Events

 

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, and nor is it Superman. It’s a drone, and it’s here to stay. Unmanned aerial vehicles are no longer a thing of the future. They are part of our everyday life, and are emerging as an effective tool for environmental monitoring and enforcement because of their ability to reach areas that would be otherwise inaccessible or cost-prohibitive.

 

It is no different for the Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) which occupies an area of 6,242 acres, indeed poses a challenge to conduct environmental surveillance through conventional means of travelling on land, water and air. It was this challenge that led to introduction of the “Eye In The Sky” (EITS) which is an unmanned aerial vehicle or drone on 5 January 2017. The EITS will facilitate the monitoring of erosion and sedimentation control, dust plume monitoring as well as waste management of storage areas inclusive of detection of illegal dumping and open burning within the PIC site.

 

The PIC is the first of PETRONAS project to use the EITS for environmental surveillance and among the future extension of this technology is to focus on climate change, ecosystem management and conduct environmental governance of the PIC site.

 

It is not difficult to understand why drones have so quickly swarmed into the mainstream - they’re lightweight, low-cost,require little preparation or infrastructure, and - crucially, from an environmental perspective - no fuel. For the PIC ,the utilisation of the EITS will result in the reduction of approximately 60,000 kg/CO emission per year with an annual potential cost savings of RM 50,000.