South Korea allots $36.6M for greenhouse research

The South Korea Science and Technology Ministry disclosed that the country is expanding its R&D for reducing greenhouse gas, allocating $36.6M in the 2008 budget for related R&D, a 31.5 percent increase over the previous year.

This is according to a report from Korea.net, which stated that South Korea has also set aside $28 million of the project budget to develop technology to reduce CO₂ while the remaining $.6 8 million will be for non-CO₂ gas reduction projects.

The Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology is drawing worldwide attention because no feasible substitute energy resource exists and it is expected to greatly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions from conventional power plants.

The government increased the budget for the greenhouse research in order to acquire basic technology needed for capturing CO₂. It will also seek international academic cooperation for storing the gas, as well as with domestic pilot projects.

As scientists worldwide zero in CCS technology development, the Korean government has divided related work among the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOCT), the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MOMAF) to secure the high technology. The MOCT will focus its efforts on securing basic technology for capturing carbon, MOCIE is tasked to develop usable CCS technology and the MOMAF will look into ways to store the gas under the sea.