scholarly journals Households’ Willingness to Pay for Substituting Natural Gas with Renewable Methane: A Contingent Valuation Experiment in South Korea

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 3082
Author(s):  
Sung-Min Kim ◽  
Ju-Hee Kim ◽  
Seung-Hoon Yoo
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Contingent Valuation ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Economic Approach ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Spike Model

South Korea is planning to substitute some residential natural gas (NG), a fossil fuel that relies on imports, with renewable methane (RM) from bio-gas, a renewable energy source. Thus, information about households’ willingness to pay (WTP) for implementing the plan is widely needed. This article, therefore, examines the WTP using an economic approach of contingent valuation (CV). More specifically, 1000 households were asked about the additional WTP for RM over NG through in-person face-to-face surveys across the country, adopting a dichotomous choice question format, during August 2018. As a few interviewees responded zero WTP for various reasons, a spike model that could reflect zero WTP observations was utilized. The household additional WTP for RM over NG was estimated, with statistical significance, as 191.46 Korean won (USD 0.17) per m3 and worth 31.9% of the average price of residential NG. This value means a price premium for RM compared to NG. In other words, this study found that South Korean consumers value residential RM about 1.32 times as much as residential NG. These results from the CV experiment could be a useful reference in establishing and implementing RM-related policies.

South Korea's energy plans may struggle to stick

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gas Network ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Phase Out ◽  
Construction Services ◽  
Fossil Fuel Emissions

Subject Energy policy in South Korea. Significance President Moon Jae-in's administration plans to reduce fossil fuel emissions, increase the use of renewables and ultimately phase out commercial nuclear energy generation. Opponents view the current plans as threatening to South Korea’s economic, international and strategic standing, and Moon’s approach to governance as populist and ineffective. Impacts Natural gas exporters in North America, Indonesia and Australia will benefit from stronger South Korean demand. South Korea’s reputation in international commercial nuclear energy construction services will suffer a setback. Phasing out nuclear energy would make it more difficult for South Korea to acquire nuclear weapons. Moon's plan for an integrated East Asian natural gas network are far from realisation, but would have profound impacts.

scholarly journals What Value Does the Public Put on Managing and Protecting an Endangered Marine Species? The Case of the Finless Porpoise in South Korea

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4505
Author(s):  
Ju-Hee Kim ◽  
Joseph Kim ◽  
Seung-Hoon Yoo
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Contingent Valuation ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Dichotomous Choice ◽  
Finless Porpoise ◽  
The Public ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Public Perspective

In South Korea, the finless porpoise (FP) is one of representative endangered marine species. The country is trying to manage and protect FPs through several costly measures and demands information about what value the public puts on the management and protection. This article, therefore, explores the South Korean public perspective on managing and protecting FP using a contingent valuation (CV) technique. More specifically, the data on the public willingness to pay (WTP) for the management and protection were collected from a CV survey of 1000 households across the country, adopting a dichotomous choice question format. The household yearly WTP for the management and protection was estimated, with statistical significance, to be 2730 KRW (2.32 USD). If this value is expanded to all households in South Korea, the national value amounts to 54.19 billion KRW (46.00 million USD) per annum. This can be interpreted as the economic value or benefit of managing and protecting FP.

MEASURING THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS FROM THE CONTAMINATED SOIL REMEDIATION POLICY IN KOREA: A CONTINGENT VALUATION STUDY

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (5-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seul-Ye Lim ◽  
Seung-Hoon Yoo
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Contingent Valuation ◽  
Soil Remediation ◽  
Contaminated Soil ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Contingent Valuation Study ◽  
Spike Model ◽  
Valuation Study

Soil contamination caused by economic growth through industrialization and urbanization has been progressed inKorea. Soil polluted with heavy metals and chemicals makes significantly negative effects on human and wildlife health. This paper attempts to measure the economic benefits from the contaminated soil remediation policy using a specific case study ofKorea. To this end, the contingent valuation (CV) method is employed. A CV national survey of randomly selected 500 households was implemented using person-to-person interviewing in May 2105.  To elicit the willingness to pay (WTP), we apply one-and-one-half bound dichotomous choice question format to reduce the potential for response bias and spike model to deal with zero willingness to pay (WTP). The mean WTP for the policy is estimated to be KRW 1,357 (USD 1.2) for next ten years per household per year and statistically significant at the 1% level. Expanding the value to the national population gives us KRW 25.4 billion (USD 22.9 million) per year. We can judge that the Korean public places a significant value and be utilized in assessing the total benefits from the policy.

scholarly journals Economies of Scale in the South Korean Natural Gas Industry

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1557
Author(s):  
Jeong-Joon Yu ◽  
Seong-Hoon Yoo ◽  
Chulwoo Baek
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
The South ◽  
Wholesale Market ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Natural Gas Industry ◽  
City Gas ◽  
Minimum Efficient Scale

The South Korean natural gas (NG) import volume in 2017 was 33.7 million tonnes per annum (13.1%), making it the second-largest NG-importing country in the world after Japan. Nevertheless, the NG wholesale market in South Korea has remained monopolistic since the Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) was established in 1983. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine whether the NG wholesale market in South Korea has economies of scale by estimating the translog cost function and estimating the minimum efficient scale (MES) using robust linear regression. We used quarterly business reports of KOGAS from the first quarter of 2000 to the second quarter of 2018 to construct the data. The results showed that diseconomies of scale existed in all the years in the first and fourth quarters, and the second quarter showed the same result during 2010–2014. From 2011, the production quantity of all the quarters has exceeded the MES (5.81 million tons). The reason for these results is that the demand for NG power generation and city gas has surged since 2000, while the monopolistic structure of the past has been maintained. This study implies that it would be more efficient to allocate some of KOGAS’s additional import volume to the existing private NG companies and mitigate the regulation on resale.

