Environmental Knowledge Management - Recent Advances and Issues in Environmental Science - page 60

Another example is the system improvement project which helped the EPD to esti-
mate the pollution results during the project planning stages. The system improvement
project integrated the EPD, Energy Department and R & D Department and focused
on both comprehensive and objective pollution prevention in order to achieve the
company's pollution reduction goals. Moreover, the basic aim of the system improve-
ment project was to achieve user-friendliness, simplifi cation and effi ciency; it was
well-accepted and effectively implemented by all departments because of its standard
processes and simple design.
Figure 8. Energy sold from 1994 to 2006 (million USD) [44].
Through a combination of strategy planning and EKM, EPD can calculate the en-
vironmental loading exactly according to the accumulated data and experience which
helps to manage pollution prevention, green design, energy saving and resource in-
tegration. The EPD calculates not only environmental loading in CSC, but also the
secondary environmental loading upstream and downstream. Therefore, EKM is a
continuous environmental activity involving the creation, accumulation, sharing, uti-
lization and internalization of knowledge which helps CSC to take action before envi-
ronmental accidents occurence, increase R & D investment, create green technology
and develop green products; it also helps managers to make eco-effi cient and strategy
effi cient decisions and identify the best investment projects in order to reach the goal
of sustainable development.
CONCLUSION
From the perspective of the knowledge spiral theory [27], it has been demonstrated
that the conversion of EKM in CSC results in:
1. Socialization: Tacit knowledge is gained from accumulated experience;
2. Externalization: Accumulated experience and knowledge are converted into
systematic explicit knowledge;
3. Combination: Opinions are exchanged between the knowledge community
and community of practice, both internally and externally;