A Review and Recommendations for Promoting Environmentally-Friendly Agriculture in Korea

The objective of this study was to provide a macroscopic evaluation review of environmentally-friendly agriculture （EFA） status and then suggest policy recommendations for promoting EFA in Korea. Amid considerable challenges, including food security, many small-scale farms with increasingly aged farm population and growing competition, agri-environmental indicators （AEIs） and EFA certificate performance shed light on the fact that the trend of the state of the environment reversed, albeit with room to improve. Identifying positive contributions to EFA made by target-oriented long-term EFA plans and the direct payment scheme, this paper suggests to enrich the agricultural information systems, a system approach to agri-environmental resource management, and make a transition toward the low inputs farming systems.

Environmental Information Statement for Home Appliances at Online Stores in Japan

This study aims to identify the current situation and problems of environmental information statement for major four home appliances （refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and television receivers） sold at online stores in Japan, and then to suggest how to improve the situation, through a questionnaire survey conducted among businesses that operate online stores and online malls with multiple online stores. The findings of this study are summarized into the following two points： （l） It is found out that environmental information statement for the home appliances at online stores has four problems： （i） less information on ＂three Rs （reduce, reuse and recycle）＂ and ＂chemical substances＂ than the one on ＂energy conservation＂; （ii） cost for providing environmental information statement; （iii） issues associated with a label and mark placement; （iv） issues associated with energy conservation statement. （2） Improvements are suggested for each of the four problems listed above, and shown are （i） the effectiveness of, and need to promote, a label and mark placement; （ii） cost burden on buyers; （iii） need of active efforts made by businesses and of dissemination of legal regulations to businesses.

Evaluation of Large-Scale Housing Projects in Terms of Their Compatibility to Criteria of Environmental Design

The design and execution of large-scale housing projects always have negative environmental impacts in terms of excessive consumption of non-renewable energy resources and environmental pollution. These negative impacts are multiplied in the case of large-scale housing projects where a large number of standardized units are implemented in a repeated manner. This proposed paper will study and evaluate the environmental impacts of large-scale housing projects according to criteria of environmental design. The case study project is Haram City that is a housing project for small low-income families. The project consists of 50,000 housing units and is located in 6th of October City, which has a hot dry desert climate that necessitates special design considerations and applications of environmental design concepts. The project will be analyzed and evaluated in terms of site layout, design of buildings, orientation, materials used, construction techniques, thermal behavior, landscaping, etc.

Experimental and Theoretical Studies of C_(3)F_(7)CN/CO_(2) Mixture Decomposition Under Overheating Fault

Heptafluoroisobutyrontrile(C_(3)F_(7)CN)performs well in dielectric properties and environmental protection,which has the potential to replace SF6 gas.The decomposition characteristics of C_(3)F_(7)CN mixture under fault conditions directly affect the possibility of its replacement for SF6 gas.However,the number of studies on the decomposition characteristics of C_(3)F_(7)CN mixture under overheating fault is less.In this paper,the decomposition characteristics of C_(3)F_(7)CN/CO_(2) mixture under an overheating fault are studied by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC/MS)and quantum chemical calculations.Byproducts CO,C_(3)F_(6) and HF are detected at 200℃.At 550℃,the C_(3)F_(7)CN molecule begins to decompose and produces CHF_(3),C_(2)F_(4),CF_(3)CN and CNCN.Moreover,the results of GC/MS show that the insulation medium C_(3)F_(7)CN contains an impurity,which is C3HF7(HFC-227ea).Combined with the results of GC/MS and quantum chemistry calculations,it can be concluded that the decomposition by-product C_(3)F_(6) at 200℃ mainly comes from the decomposition of C_(3)HF_(7).C_(3)HF_(7) reduces the decomposition temperature of the C_(3)F_(7)CN/CO_(2) mixture.Therefore,it is very important to improve the purity of the insulation medium C_(3)F_(7)CN.