ESST 3007 Environmental Management Information Systems
Course Description
Environmental management information systems (EMIS) present ICT solution for environmental management: planning, assessment, compliance monitoring and impact assessment as well as emergency. They integrate a number of advanced analytical functions for operational real-time control, but also scenario analysis, strategic planning, and optimization, within a shared common information basis. EMIS should be compliant with environmental management system standard ISO 14001 on integrated pollution prevention and control, including industrial emissions, and noise monitoring and management for construction, operations, and traffic. Students will learn what hardware, software and techniques are appropriate for building an EMIS. They will be familiar with EMIS design principles and guidelines illustrated by a number of case studies. Industrial EMIS support strategic planning and environmental impact assessment with real-time monitoring, on-line reporting, and operational control including emergency management options. They could include EMIS modules like:
- Tools addressing resources (e.g. water, energy) efficiency, emission optimization and techno-economic valuation;
- Model supported tools for monitoring, reporting and forecasting of environmental impacts from normal operations with online compliance reporting, alerts and alarms;
- Tools for risk assessment and emergency management of accidental release of hazardous materials;
- Administrative data bases of emission sources, MSDS and hazardous substances data base, use and storage, waste streams;
- Tools for simulation model-based analysis, environmental and strategic impact environmental assessment.
