UEENEEK145A : Environmental Management - Energy Sector Environmental - Assessment Answer

Environmental Management Assignment

Case Scenario/ Task

This Competency Standard Unit deals with the collecting, interpretation and application of environmental

management information, the identification of environmental impacts and the assessment of risks. It also

deals with monitoring while implementing environmentally sustainable work polices and plans, and the

development of modifications as part of the review process.

Your achievement of this unit of competency will mean that you can:

• Identify environmental laws, regulations and systems

• Investigate current practices in relation to resource usage.

• Set targets for improvements.

• Implement performance improvement strategies considering the need for identifying hazards,

assessing risks and controlling risks.

• Monitor and record performance.

• Evaluate strategies.

• Set new targets and investigate and apply new tools and strategies.

• Promote successful strategies to a work group.

Your task is to demonstrate that you can, for two scenarios, develop plans to implement and monitor

policies and procedures for environmentally and sustainable electrotechnology work practices

The details of the tasks are provided for each scenario below.

Ensure that you consider and make reference in your submission to (amongst other things):

o Compliance with local, national and international laws and regulations

o Material acquisition (supply chain management) and disposal (Product Stewardship)

o Minimising environmental impacts while maximising opportunities for energy and resourceusage

reduction

Scenario 1

A distribution business that was started 5 years ago has just been given the opportunity to expand by

buying out an existing printing company, SM Printing, about to go bankrupt. The plan is to incorporate

the two businesses. The workshop at SM printing is old and extremely out dated. There is no

organisation and the staff is extremely unhappy with the workplace environment. SM Printing is

housed in an old warehouse that the new management would like to turn into modern updated

premises. The previous owner was not concerned about environmentally sustainable work practices.

The new company structure will look like the following.

? General Manager (1)

? Receptionist(2)

? Accounts Clerk/PA (1)

? Design Department (5)

? HTML Coding Department (5)

? Printstaff (6)

Some of the current issues and practices include:

? Older style “in window” air conditioning system in Reception and Office 1, portable air conditioning

units in Office 2 and Staff room. All these rooms also have individual electric fan heaters for

heating in the winter

? Rusted Hot Water System (HWS) in bathroom facilities, overflow hose directed into wash basin

? Old style toilet (leaking) in bathroom facilities, single wash basin with old style taps (hot and cold)

? Shower enclosure with original shower head and exhaust fan

? The staff room has a sink with old style hot and cold taps and a 15 year old dishwasher

? There is older style florescent lighting in all offices, staff room and bathroom. These lights are often

left on after the work day has finished

? All these rooms are painted factory brown with a white ceiling

? The factory has high bay lighting that was installed 15 years ago and three single globe lights above

the storage bench

? There is a spot light at the front outside of the building, lighting up the signage. This light stays on all

night and is often inadvertently left on during the day

? The existing company runs a cable network with 2 computers in reception, 1 in each of the offices

and 12 in the workshop space. The server is located in reception and is very noisy. Many of the

computers are left on after staff have finished work for the day.

? There is a printer in reception and each office as well as 5 in the workshop space. None of the

printers are energy rated and all print single side only. There is a separate fax machine in

reception and a separate scanner in the staff room. Both pieces of equipment are about 8 years old

? The company does not have a policy for purchasing computer equipment, buying equipment

when required, often purchasing whatever is on special at the time

? Staff buy stationary requirements on an ad hoc basis, often resulting in large stocks of items such

as notepads and A grade printer paper

? There is one large garbage bin for all rubbish, including staff room, workshop and bathroom

rubbish as well asrejected or unused printouts from the printers

? Old computers, computer parts and printers are stored on the storage bench and eventually put

into the garbage bin

Scenario 2

Review the case study below.

the management team, including (amongst other things) how you would:

• Identify environmental laws, regulations and systems

• Investigate current practices in relation to resource usage.

• Set targets for improvements.

• Implement performance improvement strategies considering the need for identifying hazards,

assessing risks and controlling risks.

• Monitor and record performance.

• Evaluate your suggested strategies.

• Set new targets, investigate and apply new tools and strategies.

• Promote successful strategies to the work group.

MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF PRINTING INDUSTRY

1. Paper production and deforestation

Deforestation is one of the major problems associated with the printing industry. Around 340 million tons of paper is produces every year across the world. Making of paper boards is energy intensive process and produces large amount of contaminated waste water. This waste water is considered to be a major environmental hazard. Depletion of forests is further leading to increased amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere contributing in greenhouse effect. The other noticeable indirect effects include erosion and leaching of soil. Thus an activity of cutting down forest at small scale ultimately has a greater environmental impact .

2. Hazardous wastes

Waste accumulation resulting from the activities being carried out in a printing industry is of great concern for the environment. This waste predominantly comprises of left over paper, inks and cleaning solvents. The ink and solvent if not handled properly can prove to be extremely dangerous for the environment. Phthalates commonly used in manufacturing of ink were declared toxic. Also majority of the colorings used to prepare inks have traces of heavy metals. If introduced into the water stream, these inks can pose a serious threat to the local people residing there and consuming that water.

