Environmental Technology Definitions

ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY: An environmental technology is atechnology that advances sustainable development by reducing risk,enhancing cost effectiveness, improving process efficiency, and creatingproducts and processes that are environmentally beneficial or benign. Theword "technology" is intended to include hardware, software, systems, andservices (see p. 9).

The categories of environmental technologies are (see pp. 42 and 43):

• AVOIDANCE: Avoidance technologies avoid the production ofenvironmentally hazardous substances or alter human activities in ways thatminimize damage to the environment.
• MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT: Monitoring and assessmenttechnologies are used to establish and monitor the condition of theenvironment, including releases of pollutants and other natural oranthropogenic materials of a harmful nature.
• CONTROL: Control technologies render hazardous substancesharmless before they enter the environment.
• REMEDIATION AND RESTORATION: Remediation technologies are thosethat render harmful or hazardous substances harmless after they enter theenvironment. Restoration technologies embody methods designed to improveecosystems that have declined due to naturally induced or anthropogeniceffects.