A Proposal for an Environmental Decision Support System at the Regional Level: Concepts, Support Methodology, Tools and their Terminology

One of the goals of IIASA's research activities in the area of environmental quality modeling is the integration of data and models in a unified framework to assist decision makers with the management of complex environmental systems. Building on IIASA's work undertaken within the WELMM (Water, Energy, Land, Materials and Manpower) project of the former Resources and Environment Area and the work on Decision Support Systems of the former Management and Technology Area, a conceptual framework for an environmental decision support system (EDSS) has been developed and is presented in this paper. The proposed EDSS has been developed with the interest and the financial support of the CSI, the Center for Information Systems of the Regional Government of Piemonte, Italy. The main issue addressed by this paper is to devise a system assisting decision makers in tackling environmental problems at the regional level. These decisions are typically characterized by a combination of both structured (formalizable, described in a quantitative model) and unstructured elements (incomplete information, undefined cause-effect relationships, influence of political objectives, public perception, consideration of aesthetics, etc.). The proposed EDSS enables the user to use models and data, of relevance to a particular task, which are embedded in the EDSS in the form of a process information system. The specific feature of this process information system is that it contains processes of anthropogenic nature (the socio-economic activities being the cause of environmental impacts like power plants, industrial production units, etc.) as well as natural processes determining the spatial/temporal distribution and the extent of environmental quality changes (like the dispersion and deposition of air pollutants and their effect on human population, vegetation and wildlife). The system ensures that the data and models, which have been developed in the context of specific EDSS applications are documented right from the outset and become thus equally available for further use. This becomes especially important in view of the long-term effort to be put into the development of data and models dealing with the large number of environmental problems that governments, industry and academic institutions are confronted with at the regional level

Hydroelectric management on the Rio Chama: Balancing competing ecological priorities through non-consumptive flow management between the El Vado and Abiquiu reservoirs

Management of dammed river systems is a complex problem. Spatial and temporal impacts result in complex system trade-offs, and shareholders have competing objectives. Dynamic modeling can provide improved information as decision-makers attempt to optimize the value of river flows. This paper models the direct and indirect economic impacts of a small reservoir-dam-river system and applies this framework to an existing Bureau of Reclamation dam and generator in the upper Rio Grande basin. Over past decades, concerns for river habitat preservation have reduced the production of peak-demand energy from hydroelectric plants. Over the same period, as U.S. power markets incorporate solar and wind generation, the demand for flexible, quick-ramping energy during evening hours is increasing. Hydroelectric power can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by making grid integration of solar and wind power less costly and by directly substituting for dirtier alternative power sources. Economic modelling of market and non-market values associated with the system permits optimization of hydroelectric power to reduce emissions and support intermittent renewable integration without sacrificing ecological goals. A system dynamics model of the dam allows a cost-benefit analysis of dispatchable energy production in the presence of constraining daily, weekly or monthly ecological flow requirements. The case study suggests that constrained economical dispatch of existing small hydropower generators may be optimal both economically and ecologically. This model provides a scalable framework for incorporating the ecological benefits of hydropower flexibility into the cost-benefit analysis that drives maintenance, upgrade and decommissioning decisions for existing U.S. hydroelectric dams

Hydroelectric management on the Rio Chama: Balancing competing ecological priorities

Management of dammed river systems is a complex problem. Spatial and temporal impacts result in complex system trade-offs, and shareholders have competing objectives. Dynamic modeling can provide improved information as decision-makers attempt to optimize the value of river flows. This research models the direct and indirect economic impacts of a small reservoir-dam-river system and applies this framework to an existing Bureau of Reclamation dam and generator in the upper Rio Grande basin. Over past decades, concerns for river habitat preservation have reduced the production of peak-demand energy from hydroelectric plants. Over the same period, as U.S. power markets incorporate solar and wind generation, the demand for flexible, quick-ramping energy during evening hours is increasing. Hydroelectric power can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by making grid integration of solar and wind power less costly and by directly substituting for dirtier alternative power sources. Economic modelling of market and non-market values associated with the system permits optimization of hydroelectric power to reduce emissions and support intermittent renewable integration without sacrificing ecological goals. A system dynamics model of the dam allows a cost-benefit analysis of dispatchable energy production in the presence of constraining daily, weekly or monthly ecological flow requirements. The case study suggests that constrained economical dispatch of existing small hydropower generators may be optimal both economically and ecologically. This model provides a scalable framework for incorporating the ecological benefits of hydropower flexibility into the cost-benefit analysis that drives maintenance, upgrade and decommissioning decisions for existing U.S. hydroelectric dams

Orchestrating the spatial planning process: from Business Process Management to 2nd generation Planning Support Systems

Metaplanning can be considered as a necessary step for improving collaboration, transparency and accountability in sustainable and democratic spatial decision-making process. This paper reports current findings on the operational implementation of the metaplanning concept developed by the authors relying on Business Process Management methods and techniques. Two solutions are presented which implement spatial planning process workflows thanks to the development of original spatial data and processing services connectors to a Business Process Management suite. These results can be considered as a first step towards the development of 2nd generation Planning Support Systems

Pemilihan kerjaya di kalangan pelajar aliran perdagangan sekolah menengah teknik : satu kajian kes

This research is a survey to determine the career chosen of form four student in commerce streams. The important aspect of the career chosen has been divided into three, first is information about career, type of career and factor that most influence students in choosing a career. The study was conducted at Sekolah Menengah Teknik Kajang, Selangor Darul Ehsan. Thirty six form four students was chosen by using non-random sampling purpose method as respondent. All information was gather by using questionnaire. Data collected has been analyzed in form of frequency, percentage and mean. Results are performed in table and graph. The finding show that information about career have been improved in students career chosen and mass media is the main factor influencing students in choosing their career