scholarly journals The Public Willingness to Pay for Reducing the Incidence of Hazardous Chemical Spill Accidents by Half in South Korea

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hye-Jeong Lee ◽  
Hyo-Jin Kim ◽  
Seung-Hoon Yoo
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Income Taxes ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
Hazardous Chemical ◽  
Spike Model ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Government ◽  
Transport Accidents

Hazardous chemical spill (HCS) accidents, which occur due to careless workers, transport accidents, etc., can be harmful to humans. Recently, an average of 96 cases of HCS accidents have taken place in South Korea annually. As a result, the government is trying to reduce the incidence of HCS accidents by 50%. Government officials are seeking information about the value that the enforcement of the reduction plan will bring for the public. This knowledge will help government officials decide whether to implement the reduction plan. This article seeks to acquire information about the public willingness to pay (WTP) for the reduction plan, employing the contingent valuation (CV) technique. For this purpose, a total of 1000 households living in South Korea participated in the CV survey in 2017. The data on the WTP were gathered using a dichotomous choice question and analyzed using the spike model. Forty-five percent of the respondents were willing to accept an increase in income taxes to carry out the reduction plan. The mean household WTP estimate was obtained as KRW 3830 (USD 3.41) per annum. The national value expanded from the sample to the population is worth KRW 74.8 billion (USD 66.6 million) per year. This value implies the public value of the reduction plan and can be applied in policy analysis and decision-making concerning the reduction of the incidence of HCS accidents.

scholarly journals Willingness to Pay Price Premium for Smartphones Produced Using Renewable Energy

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ju-Hee Kim ◽  
Hyo-Jin Kim ◽  
Seung-Hoon Yoo
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Price Premium ◽  
Fukushima Accident ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Spike Model ◽  
Contingent Valuation Survey ◽  
The Cost

Due to air pollution and greenhouse gases issues associated with the use of fossil fuels and nuclear safety issues after the Fukushima accident, consumers are increasingly in favor of commodities produced using electricity generated from relatively expensive renewable energy (RE) rather than cheap fossil fuels or nuclear energy. This is usually called ‘RE100’. The objective of this study is to examine South Korean consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) price premium for a RE100 commodity using the specific case of smartphones. We accomplished the purpose by conducting a contingent valuation survey of 1000 individuals in August 2018 and analyzing the data gathered from the survey. In addition, the spike model was applied to dealing with the zero WTP responses. Based on the analysis results, an average price premium was statistically significantly estimated to be KRW 11,699 (USD 10.5) for all respondents. This is worth 1.6% of the price for a conventional non-RE100 smartphone (KRW 750,000 or USD 673.9) and is higher than the cost increase (0.97%) when producing RE100 smartphones. Therefore, it can be seen that South Korean consumers have sufficient acceptance for RE100 smartphones.

scholarly journals Public Acceptance of the “Renewable Energy 3020 Plan”: Evidence from a Contingent Valuation Study in South Korea

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ju-Hee Kim ◽  
Sin-Young Kim ◽  
Seung-Hoon Yoo
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Contingent Valuation ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Public Acceptance ◽  
Contingent Valuation Study ◽  
Electricity Rates ◽  
Spike Model ◽  
Valuation Study ◽  
Residential Electricity

South Korea is promoting the “Renewable Energy 3020 Plan” to expand the proportion of renewable energy (RE) from 2.2% in 2016 to 20% in 2030. Since the plan could lead to an increase in electricity rates, public acceptance of it is an important key to determining its success. This article examines the public acceptance of the plan by employing contingent valuation (CV). A nationwide CV survey of 1000 households was performed to collect the data on the willingness to pay (WTP) for implementing the plan using electricity charges as a payment vehicle during October 2018. More specifically, a dichotomous choice question to ask interviewees whether they have an intention of paying an offered bid and a spike model to treat the zero WTP observations were employed. The estimate for monthly WTP was KRW 3646 (USD 3.27) per household. When 10 years of the payment period presented in the survey and forecasted values of residential RE electricity consumption from 2018 to 2030 were used, the WTP was worth KRW 60.4 (USD 0.05) per kWh in 2018 constant price. The WTP amounts to 56.5% of the price for residential electricity (KRW 106.9 or USD 0.10 per kWh). That is, the RE electricity produced through implementing the plan has a premium of 56.5% over the current electricity. Overall, it is concluded that public acceptance of the plan has been secured.

scholarly journals Public Perspective on Increasing the Numbers of an Endangered Species, Loggerhead Turtles in South Korea: A Contingent Valuation

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ju-Hee Kim ◽  
Kyung-Ran Choi ◽  
Seung-Hoon Yoo
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Contingent Valuation ◽  
Loggerhead Turtle ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Public Value ◽  
Response Data ◽  
Spike Model ◽  
Loggerhead Turtles ◽  
Public Perspective ◽  
The Cost

The loggerhead turtle is one of the representative endangered marine species in South Korea. Thus, the country’s government is trying to push ahead with a project to increase the number of loggerhead turtles through the research and development of technology to hatch them artificially and release them into the wild. This article attempts to investigate the public perspective on the project using contingent valuation (CV). To this end, a CV survey of one thousand households across the country was implemented using in-person interviews. They were asked whether they were willing to pay a specified amount presented for carrying out the project. As many households reported zero willingness to pay, a spike model was employed to analyze the response data. It was found that the yearly public value ensuing from accomplishing the project was statistically significantly computed to be KRW 2360 (USD 1.99) per household. When the value was expanded nationwide, it reached KRW 44.72 billion (USD 37.74 million) per year. This public value could be compared with the cost of carrying out the project to determine if the project is socially beneficial.

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