3. High energy dependence and carbon dioxide emissions

Printing and publishing industry can be ranked as the 4^th largest energy consuming sector among the major subdivisions with the industry. High energy consumption is attributed to the use of heavy machinery for operational activities. Automation of the printing process has further increased the demand for energy in term of electricity. The fossil fuel used to generate the energy that is supplied to these industries is leading to release of high amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The temperature of the Earth is increasing at an alarming rate. Also the heat released by the working machinery gets transferred into the atmosphere radiating back into the space. This results in accelerated warming of the Earth .

Though all these impacts are at much greater level, little effort from everyone’s side can really help in controlling the damage being cause to the mother Earth.

MAJORS THAT CAN BE TAKEN TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

The major steps that can be taken at management level may include the following:

1. Machinery

Automated machineries and computer controlled systems can help in significantly reducing the raw material consumption and generation of waste material. Thus one can save much on paper, ink and energy. This machinery may include automated paper feeding, solvent recycling systems, ink metering and recycling water system for cooling .

Automated paper feeding machine: Instead of using paper sheets a single reel is used for feeding. The energy consumption reduces considerably due to less stops in between which are associated with friction. Much wood can also be saved due to elimination of pallets on which papers sheets are generally transported.

Solvent recycling: The latest press models have the provision of inbuilt washing which clean press cylinders and also recycle solvents that are used in the cleaning process. The solvent requirement thus reduces. It the hazardous chemicals need not be stored and high cost for safe disposal can alo be taken care of.

Recycling the heat produced: The heat produced was earlier allowed to escape in the atmosphere, however using the better technology now this heat can be trapped in ecoboxes and can be used for various purposes like heating the rooms in winter, heating water, etc. This represents a cost effective way of utilizing the energy in different forms.

2. Laws and Legislation

Various governmental laws also list the measures that must be taken by a firm to comply with the prevailing laws. Some of these include Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC), Local Air Pollution Prevention and Control, Solvent Emissions Regulations, Hazardous Waste Regulations and Special Waste Regulations Act, etc .

3. Choosing the correct suppliers

Suppliers who strictly comply with the rules and regulations being led by the government must be chosen. They should be responsible enough to understand the economic importance associated with conducting printing related operations and that too in a sustainable manner .

4. Educating the employees

Employees can be given environmental training to be responsible and environmental friendly on the job and at home. Employees can be motivated and their involvement can be guaranteed by rewarding them with incentives after evaluating their participation and performance. Green team can be formed by volunteers to monitor the activities and actions of co-members of the organization.

MAKING INFRASTRUCTURE MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT AND ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY

Some of the simple measures can be taken to improve the infrastructure and make the place more eco-friendly. These can be as following (Australian-Industry-Group; Torbay-Council):

1. To use of natural lighting can be maximized by keeping the skylights clean. Proper designs can help in optimally using the natural light.
2. Timers can be installed for controlling the motors and drying equipment.
3. The existing lighting system can be replaced with CFL’s and LEDs as they consume less power and run for longer durations. This can save up to 75 percent of energy used for lighting purposes.
4. Motion-sensors can also be used in key areas to switch off the lights when not needed.
5. Occupancy sensors or photocells can be used in parking lots and outdoor spaces.
6. A programmable thermostat can be used to adjust the workplace temperature when no one is working around. Less air conditioning can result in significant savings in the business.
7. All the equipments can be upgraded with energy star appliances.
8. Solar panels can be installed for generating free, clean and renewable source of energy. The intial installment cost can be high but will offer long term benefits. It will help in cutting down the electricity bills as well.

ROLE OF EMPLOYEES IN MAING THE WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY

Individuals working in the company can all discover the ways for improving environmental and resource efficiency in at the work place. They know their work best and the environmental hazards associated with it. They only know the most efficient way of carrying out their daily activities and find out the best practical solution for maximizing the resource and energy efficiency.

They can take the following measures at the workplace (Torbay-Council):

1. They can use the option of hibernation and sleep in their desktop computers and laptops. It allows saving energy and work can be resumed the next day from the point it was left.
2. They can keep a check on necessary use of energy. Air compressors and lights can be turned off when not required. Simple coding system can be used to mark lights and fans for easy recognition and time saving.
3. They can reduce the amount of printing for personal use. Use of soft copy can be encouraged. If needed double sided printing should be used. This reduces paper use by 50%per cent in just one press of a button.
4. The one sided printed papers can be used to take down notes and printing rough matter.
5. Used papers can be collected at one place to be sent for recycling.
6. Printers, copiers and computers and coffee machines can be turned off overnight. Timers can be used to automate the process.

CONCLUSION

The main objective of this assessment was to build a greater understanding of how energy is being used within the company and to identify the different ways at both managerial and employee level to use energy more efficiently. These simple steps can thus help greatly to envision and achieve our goal of making the place environment friendly and energy efficient.