Green Policy Making and Analysis Support Via Process Systems Engineering Tools NASSER AYOUB 1,2 , YUJI NAKA 1 Process Systems Engineering Division 1. Tokyo Institute of Technology R1-19, Nagatsuta 4259, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan. 2. FIE, Helwan University, Egypt nasser@pse.res.titech.ac.jp http://www.res.titech.ac.jp/~pse/index-e.htm Abstract: - Environmental (Green) policymaking is the process of designing and applying environmental policies that is interdisciplinary in nature. Therefore the environmental policy analysis and making may include wide range of information and data; scientific, economic, sociologic and feasibility effects of the policy proposal etc. This process is similar to that of process systems design that includes Input, output, constraints and models. Therefore, applying the Process Systems Engineering, PSE, tools and decision support tools to formulate/ reformulate and analysis of policies can be a successful practice if we considered the difference in nature between chemical processes and policy-making processes. This can be achieved by the development of what we call Green Policy Support System, GPSS. The GPSS includes tools and means that enable the policy makers to judge the feasibility of policy from environmental as well as economical point of views. In this research work we provide brief idea about the general requirement from GPSS, their conceptual structure and tools which, successfully applied in PSE field and can be applied in environmental policy analysis and making support; namely, Activity Modeling and Multidimensional Formalism, MDF. Using MDF, the environmental policy levels can be organized in three dimensions: behavioral, structural, and control & application. The behavior dimension refers to environmental performance as a result of certain policy regulation or laws, the physical dimension is related to the formulated policy regulations and rules and the operational dimension deals with policy management and application aspects. The activity model and multidimensional ontologies based on MDF will help the policy makers in both policy analysis and design using As Is and To Be and modeling decision-making questions such as, is it easy to apply? Is it cheap to include? Is it safe for population? during the policy formulation stages. Key-Words: - Green Policy Design, Multi-Dimensional Formalism, Ontologies, Activity Models, Policy Analysis. Policy Support System 1 Introduction To guarantee the compliance with sustainability requirements a radical reform to the current policies is of critical importance. Environmental Policy Integration, EPI, is one of the most important and essential parts in the new policies developments or policies reformation. The EPI as defined by European Environment Agency means “moving environmental issues from the margin to the centre of decision-making, whereby environmental issues are reflected in the very design and substance of sectoral policies” [4]. Therefore, new or reformed policies or what we call, here after, environmental policies such as the introduction of renewable energies mechanisms i.e. renewable portfolio standard, feed in tariff, etc., or applying energy taxes are not easy to be designed and accepted by the public. The process of making or modifying policies can be divided into three phases, namely; policy analysis & problem definition, policy planning & design, and policy implementation & evaluation as seen in the simplified flow sheet in Fig. 1. The rule of any policymaking support system is to help the policy makers and analyzers in optimally completing each phase of them. To support environmental policy makers in promoting renewable energies through formulating environmental policies and regulations a Green Policy Support System, GPSS is needed. The typical function of GPSS is to allow policy makers to analyze, reform / design and/or improve regulations as well as policies before they appear to public aiming at providing politically feasible policies. Proceedings of the 4th IASME / WSEAS International Conference on ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT (EE'09) ISSN: 1790-5095 284 ISBN: 978-960-474-055-0