Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

Waste treatment plants

EIA's have been conducted at IFEU since the mid 1980's, long before the German law requiring EIA's (UVPG) was adopted. Initially, the main focus was placed on waste incinerators. In addition to the plants with most common technique of grate-firing, reports on screening for environmental impact assessments were also done for the Noell conversion process (Northeim) as well as for the carbonization-incineration process (Donau-Wald). A further important emphasis early on were alternatives for the treatment and disposal of sewage sludge. We conducted several reports on fluidized bed incineration technology. Besides thermal treatment plants, IFEU also conducts EIAs for other waste treatment plants, e.g. transfer stations and landfills.

Power generating plants

Generally an EIA is necessary when projected plants fall under the criteria listed in Annex 1 of the UVPG. This applies to energy generating plants above a certain capacity. There have been many EIA reports done at IFEU for modern gas-fired and coal-fired power plants.

Approach

The long history of producing EIA reports at IFEU has led us to develop an suitable methodical approach. In certain cases IFEU conducts an estimate of the health risks, especially the individual risks caused by carcinogenic substances. For this purpose, an environmental pathway model was designed which also allows the evaluation of indirect effects such as through ingestion of food that may become contaminated by air pollutants.

Additionally, a holistic procedure was developed for the methodical set-up of EIA's. The environmental impacts of the various outputs are evaluated separately and the adverse effects resulting from the pollutants in various environmental media are listed. Then the effects determined for the separate resources (e.g. human health, climate, biodiversity) are summarized (see chart).

Projects

EIAs for waste treatment plants or energy generating plants done by IFEU can be found in our Reference List for EIA & SEA.

Contact

Horst Fehrenbach (06221 / 4767-16; horst.fehrenbach@ifeu.de)
Bernd Franke (06221 / 4767-23; bernd.franke@ifeu.de)
Regine Vogt (06221 / 4767-22; regine.vogt@ifeu.de)