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I N · T H I S · I S S U E
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FLANIGAN'S ECO-LOGIC
Just back from Seoul, Korea! My first trip to Korea;
what a time it was. I travelled there with my childhood
friend Young-il Choi, exploring means of taking the
best "green" know-how from California and America, and
sharing it with his country. It was an honor and pleasure
to visit Korea and to meet his family and friends. We
call the venture "EcoMotion Korea."
We'd been sponsored by The Hope Institute to advise
its Climate Change Division on the country's sustainability
and greenhouse gas reduction plans - specifically two
advisory reports being prepared for two medium-size
cities. I gave four lectures during the week, two in
Seoul, one in Hwaseong City, the other in Ansan City.
In addition to attending a half dozen briefings and
meetings, we visited the world's largest tidal power
plant and a biodiesel plant that refines Malaysian palm
oil for Korean mobility.
Young-il insisted that I also see the sights, from the
top of Seoul Tower to JUMP, a martial arts comedy where
I was dragged on stage for some prime-time embarrassment,
to a traditional concert with amazing percussion/drum
and zither performances. We also hit an Asian Hockey
League game (an ice-hockey league with teams from Korea,
Japan and China). And, of course, we had a lot of great
food: kimchi (a popular fermented dish made of vegetables
and spicey seasonings); bulgogi (a charcoal-grilled
meat dish); ghe-jahng (sweet, raw crab meet in chilli
sauce); and much more.
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Special Korea Issue
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The Hermit Kingdom Awakes
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Koreans honor their past and are on the move |
Korea, called "the Hermit Kingdom" and "A Land of Morning
Calm," is a trendsetter and its capital Seoul, particularly,
exemplifies this highly dynamic, high tech, world economy.
Korea joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) in 1996. Now with 49 million
people, Korea has the eleventh largest Gross Domestic
Product in the world.
The Korean Peninsula is strategically important, jutting
out into the Yellow Sea between China and Japan. In
1910, Korea was forcibly annexed and occupied by Japan
until the end of World War II. It then became divided
at the 38th parallel, with a socialist regime in the
north and Western-style democracy in the south. The
division was imposed upon Korean people against their
wishes by the United States. Shortly after the end of
World War II, the Korean War erupted, thoroughly destroying
all infrastructure of the nation.
Seoul is less than 50 kilometers from the infamous DMZ,
or Demilitarized Zone. The "military demarcation line"
that divides the countries is bordered with two kilometers
on each side creating a heavily fortified zone that
now ironically is a notable wildlife preserve extending
248 kilometers across Korea.
When one sees the bright lights of Seoul - especially
prepped for Christmas -- it's hard to imagine that Korea's
per capita gross national product was similar to that
of Ghana, Africa and India until mid-1960's. The country
was ravaged; its natural resources pilfered by the Japanese.
Sanitation was non-existent; some people resorted to
eating bark. To their credit, within few decades the
Koreans have built a sophisticated society from the
ashes of the Korean War and horrific occupation by Japan.
The country now is the global leader in, among others,
telecommunications technologies, ship-building, semiconductors
and bio-med technologies with companies and industries
like LG, Samsung, Hyundai, STX and Daewoo providing
products to consumers everywhere. Cha Biotech, where
Young-il serves as lawyer, is a leader in stem-cell
research. Downtown Seoul rivals Times Square and Piccadilly
for bright lights.
The Seoul National Capitol Area has more than 23 million
people. It's the second largest metro area in the world
- only topped by Tokyo with 32 million, and followed
closely by Mexico City and New York. It accounts for
half of South Korea's population of 49 million. To my
surprise, I learned that Korea is the only OECD country
with negative population growth. (Its 2006 fertility
rate was 1.08.) Its youth are flocking to Seoul and
diving into their work to pay their rising living costs.
In 1988, Seoul took the world stage with the 1988 Summer
Olympics. In 2002, Seoul hosted the World Cup soccer
tournament.
Seoul's Incheon International Airport has become one
of the major hubs in Asia, rated among the world's best
airports.
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Sustaining its Environment
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Yunji Kim of the Hope Institute |
Koreans love to hike! The mountains in the northeast provide
for this. I met people who clearly have an ethic about
nature, revering the land and Korea's wonderful geography,
and thus treading lightly and leaving no impact. Several
told me that hiking and walking are their passions. Skiing
and snowboarding are popular in winter. I was surprised
to see a Burton snowboard shop, as well as a Coleman camping
equipment store. (Costco moved in too; WalMart entered
the market but went "belly-up!") Korea's southwestern
coastline that I look forward to visiting is clearly stunning
in beauty.
