Abstract
Information-based systems have allowed researchers from all aspects of sciences to study their data better. Environmental studies is one such area where timely and accurate data is critical for research and development of the science. The energy-water interdependencies is a growing aspect of this field and studying the relations between these requires the presence of integrated and timely data. Web development technologies and tools available at our disposal these days are an apt fit for data integration and analysis. This project aims at collecting and collating data available from various EPA data sources. The data required for a detailed study of the energy-water nexus, is firstly, power plant information, also known as facility information. Also, we would like to collect performance characteristics of the power plant, namely its electricity generation, the amount of harmful emissions it releases during the process of generation and the amount of water used. These characteristics help us gain a deeper understanding into the operation of power plants and the impact that it has on the environment. From a technical forefront, there are various challenges that need to be overcome in order to materialize this concept. This data is made available by organizations working with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through various means. These means could be REST services, interactive online tools or flat files available for download. The Energy-Water Emissions Dashboard (EWED) aims at conglomerating this data by converting all forms into a singular intermediate form, and subsequently storing this data into a central repository. Moreover, the development of an interactive web application as part of this dashboard will allow potential users such as researchers and system operators to quickly summarize required data to make critical environmental decisions. EWED will allow a user to use a web application to filter facility information on several criteria and display summarized information. A user will also be able to view detailed information and performance characteristics of a single power plant. The provision of a map based interface to allow user to filter data visually and interface with all the services remains to be a task to be carried forward. It is a step forward in the process of data integration and building an interface prototype to allow the community to gain a deeper understanding of available data. In conclusion, aimed to serve as a self-sustained system deployed in an EPA domain, EWED shall serve as a single source of information for all things related to power plants and their characteristics.