PyeongChang pronounces low-carbon 'O2 Plus' Olympics
Polar bear ice sculptures are in front of PyeongChang 2018 Green Pavilion in Gangneung Olympic Park to raise awareness of the species being endangered due to climate change and the necessity for humans to take preventive actions. Melting under warming weather with temperatures peaking at 8 degrees Celsius on Feb. 13, the sculptures share the species’ destiny threatened by the melting ice cap and loss of habitat. / Korea Times photo by Ko Dong-hwan
By Ko Dong-hwan
At PyeongChang 2018 Green Pavilion near the south gate of Gangneung Olympic Park, visitors can check how much greenhouse gases they produced during their trip to Gangneung for the Winter Olympics.
Visitors input information such as the country they departed from, method of transportation, days staying in the city, purpose of the trip, and a computer inside a green container pavilion translates the data into total carbon emissions. The emissions’ sources are broken down to transportation, lodging and duration of stay at Olympic venues. The computer then calculates how much South Korean currency is required to offset the emissions.
For example, when a Seoul reporter traveled on a bus and stayed in the city for seven days, the computer showed he produced 15 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents (CDE) while in the bus and 221 kilograms CDE while spending time at stadiums and lodging. To offset the environmental damage he caused, 2,000 won ($1.84) is required. The computer explains 1,000 won is needed per 100 kilograms CDE.
Those feeling guilty can pay the damage cost to the Carbon Offset Fund, either in South Korean currency at the site, wiring the money to South Korea’s Climate Change Center, or clicking “I promise” on the computer and wiring it later. The foundation is part of the Olympic organizing committee’s carbon-offsetting program to calculate greenhouse gas emissions generated in connection with staging the Games and raise the equivalent amount of funds. The computer shows the crowdfunding goal is 50 million won.
“Many visitors from abroad have shown interest in the self-test and contributed,” said a staff member in the Pavilion that is open until the end of the Paralympics in March. “They came in numbers as many as local South Koreans. A Dutch visitor once contributed 50,000 won, which I recall as the highest amount so far.”
O2 Plus Winter Games
In addition to its motto of “New Horizon,” PyeongChang Olympics brought to the fore “sustainability” to brandish the abstract paradigm in a more persuasive sense. In its Sustainability Mini-Report published in 2017, the organizer explained how it will make the Olympics as eco-friendly as possible. It said the Games campaigns to hold “O2 Plus Winter Games.”
“Preparing the Olympics, we had set five goals and 17 related tasks to realize the framework of sustainability,” the Olympics Organizing Committee President and CEO Lee Hee-beom said in the report. “The efforts, for the first time in Winter Olympics, allowed us to acquire in July 2016 ISO20121, an international certification regarding sustainable management.”
The report explains the Olympics’ sustainability will be put into practice by five major to minor projects in fields including transportation, renewable energy, construction and greenhouse gases. The daunting tasks mean moving visitors, athletes and others quickly while keeping emissions low, operating venues with less fossil fuels, building Olympic venues to last longer, and keeping the air clean.
But while the guidelines seem promising, their effects remain to be seen even after the Olympic clock ticks the last second. In times of worsening climate change effects such as extreme temperatures, blizzards and sea levels rising across the world, critical evaluation is imperative.
Cows graze in pastures under wind turbines along the mountain ridges of Daegwallyeong in Gangwon Province / Courtesy of PyeongChang Organizing Committee’s Environment Planning Team
Among the renewable energies keeping the Games running is wind power. Ninety-two turbines in seven clusters across the host city and Gangneung produce over 177 megawatt-capacity of electricity, which are 93 percent of the total electricity required during the Olympic period. Even after the Olympics, wind power is expected to get bigger as there are seven additional clusters fanning 117 turbines with over 260 megawatts-capacity planned in Gangwon province.
Hwang Ki-hyup, Head of Environment Planning Team of PyeongChang Organizing Committee
“Some of the planned clusters have been approved, while some are waiting for their locations to be approved,” Hwang Ki-hyup, head of the Environment Planning Team of the organizing committee, told The Korea Times. “The turbines, all privately operated, have recently been moving to coastal regions from mountains, where constructing turbines is more complicated.”