The Hangang River that bisects Seoul is a great environmental
success story. When Young-il was a boy the river was polluted
and off limits. Now you can swim in it; fishing and wind-surfing
is routine. Effective policies were put in place. Now
Seoul is in the process of converting its entire fleet
of 7,000 diesel busses with compressed natural gas. Almost
all the busses I saw were CNG. All taxis are run on LPG.
Seoul also has one of the busiest subways in the world.
Five-part source separation using certified biodegradable
bags is legally required for household recycling.
Seoul is a member of the C40, the Large Cities Climate
Leadership Group. Originally the C20 formed in London
as the World Cities Leadership Climate Change Summit in
2005. The C40 has gained prominence through its Clinton
Foundation affiliation in 2006. These cities house 50%
of the world's population, use 75% of its energy, and
emit 80% of its greenhouse gas emissions. Korea as a whole
is the ninth largest greenhouse gas emitter worldwide.
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The Hope Institute
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Won Soon Park and Young-il Choi |
Young-il's longstanding friend Won Soon Park founded The
Hope Institute just three years ago, and already it has
become one of Korea's foremost non-profits. It's a think
tank established to research policy alternatives for various
social agendae. It's an independent "civic research institute"
intended to introduce innovative experiments and bold
initiatives. It prides itself on blending ideological
underpinnings with pragmatism.
Hope is Won Soon Park's current work. Imprisoned for his
student activism in the 1970s, his life work has been
entwined with his spiritual path. His last endeavor, The
Beautiful Foundation, continues on its mission of rebuilding
philanthropy by promoting a culture of giving. Hope, in
turn, is intended to forge a blueprint for the future
of an enlightened and sustainable Korean society.
By design, Hope is alternative. The staff all holds the
same title of "social designer." Guitars stand at the
ready like umbrellas on one floor. The Institute has a
"social invention center," and a "roots center" which
involves local law, rural hope, public finance, and peoples'
participation clinics. Its "center for public culture"
addresses issues from micro to macro, from better commercial
signage to urban and world green space design. The Hope
Academy has a civil servant school, plus local and overseas
training for local government heads and civil servants.
An "info hub" provides wisdom by focusing on global brain
technology. It includes a world city library, a knowledge
management system, and an overseas network. Hope's "center
for alternatives" manages the "happy senior project" which
cares for elders, as well as "the housing institute,"
disaster management research, and the center for small
enterprise. In each case, innovations are promoted - seeds
are planted -- to create a more hopeful society,
Hope is bold and not afraid to advocate the need to change
lifestyles and systems. Its "climate team" is working
on full-scale utilization of technical and behavioral
changes. My primary task for the trip was to deliver perspectives
and lessons on sustainability lessons from leading American
cities and European renewable energy policies.
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A Time for Renewable Energy
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The second largest metropolitan area in the world
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One of Korea's profound challenges is its lack of "conventional"
energy resources. The country has virtually no oil or
natural gas or uranium, and very limited coal. It is almost
entirely dependent on imported energy. Korea gets 50%
of its primary energy from oil, 24% from coal, 14% from
nuclear, and 12% from natural gas.
Korea - like California -- has about 60 GW of electric
capacity. Its demand is rising at close to 4% annually.
Dominant fuels include coal, nuclear, and natural gas.
Its 20-reactor nuclear program has provided a modicum
of energy independence, but being so close to the Hiroshima
and Nagasaki atomic bombs left an indelible sentiment
amongst Koreans that nuclear is a dangerous force of major
proportion. Will Korea build more nuclear capacity? Advocates
tout nuclear as carbon-free. Some leaders are promoting
a new wave of reactors.
Of primary energy use, renewable energy had increased
to just over 2% by 2005. Ninety percent of this was from
waste energy plants. Solar accounted for just 4% of the
share. But Korea has a plan and Korea is known to act
fast. The government's Energy Vision 2030 calls for foreign
oil's share of primary energy use to drop to 35% and renewable
energy to climb to 9%. An intermediary goal is for Korea
to get 5% from renewables by 2011.
During my stay in Seoul I visited a commercial attaché
at the U.S. Embassy. What an unbecoming and heavily fortified
building. My contact thankfully, was a fond of information
and perspective. Solar? Yes! "Wherever oranges grow, solar
is feasible," he stated with a grin. And oranges grow
all over Korea. But where are the panels? I'd only seen
a handful of solar thermal systems in the countryside,
likely in areas without natural gas lines. Energy Vision
2030 calls for 100,000 solar homes by 2012.
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The Solar Story
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Four lectures on sustainability |
Solar capacity has been on the rise in Korea, mostly in
centralized solar parks in the southeast. Korea is progressing
quickly with both new fabrication plants and solar parks
despite a reduction in feed-in tariff prices. But now
a new certification requirement - a six month testing
process -- is reportedly causing a standstill in Korea's
solar action. Beginning January 1, 2009, all renewable
energy systems will be required to be certified by the
Korea Testing Lab.
