Reducing A Project’s Environmental Footprint

Reducing A Project’s Environmental Footprint

Green remediation is the practice of identifying environmental effects of a remedy implementation and implementing options to reduce the environmental footprint of all cleanup actions. Green remediation, therefore, involves identifying a cleanup activity’s footprint and then taking the necessary measurements to reduce them under regulatory requirements.

US EPA has given a method to reducing the environmental footprint of a cleanup activity, the steps to which are presented here.

According to the EPA, there are two concepts to quantifying the environmental footprint of a cleanup—first, is to identify the parameters or metrics that need to be quantified, and second is to form a robust methodology to quantify those parameters.

In this regard, this article presents a four-step process for quantifying the metrics, these are:

1.      Gathering and organizing remedy information

2.      Quantifying materials and waste metrics

3.      Quantifying water metrics

4.      Quantifying energy and air metrics

After this, the ways to analyze and utilize the footprint results can be considered and the ways to reduce it can be defined.

Green Remediation Metrics

These are the parameters that a remedy project may be able to reduce with the best practices. These parameters include:

Materials Metrics

These include the total quantity of materials used in the project and the percentage of them that are made from reused, recycled or waste material.

On-Site Waste Metrics

This involves the total quantity of waste that is generated on the site and the percentage of which is reused or recycled.

Off-Site Waste Metrics

These are the waste materials that may not be generated on-site, but take place off-site, such as in manufacturing materials used on the project site.

On-Site Water Metrics

These include the source and amount of water that is used on-site and what happens to the water used afterwards.

Off-Site Water Metrics

These metrics take into account the quantity of water that is used off-site, such as in electricity generation, etc.

Energy Metrics

These take into consideration the amount of energy used in both on-site and off-site activities and what percentage of it comes from renewable resources.

Air Metrics

These include the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the cleanup process.

Methodology Involved In Footprinting

This methodology is a six-step process that starts off by gathering information regarding the remedy that is to be footprinted. Next, the waste and on-site water metrics are gathered. With these metrics, the energy and air metrics are estimated. After this calculation, the ecosystem services affected during the cleanup process are qualitatively described. Lastly, the results are reported and the methods to reduce the footprint are evaluated.

Gathering Information

The first step in the footprint methodology involves collecting all information regarding the design, construction and operation of the remedy. The information handles design parameters, kinds of materials used and the activities conducted during the remedy.

Estimating Materials And Waste Metrics

The next step involves quantifying the materials used on site from off site as well as the waste generated on site. This quantification involves the accounting of materials used, the extent of recycled content in those materials and the percentage of waste that is reused or recycled.

There are a number of challenges involved in this step, including identifying what to include and what to leave, converting various material quantities into common units, identifying recycling and documenting all information clearly.

Estimating On-Site Water Metrics

This step involves quantifying the water that is used on-site and identifies ways to reduce the usage.

Estimating Energy And Air Metrics

This involves estimating the amount of energy required and the greenhouse gases emittedduring the processes taking place both on-site and off-site.

Identifying The Affected Ecosystem Services

This step involves the identification of the land and ecosystem that are affected by the cleanup projects.

Reporting Of Results

This is the last step and involves proper description of results in the footprint analysis to assist in the screening process, areas of uncertainty and analytical assumptions.

Interpreting Footprint Results

The way the footprint results are interpreted varies according to the goals of the analysis and the data quality that is input. While the goal of the project can vary with the remedial stage and other factors related to the site; the data quality is highest when data is already available and the site is thoroughly studied.

Reduction Of Footprints

The approach to reducing footprints include modifications in the parameters that are causing the highest footprints. For instance, if electricity consumption is causing the highest energy footprint for a cleanup, the project will benefit from a reduction in its electricity consumption in the first place.

US EPA suggests the use of renewable resources and optimizing the metrics from a technical perspective in order to reduce its footprint. Optimizing can include modifications in conceptual data interpretation or site model that causes changes in the remedy.