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Energy that nurtures tomorrow, the dream of clean energy

2022-01-23

Energy that nurtures tomorrow, the dream of clean energy

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STORY

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Clean energy for an eco-friendly society

Recently, as the surface temperature of the earth is rising due to greenhouse gases, environmental problems such as climate change are occurring. To respond to these environmental changes, global interest in clean energy has increased. Clean energy refers to energy that does not emit pollutants to the outside during combustion.

Global interest, Clean Energy

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President Biden has said that by 2035 the United States will invest about $2 trillion in clean energy and will be carbon neutral by 2050. This is a huge investment, and it is expected that more accelerated eco-friendly policies will come out. The United States has announced that it will supply 1,000 hydrogen charging stations and 1 million hydrogen electric vehicles by 2030, mainly in California.

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If we look more closely at the case of the United States, it has announced that it will supply 1,000 hydrogen charging stations and 1 million hydrogen electric vehicles by 2030, mainly in California. Business expansion in the transportation and fuel cell fields through hydrogen energy is also planned, so the clean energy business in the United States is expected to grow rapidly.

The European Union announced its hydrogen strategy in July 2020 and said it would expand the infrastructure for green hydrogen. The EU plans to actively increase its clean energy base by 2030 to produce up to 10 million tons of green hydrogen. Through the ‘Energy Initiative 2010’, Germany has set targets to respond to energy and climate change in stages by 2050 and has announced a plan to build a total of 10 GW of green hydrogen infrastructure by 2040 and to reduce primary energy demand by 50% (compared to 2008) by 2050.

The UK has established a ‘clean growth strategy’ for the realization of low carbon and is presenting the policy direction to be achieved by 2050.

The last word of clean energy, Hydrogen

Among the various energies of clean energy, hydrogen is the ultimate clean energy source that exists abundantly on Earth. Hydrogen, energy that accounts for more than 70% of the universe, is extracted from compounds such as water and natural gas, and is produced by decomposing natural gas with high-temperature and high-pressure steam or decomposing water with electricity. Hydrogen produced by converting electricity used in this production process into renewable energy is called ‘Green Hydrogen’.

As hydrogen emits only a small amount of nitrogen or water without any contaminants such as greenhouse gases and exhaust gases during combustion, it is attracting attention as an eco-friendly clean energy in industries such as semiconductors and petrochemicals as well as fuels for transportation.
The use of hydrogen energy as the core energy of industry is the ‘hydrogen economy’. The world has already started transitioning from a carbon economy to a hydrogen economy, and Korean government also selected the hydrogen economy as one of the three major investment areas in 2018. In addition, Korea succeeded in producing the world’s first hydrogen car by preemptively securing world-class technology in the field of hydrogen utilization. Korea not only localized 99% of key components for hydrogen cars, but also ranked first in the world in hydrogen car sales and fuel cell dissemination.
Another clean energy source, wind
Wind energy refers to converting the wind energy into electrical energy and using it. Compared to energy such as solar power and solar heat, the production cost is relatively low, and it can be used as a tourism resource. However, in order to produce electrical energy, winds of at least 5 m/s must be blown continuously, and if the wind is weak, power generation is difficult and additional energy storage facilities are required.
Since wind energy is a clean energy that can be continuously produced and does not emit any pollutants, efforts are being made to commercialize and develop wind energy around the world.

Korea Zinc’s efforts for 100% clean energy

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Korea Zinc is one of the companies that consumes a lot of electricity, ranking in the top 10 in terms of electricity consumption among domestic companies. However, with a long-term plan, Korea Zinc has the ambition to convert 100% of electricity energy into clean energy.
For this, Korea Zinc installed a photovoltaic power generation facility to spread the use of clean energy in the Onsan refinery in Korea and built a liquefied natural gas (LNG) combined cycle power plant. In addition, Korea Zinc plans to significantly increase the use of renewable energy through the renewable energy business of our Australian subsidiary, Ark Energy. Ark Energy plans to actively participate in new and renewable energy projects in Australia, including participating in the 923 MW wind power generation project (McIntyre Wind Farm) to be built in Queensland. Through this, Korea Zinc will expand the supply of eco-friendly energy, and in the long term, Korea Zinc is setting a goal for ‘100% Green Zinc’ made from 100% clean energy that does not emit any carbon dioxide during the production process.
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In addition, Korea Zinc will quickly implement clean energy by acquiring Epuron, which has a unique position in Australia’s renewable energy business. The acquisition is also expected to generate synergies with its subsidiary, Sun Metal Corporation (SMC), and plans to raise the proportion of new and renewable energy in SMC’s electricity consumption to 85% by 2025.

Korea Zinc will lead the way for 100% clean energy by creating circular economic value by constantly striving for a virtuous cycle of resources and expanding clean energy without only seeking immediate profits. Korea Zinc’s preemptive efforts will serve as a foundation and strength to become a more sustainable company.

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