In 2007, Korea had the highest solar incentives in the
world, as much as $0.78/solar kWh. This rate was slightly
above par with Italy and France, actually above Germany's
hugely successful rates. Quickly, Korea has embraced solar
power. At the time of this writing, and thanks to attractive
solar feed-in tariff prices, the South Korean solar market
is on the rise. The Ansan City Hall has a 436 kW PV system.
German-owned Solar World AG is building a 60 million euro
integrated solar cell and solar module facility that is
slated to come on line in early 2009. The plant will initially
produce 60 MW of PV modules, then double to 120 MW annually.
An American company called Spire is building a 30 MW turnkey
solar module manufacturing plant for Hanwha Chemical Corporation,
a Korean company making its initial foray into the solar
world.
And then there are installations, big ones! Conergy built
Asia's largest solar plant, a 19.6 MW system, in 2007.
SolarWorld has partnered SolarPark Engineering Company
LTD in Seoul to build a 15 MW solar plant in the southwestern
province of Chollabuk-do. SunPower installed a 2 MW single-axis
tracking plant on a landfill site in Jeonju, a city in
the Jeolla Province. Low-cost financing was provided by
the Korea Energy Management Company (KEMCO). EcoMotion
learned of additional solar plants such as the 2.2 MW
Mungyeong SP Solar Mountain, and the 1 MW plant in Gwangju.
Korea installed 43.7 MW of solar in 2007.
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Unique Tidal Power Conditions
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The world's largest tidal plant, operational 2009
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Near the City of Ansan there is an 11 kilometer causeway
into the sea that created Sihwa Lake. It was originally
planned to be drained of seawater, filled with fresh water
to support farming. But industries polluted the lake to
the point that it became ecologically "dead." Plan B called
for creating a tidal plant, in fact the world's largest
capacity tidal plant. Currently under construction and
slated to begin operations in 2009, the plant will take
the mantle for the world's largest from Rance, France
where a 240 MW station taps a 13.5 meter spring tide.
The third and fourth largest tidal plants are in Annapolis,
Canada (20 MW), and Jiangxia, China.
I had no idea that the Korean shore of the Yellow Sea
has one of the world's greatest tides: At Sihwa Lake,
the spring tide measures 9.16 meters, that's the difference
between low tide and high tide. The tidal plant there
is slated to come on line in 2009. Its "single-effect
flood generation" system will allow water to flow into
the lake at high tide, then the gates close and the sea
drops. The resulting "head" will allow for 254 MW of power
production through ten sluices that measure 15 * 12 meters.
The plant's annual generation of 557 GWh will avoid 315,000
tons of CO2 emissions. Meanwhile the lake will be cleansed
though the daily turnover of half of its entire volume,
some 160 million square meters of water per tide.
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Transportation
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Biodiesel made from Malayasian palm oil |
Seoul is alive with energy! Despite one of the world's
busiest subways with over 20 lines, its traffic arteries
are clogged. Rush hours can double travel times. And I
was struck by the size of cars -- bigger than I expected.
Large cars, not unlike America, are really prestigious.
One of the largest models is called "the Chairman;" another
is called "Grandeur!" Korea is the land of Kia, Hyundai,
and Daewoo. These brands dominate the paved landscape.
The Korean government has established a Renewable Energy
Standard for biodiesel, increasing the "mixture" from
its current 1% share of the diesel market to 7% by 2020.
With presentations over, we spent our last business day
travelling south again to visit Enertech's pioneering
biodiesel facility in Pyeongtaek-si, a port city about
an hour and a half south of Seoul. The plant is within
900 meters of a seaport; a pipeline connects it to the
tanker terminal.
Enertech currently produces 80,000 kiloliters of biodiesel
annually, about 25% of the Korean market. It primarily
produces the biodiesel from palm oil from Malaysia - where
it owns a 19,000 square kilometer plantation - but has
also researched and verified its ability to process biodiesel
from soybean oil, and used cooking oil. Company personnel
are also working with rapeseed, olive oil, jatrophe, and
even tallow, although the latter is not allowed. |
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Final Thoughts
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Korea is a force of considerable proportion. Its
people are so clearly able and hard working. Thus
the country can mobilize to address any situation,
in this case a shift to sustainability. Korea is
rapidly getting its arms around the environment.
Ironically, EcoMotion's grass-roots energy experiences
- our first shifts toward energy democracy -- were
most eagerly pursued as new opportunities for Korea.
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www.ecomotion.us
EcoMotion | 15375 Barranca Pkwy | Suite
F-104 | Irvine | CA | 92618 | (949) 450-7153
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