-scale plant study was also proposed. In addition, economic feasibility was investigated based on a bench-scale study to analyze the future applicability of this technology.