Cleaner Technology Projects in Denmark 1996
A Guide to Environmental Management in Power Stations
Håndbog i miljøstyring for kraftværker
Arbejdsrapport nr. 2, 1996, Miljøstyrelsen
Environmental management is a tool that many companies will implement as part of their environmental work in the years ahead. The aim is partly to improve the environmental conditions and to implement cleaner technology in the companies and, partly, to be able to provide the necessary documentary proof of the environmental conditions for the external environment, e.g. through green accounts. This report is a guide to implementation of the environmental management tool in power stations.
The examples in the guide are taken from Sønderjyllands Højspændingsværk (The High Tension Power Station of South Jutland), where the employees, step by step, were taken through a course on environmental management to the green account. The intention is that the guide should be used by Danish power stations and other supply plants who work on implementing environmental management and on using cleaner technology to the benefit of the environment.
The guide is aimed at both the management and the employees at the power station. Each part plays their own role in the environmental management process and can use the guide for different purposes.
The guide is divided into four phases of environmental management. To begin with, chapter 2 describes the initial phase, including, the support of the management, the preliminary studies and the organisation chart of the station.
Subsequently, the phases are presented step by step:
 | Chapter 3 and 8 describe the tasks of phase 1: The planning |
| Chapter 4 and 5 describe the tasks of phase 2: SWOT analysis |
| Chapter 6 describes the tasks of phase 3: Evaluation |
| Chapter 7 describes the tasks of phase 4: Implementation |
On the basis of the preliminary studies, concrete goals for reducing the actual environmental impacts are set. The functions of the power plant are given priorities. Together with the established goals, the priorities constitute the basis for the SWOT analysis in phase 2.
First part of phase 2 maps out the environmental situation. Second part of phase 2 includes the priorities and the establishment of goals. The environmental general survey contains a systematic data collection for the function of the power station, which was chosen in the preliminary study. In the general survey the incoming and outgoing materials and energy flow are described systematically so that priorities can be made. The general environmental survey is the basis for the selection of concrete action areas and the suggestions to how these can be handled.
When a number of suggestions to the action areas are listed and described, it is necessary to evaluate them. The actual situation is compared with suggested alternatives as regards to environmental, technical, and economical conditions. The evaluation is based on the processes and conditions of the power plant, which lie within the frames of the plant. The evaluation phase concludes with a written statement, in which the most important aspects of the evaluated situations are highlighted. The statement contains suggestions to and a list of priorities of future action areas and is part of the management’s basis for decision, when environmental improvements are considered.
The implementation phase builds on the results of the evaluation. Phase four therefore contains:
| Implementation of the chosen solutions |
| Evaluation of results |
| Formulation of environmental policy |
| Drawing up of an action plan for the course of coming environmental management projects |
Thus, the results of phase 4 are the conclusion of the first course of environmental management and an action plan for the forthcoming environmental management project.
At present the power plant has gone through the environmental management cycle only once. From the implementation of environmental management to the completion of the first evaluation of results. Now the time has come to formulate environmental policies, environmental goals and an action plan for the next period, that is a new cycle. In the new cycle it can be relevant to formulate new or change the environmental policy in relation to the first cycle.
Finally, the demands for how the green accounts should be prepared are presented.
Author/ institution
The guide is written and edited by Birgitte Bang Nielsen, Kirsten Pommer and Finn Ørsleff, Rendan A/S
This report is subsidised by the National Council for Recycling and Cleaner Production
ISSN no. 0908-9195
ISBN no. 87-7810-528-5