Sustainability is also taken into account in designs of event venues. At Kwandong Hockey Centre in Gangneung, heating and cooling is completely powered by geothermal power and other renewable energies. Rainwater tanks collect and use rainwater for cleaning and gardening. The fourth floor, an adjustable stand, can be taken apart after the Olympics and used as a community sports center. It is rated “good” by Green Standard for Energy and Environmental Design (G-SEED).
Gangneung Ice Arena’s multi-functionality earned the same G-SEED title. Track changes from figure skating to speed skating, which have different ice surface temperatures, can be done within three hours. Basement can be converted into a swimming pool and open to public after the Olympics. Greenhouse gas emissions were minimized with maximized use of photovoltaic power (156 kW) and geothermal power (1,099 kW).
Gangneung Oval’s passive design and Gangneung Hockey Center’s use of landfill site and modules for easy deconstruction were certified with the same G-SEED rating.
On roads, PyeongChang Olympics deployed emission-free vehicles to transport back and forth patrons using its facilities. The rides run on electricity, liquefied natural gas and fuel cell-pumped electric motor. And they will contribute to further uses for the public after the Games.
“All 150 electric cars were rigged with wheels by Korea Electric Power Corporation just ahead of the Games,” Hwang said. Forty-two buses running on natural gas were provided by a Seoul transit operator, while 15 fuel cell cars were new products of Hyundai Motor Company. They all return to their maker and owner after the Games, according to Hwang.
State-of-the-art-technologies empowering the Games’ sustainability took to monitoring air quality and underground pipelines below venues.
A drone with “atmospheric environmental receptor measurement technology” analyzes mass concentration of fine particulates using an aerosol mass and number analyzing system (AMNAS). An unmanned image diagnosing robot moves through tap water pipelines where humans are unfit to work. It scans areas with precision impossible from human eyes, keeping the infrastructure’s lifespan longer while reducing time and cost in doing the job.
“These technologies started operating in preparation for the Games and will be expanded further to be used in broader fields,” Hwang said.
An electric bus departs Gangneung Olympic Park after loading passengers, Feb. 13. The bus is one of the Olympic organizing committee's transportation service rides using renewable energies like electricity, liquefied natural gas and fuel cells / Korea Times photo by Ko Dong-hwan
Sustainability still tight
Part of what enables sustainability is a reliable infrastructure converting natural energy resources into electricity that keeps humanity connected ― and alive. While there are various clean alternatives replacing fossil fuels, feasibility to use them hinges on whether natural conditions like geography and climate are fit for their operations. No matter how advanced technologies become, they are mere scarecrows without Mother Nature’s nudge.
Wind power operators in South Korea strive not to fall for that scarecrow. They have taken advantage of the divided peninsula’s eastern mountain region to build turbines along high-altitude ridges where wind currents are strong. But despite such ideal natural settings, the areas are being shunned for site because of a paradoxical reality.
“Strong wind currents usually blow above high mountain ridges where there are rich forests and difficult road accesses,” Hwang said. “To build the turbines, with its diameter spanning 80 meters, roads for construction machines must be laid down and trees must be cut down. An enormous natural cost is inevitable.”
And there is the theory of divination based on topography, a traditional South Korean belief that certain geographic locations preserve sacred energy not to be messed with by harming the environment. In the country where Confucius teachings long dominated, the belief has been an underlying element of architecture.
“People somehow cannot discard the thought that even driving a stake down mountains disrupts the regions’ sacred energy,” Hwang said. Such belief contributes to South Korean wind power operators’ hardship in searching for ideal locations. As much as the nation is not large enough to accommodate enough turbines, locations meeting all conditions are only a handful.
The country’s small gross area also trips photovoltaic energy production. To replace one nuclear power plant with one gigawatt-capacity, solar panels must be spread across 10 square kilometers ― equivalent to 1,300 football stadiums, which is nearly impossible. To accomplish the central government’s goal to secure 30GW of electricity with sun, half of Seoul spanning 300 square kilometers is additionally required. Insufficient solar radiation quantity over Seoul sky of 1,000 kilowatts per hour per a square meter land, only 70 percent of that of the United States’ average, is another caveat.
“Renewable energy is the future, alright,” Hwang said. “But it will be difficult here in South Korea. It is just a matter of time.”