• Energy Research
• 11. Sustainability close
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• 4. Education close
• KR close
• KISTI Open Repository close

We study how the information and communications technology (ICT) ecosystem affects the sustainable growth of ICT firms. For our study, we analyze the efficiencies of ICT firms in China, South Korea, the United States, and Japan, which are the current leaders in the global ICT industry, each with different ICT ecosystem structures. We use metafrontier analysis (MFA) to compare the efficiencies among countries with different structures, and then use Tobit regression to identify the causes of the efficiency gaps. Our results reveal that the US has the highest efficiency, followed by Japan, South Korea, and China, in that order, and the countries with more balanced ICT ecosystems across sub-industries—manufacturing, software and IT services, content, and telecommunications—have more efficient ICT industries. This suggests that a more balanced industrial development is important to enhancing the overall competitiveness of the ICT industry.

This study aims to comprehend Portland State University (PSU)’s green campus strategies, and students’ level of knowledge and living practices relating to green campus. PSU’s sustainable campus plan has been nationally and internationally recognized. A literature review, field investigation, and interviews were conducted to ascertain the PSU green campus strategies. This study also used a survey to understand students’ level of knowledge and practices. The survey results were analyzed by SPSS. Green campus projects at PSU were operated by official organizations and funded according to PSU’s long term plans in 12 multilateral categories: administration, energy, water, climate action, green buildings, green purchasing, waste reduction and recycling, food and dining services, transportation, land use, action, and education and student activity. The survey results show that the level of students’ understanding about PSU’s green campus strategies was somewhat low, but the amount of practice of a sustainable lifestyle was higher. Students who had taken courses related with sustainability or were engaged in sustainable activities had more knowledge about green campus strategies than students who had not. Therefore, it would be important to focus more on educating students and developing related programs in order to have more positive effects of green campus projects.

The availability of and preference for eco-friendly products have increased; however, understanding of sustainable products is still insufficient because most studies have been focused only on organic products. The availability and understanding of organic products are high, but not complete. With regards to environmental protection, it is important to focus not only on the eco-friendly ingredients but also on the eco-friendly packaging because packaging has recently been found to be a primary cause of pollution. Through three studies, this article investigated the interaction between the effect of consumers’ willingness to buy (WTB), the price premium for eco-friendliness (internal: eco-friendly ingredients vs. external: eco-friendly packaging), and the product’s attributes. Three experimental studies were conducted to determine whether the consumers’ WTB and the price premium for sustainable products differ according to the eco-friendliness of the product and the product’s attributes. In Study 1 and Study 3, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted; and, in Study 2, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted. The results of Study 1 and Study 2 suggested that the consumers’ WTB for sustainable products can differ according to the product’s attribute. Moreover, results of Study 3 revealed that consumers’ WTB and satisfaction for sustainable products can differ according to level of packaging.

In this study, for restoration of ecological systems in buildings, porous vegetation red clay green roof blocks were designed for performance evaluation. Blast furnace slag (BFS; fine aggregates (agg.)), coarse aggregates, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber (hydrophilic fiber), and red clay (ecofriendly additive material) were applied to the construction of the porous vegetation red clay green roof blocks. A decrease in cement use is one way of reducing carbon emissions. To increase the water retentivity and the efficiency of roof vegetation blocks, blast furnace slag aggregates with excellent water absorptivity and polyvinyl alcohol fiber with a water absorption rate above 20% were added. In particular, the addition of polyvinyl alcohol fiber prevents performance reduction of the green roof vegetation blocks during freezing and melting in winter. Compressive strength, void ratio, and unit-mass tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of the roof vegetation blocks. After their application to roof vegetation, the effect of water purification was evaluated. According to the experimental results, the mix that satisfies the target performance of green roof vegetation blocks (compression strength above 8 MPa, void ratio above 20%, unit mass 2.0 kg/cm3 or below) is: cement = 128.95 kg/m3, BFS = 96.75 kg/m3, red clay = 96.75 kg/m3, water = 81.50 kg/m3, BFS agg. = 1450 kg/m3, PVA fiber = 1.26 kg/m3. The green roof vegetation blocks were designed using the mix that satisfied the target performance. To find the amount of attainable water due to rainfall, a rainfall meter was installed after application of the roof vegetation to measure daily rainfall and calculate the amount of attainable water. The results show that, for 1 mm of rainfall, it is possible to attain about 0.53 L of water per 1 m2. In addition, the water quality of effluents after application of roof vegetation was analyzed, and the results satisfied Class 4 of the River-life Environmental Standard for Availability of Agricultural Water.

There have been much interest and many efforts to control global warming and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the world. Recently, the Republic of Korea has also increased its GHG reduction goal and searched for an implementation plan. In buildings, for example, there have been technology developments and deployment policies to reduce GHG emissions from a life cycle perspective, covering construction materials, building construction, use of buildings and waste disposal. In particular, Korea’s Green Standard for Energy and Environmental Design is a certification of environmentally-friendly buildings for their energy saving and reduction of environmental pollution throughout their lives. In fact, the demand and adoption of the certification are rising every year. In construction materials and buildings, as a result, an environmentally-friendly aspect has become crucial. The importance of construction material and building development technologies that can reduce environmental load by diminishing GHG emissions in buildings has emerged. Moreover, there has been a rising necessity to verify the GHG reduction effects of buildings. To assess the reduction of carbon emissions in the buildings built with low-carbon construction technologies and materials, therefore, this study estimated life cycle carbon emissions in reference buildings in which general construction materials are used and in low-carbon buildings. For this, the carbon emissions and their reduction from construction materials (especially concrete) between conventional products and low-carbon materials were estimated, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). After estimating carbon emissions from a building life cycle perspective, their reduction in low-carbon buildings compared to the reference buildings was reviewed. The results found that compared to conventional buildings, low-carbon buildings revealed a 25% decrease in carbon emissions in terms of the reduction of Life Cycle CO2 (LCCO2) per unit area. If diverse production technologies and sales routes are further developed for low-carbon construction materials, carbon emission reduction effects would considerably increase.

Science Walden, which is inspired by two prominent literary works, namely, Walden by Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) and Walden Two by Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904–1990), is aimed at establishing a community that embodies humanistic values while embracing scientific advancement to produce renewable energy and water sources. This study attempts to capitalize on feces standard money (FSM) and artistic collaboration between scientists and artists as a means of achieving the forms of life depicted in Walden and Walden Two. On our campus, we designed and built a pavilion that serves as a laboratory where scientific advantages, design, and art are merged. In the pavilion, feces are processed in reactors and facilities for sustainable energy production, and rainwater is harvested and treated for use in daily life. Our application of design and art contributes to easing interaction between the general public and scientists because it visualizes an ambiguous theory and concretizes it into an understandable image.

The growing concern about Indoor Air-Quality has accelerated the development of small, low-cost air-quality monitoring systems. These systems are capable of monitoring various indoor air pollutants in real time, notifying users about the current air-quality status and gathering the information to the central server. However, most Internet of Things (IoT)-based air-quality monitoring systems numerically present the sensed value per pollutant, making it difficult for general users to identify how polluted the air is. Therefore, in this paper, we first introduce a tiny air-quality monitoring system that we developed and, based on the system, we also test the applicability of the comprehensive Air-Quality Index (AQI), which is widely used all over the world, in terms of its capacity for a comprehensive indoor air-quality indication. We also develop design considerations for an IoT-based air-quality monitoring system and propose a real-time comprehensive indoor air-quality level indication method, which effectively copes with dynamic changes and is efficient in terms of processing and memory overhead.