Environmental Impact Assessment and Mitigation

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): is a process of evaluating the likely environmental

impacts of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic,
cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse.
Mitigation: is the stage of the EIA process when measures are identified to avoid, minimize or
remedy impacts. These measures are implemented as part of the process of impact management,
together with any necessary adjustments to respond to unforeseen impacts.
When is an EIA needed?
Planning to build: Dams/Reservoirs
Large Housing/Buildings projects
Airports Power stations
Roads Quarries

Stages of EIA.
Screening - Determine Whether an EIA is needed at all.
Scoping – Decide which impacts must be assessed.
Baseline Study – Collecting data on the current state of the area.
(Geology, Topography, Biological, Socio-Economic, Cultural)
Impact Prediction – If project goes ahead, what are the consequences?
Mitigation – Recommendations: How can the negative consequences be reduced/prevented? Alternatives?
Monitoring/Assessment – During and after the project there should be: Monitoring of the environmental
conditions (which may be changing). Assessment of the impacts of the project.

Nontechnical Summary
This document must include a non-technical summary (NTS) that explains the project to the public, as well
as the justification for the project, information regarding the respect of the 3Rs and various administrative
documents.

Criticisms of EIAs
Sometimes advice is ignored.
Reports may be limited in scope: not all impacts are identified.
Baseline studies may be incomplete: lack of available data.
Often lack of monitoring and review.

Stages in creating an EIA

A baseline study is required to gain knowledge of the current state of the physical and biological
environment.
The possible impacts of the project should be determined and presented (and suggestion for mitigation
should be presented).
A non-technical summary should be include.
The EIA should inform the decision-making process for the project.
They are limited in that a baselines study may be incomplete due to lack of data,
The full scope of the impacts may not be investigated,
And the recommendations may be ignored,
Purpose and History of Energy Engineering
Energy engineering or energy systems engineering is a broad field of engineering dealing with energy
efficiency, energy services, facility management, plant engineering, environmental
compliance and alternative energy technologies. Energy engineers work across the full energy lifecycle,
including extraction, production, conversion, transmission and distribution, and play an integral role in
processing energy from a variety of sources, e.g. solar, wind and geothermal power, nuclear power, water,
oil, gas and biofuels.
The main job of energy engineers is to find the most efficient and sustainable ways to operate buildings and
manufacturing processes.
This means suggesting advanced lighting, better insulation, more efficient heating and cooling properties of
buildings.
Although an energy engineer is concerned about obtaining and using energy in the most environmentally
friendly ways, their field is not limited to strictly renewable energy like hydro, solar, biomass, or geothermal.
Energy engineers are also employed by the fields of oil and natural gas extraction.
Human beings have been transferring energy from one form to another since their use of fire. The
efficiency of the transfer of energy is a new field. The oil crisis of 1973 and energy crisis of 1979 brought to
light the need to get more work out of less energy. The United States government passed several laws in
the seventies to promote increased energy efficiency, such as United States public law 94-413, the Federal
Clean Car Incentive Program.

Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is energy produced from sources that do not deplete or can be replenished within a
human's life time. The most common examples include wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and hydropower.
This is in contrast to non-renewable sources such as fossil fuels.
There are many forms of renewable energy. Most of these renewable energies depend in one way or
another on sunlight.

Types of renewable Energy:

Solar energy: is derived by capturing radiant energy from sunlight and converting it into heat, electricity, or
hot water. Photovoltaic (PV) systems can convert direct sunlight into electricity through the use of solar
cells.
Wind farms: capture the energy of wind flow by using turbines and converting it into electricity.
Hydroelectric: Dams are what people most associate when it comes to hydroelectric power. Water flows
through the dam’s turbines to produce electricity, known as pumped-storage hydropower.
Geothermal heat: is heat that is trapped beneath the earth’s crust from the formation of the Earth 4.5
billion years ago and from radioactive decay.
Ocean: The Ocean can produce two types of energy: thermal and mechanical. Ocean thermal energy
relies on warm water surface temperatures to generate energy through a variety of different systems.
Ocean mechanical energy uses the ebbs and flows of the tides to generate energy, which is created by the
earth’s rotation and gravity from the moon.
Hydrogen: needs to be combined with other elements, such as oxygen to make water as it does not occur
naturally as a gas on its own. When hydrogen is separated from another element it can be used for both
fuel and electricity.
Biomass: Bioenergy is a renewable energy derived from biomass. Biomass is organic matter that comes
from recently living plants and organisms. Using wood in your fireplace is an example of biomass that most
people are familiar with.