Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The favourable attitude of Liguria Region towards the plants that exploit forest biomasses
for the production of energy, has led to the definition of the base criterions for the layout of
the screening report that the plant proponent has to furnish to the public administration and
the regional office.
The motivations that have led the regional administration to intervene in the case of this
typology of plants are clearly express in the D.G.R. n. 965 of 05/09/2002; in the Deliberation
of the Regional Authority, it is clearly expressed that "… the plants that exploit the sources of
renewable energy (…) are more easily compatible than other plants with the surrounding
territory, they increase the local possibilities of territorial equilibrium and the control of the
territory, they favour reforestation, with notable improvements for the defence of the ground
and for the hydro geological conditions;… ". The objective that wants to be achieved through
the emanation of this deliberation is "… to point out some criterions that can simplify the
elaboration of the screening report to make easier (…) in the context of the technical
fulfilments to be observed as required by the article 4 of the new technical norms for the
screening report."
The points necessary for the EIA have been taken into account when formalizing the DSS
presented in this chapter.
In the following sections, a methodology, based on the concept of Decision Support
System, and case study are proposed. The use DSS and of Territorial Informative Systems
(SIT) for the verification of the sustainability of plants turned to the production of biomass
energy, and for the definition of strategies of planning and management is considered
innovative and promising both from a scientific point of view and for practical application
(Najel (2000), Mitchell (2000), Graham et al. (2001), Voivontas et al. (2001), Freppaz et al.
(2004)). For the creation of the DSS, different decision models have been defined adapting
and integrating a previously formulated model (Freppaz et to the, 2004) to the case of study,
and formalizing other, more general, decision models.
1.2.2. Solid Waste Management in Urban Areas
The need of defining strategies that can be sustainable for the environment and the
ecosystem is one of the main priorities of European Union in the last years
.
Two areas of
great importance when it comes to sustainable development are the waste management
system and the energy system (Holmen and Henning, 2004). Indeed, when waste is energy
recycled, it replaces other fuels. When waste is the material recycled, it replaces virgin
material and also saves energy because the production processes that use recovered material
are less energy-intensive than those that use virgin material.
Wastes represent a big problem for the society because they are produced in high
quantities and because, when disposed, they are a danger for the environment. Moreover,
European legislation recommends the development of local integrated management plans,
which give priority to prevention, waste reduction and recovery, and allow using landfill only
for the disposal of refuses that cannot be recovered. In Italian municipalities, the new
legislation, the rapid increase of solid waste production and the frequent landfill closings have
encouraged the development of incineration and recycling programs. The definition of such
programs must take into account an integration of economic, environmental, social and
technical considerations. That is a quite hard task, as it is necessary to properly take into
account economic, technical, and normative aspects, paying particular attention to
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