GLOBAL WARMING STRATEGIES FOR KOREAN RAILROAD: SURVEY OF CO2 EMISSIONS

초록

Since the Kyoto Protocol became effective in 2005, the Korean government has taken various measures to reduce emissions of CO2, which is a main global warming source. It is especially necessary to reduce transportation emissions which make up about 30 % of the total CO2 emissions. Because railroad consumes much less carbon than other transportation methods, increasing the use of the railroad could be an important means to reduce CO2 in the traffic sector. In line with this policy, we investigated CO2 emissions from the operation of rolling stock in the Korean railroad and suggested several strategies to decrease CO2 emissions efficiently. In 2004, total CO2 emissions were about 1.4 million tons, which increased gradually by about 2 % a year from 1990 level. Diesel-powered trains emitted more than 50 % of the total CO2 although they accounted for only 27 % of all trains. CO2 emissions from electric-powered trains can be reduced efficiently by electric motor units (EMUs) with aluminum car-bodies which consume less energy than stainless steel or mild steel car-bodies. Thus, we suggested the “2006 Korea Railroad Global Warming Program (2006-2010)” to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 10 % by 2020 (compared to 1990 level) through increasing the proportion of electric-powered trains and reducing the weight of rolling stock.