A cultural trip visitation

Written by: Vincent Woon Kok Sin (Malaysia)
Date: 27 July 2022


Today, we had a cultural trip.
At 10 am, we headed to the Seoul Energy Dream Center. The center is Korea’s first zero-energy building equipped with renewable energy technologies (i.e., geothermal energy and solar PV) and high-energy efficient management facilities.
We were led by an experienced tour guide to introduce the facilities in the building. It started with the geothermal energy used for heating, air handling units, and the building's hot water supply during the winter season.
In Korea, it aims to develop three new energies (i.e., hydrogen, fuel cell, and integrated gasification combined cycle) and eight renewable energies (i.e., geothermal, hydro, solar, wind, bioenergy, waste-to-energy, ocean, and cold-water usage for data center). A few passive and active designs/systems have been introduced, including the high-efficiency thermal insulation system, external motorized blinds, heat recovery ventilation system, automatic lighting control system, microgrid, and building energy management system).
The tour lasted for about an hour, and we received informative knowledge on developing a sustainable energy building. A sustainable energy building is vital to realizing the net-zero carbon target many nations have pledged. Hopefully, more zero-energy buildings could be implemented with policy and incentive support from the government.







At noon, we set off to Seoul Botanic Garden.
This indoor garden consists of various plants from different parts of the world. The park is nicely designed with a leisure walkway.
Scientific names are provided to each plant species so that visitors can easily recognize them. To make the atmosphere more natural, bird chirping sounds and artificial waterfall and waterways are designed to integrate the natural harmony with the plants. A skywalk is also constructed to allow the visitors to enjoy the scenery from a bird eye view.
I enjoyed the trip to this botanical garden. It reminds us of the importance of preserving our natural forest for the next generation.
I am warmed to see that the kids smiled when indulging themselves in a sea of colorful flowers. While global warming is getting more severe and unprecedented, nature-based solutions could be a good solution to overcome it.







After a 30-min walk in the garden, we had Bibimbap as our lunch at a nearby Korean restaurant.
After lunch, we went to Gwangmyeong Upcycle Art Center. This exhibition center uses different types of waste, such as plastic, wood, fibers, glass, etc., to integrate with creative designs and skills to produce appealing arts.
This is an excellent example of valorizing waste to a resource that could still benefit society and the environment.
This trip reminds me that waste is just a misplaced resource, but it could be valuable if we could send them to the right place for recycling or upcycling.





There is also a nearby waste incineration plant.The plant captured my eye as the whole plant was painted with pink color with some beautiful cloud designs. It does not look like a waste incineration plant at first sight. A real-time monitoring panel is provided at the main entrance to indicate the air pollution index in the stack discharge system. The values are also compared with the emission standard.
This is a good practice as it gives visitors and residents confidence that the plant always complies with the government’s standards.
There is an exhibition center to illustrate the waste combustion concept and how the plant recovers the heat for energy generation.
With more waste produced, we need alternative technologies to treat our wastes.
An incineration plant also requires a smaller land footprint compared to a landfill. However, it is crucial for incineration to meet the emission standard as some air pollutants, such as dioxins and furans, are carcinogenic to human health.





Our last trip is Gwangmyeong Cave.It is an abandoned mining cave transferred to a tourism spot.
The cave starts with a long pathway to illustrate its history of the cave. The pathway is equipped with beautiful neon lights, which makes the journey exciting. A light show was also exhibited at the center of the cave.
There are other exciting themes in the cave, such as an aquarium exhibition with diverse types of fishes and a plant exhibition.
Though it took 15-min to climb, it is worth experiencing the mining cave's design and history.
We ended our trip at a local Korean restaurant nearby to our residence.





Throughout the trip, I learned more about Korea's energy policy, waste management, and some Korean cultures.
Another exciting moment is we got the opportunity to share our nation’s culture with other trainees while walking and enjoying the tour.
It was a memorable trip indeed.




Coordinator's comments:
I truly enjoyed reading your journal, Vincent, particularly because it includes your insightful thought and lessons learned from each place. I certainly learned a lot from your detailed explanation and perspective. Thank you so much for sharing with us such a valuable view of yours.
As the Secretariat made careful choices in places that could offer you and fellow trainees great experiences, it is indeed our greatest joy to learn that you enjoyed the field trip to facilities which all deliver the message of how significant environment conservation is. 
While you were warmed to see kids smiling at the Garden, I was elated to see smiles of you and trainees. 
Hope this day left you with exciting, delightful and long-lasting memories with everyone.