Energy and environmental analysis of marble productive sites: «by phases» and «by single process» combined approach

Energy Procedia 00 (20 1 8 ) 000 – 000 73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal Machines Engineering Association, ATI 2018, Pisa, Italy, 12 Sep 2018 - 14 Sep 2018; Italy : Elsevier Ltd. (2018).

Convolutional Neural Network for Dust and Hotspot Classification in PV Modules

20th IEEE International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering, EEEIC 2020, online, 9 Jun 2020 - 12 Jun 2020; Energies : open-access journal of related scientific research, technology development and studies in policy and management 13(23), 6357 (2020). doi:10.3390/en13236357 special issue: "Special Issue "Selected Papers from 20 IEEE International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering (EEEIC 2020)" / Special Issue Editor: Prof. Dr. Rodolfo Araneo, Guest Editor"

Marble quarrying: an energy and waste intensive activity in the production of building materials

Marble represents an important component of Italian buildings, where it is often utilized as a covering for bottom surfaces, despite its relatively high price. Moreover, it characterizes several public buildings, for which it is by far the most important decorative material, also because of its structural features and its long durability. Unfortunately, marble quarrying is an energy intensive activity that requires relevant amounts of electric and thermal energy sources; in addition, the extraction of the marble blocks from the mountain sides does involve a noticeable quantity of explosives, particularly in sites where traditional working methods are utilized. Another important feature of t…

Artificial Neural Networks to assess energy and environmental performance of buildings: An Italian case study

Abstract Approximately 40% of the European energy consumption and a large proportion of environmental impacts are related to the building sector. However, the selection of adequate and correct designs can provide considerable energy savings and reduce environmental impacts. To achieve this objective, a simultaneous energy and environmental assessment of a building's life cycle is necessary. To date, the resolution of this complex problem is entrusted to numerous software and calculation algorithms that are often complex to use. They involve long diagnosis phases and are characterised by the lack of a common language. Despite the efforts by the scientific community in the building sector, th…

Integrated approach to the assessment of waste management systems within the SEA framework

This paper addresses the problem of evaluating the environmental performances of Urban Waste Systems. Specifically, the paper refers to the crucial problem of environmentally analysing the Urban Waste System Management Process. The application of the Dashboard of Sustainability has been deliberately suggested. The method has been selected because of its intrinsic simplicity and because it can provide the simultaneous evaluation of indicators which refer to different fields, such as the Environment, Economics and Quality in Institutional Services. The method has been applied to the city of Palermo. The results obtained have been compared to a couple of ideal scenarios.

Embedding “substrate” in environmental assessment of green roofs life cycle: evidences from an application to the whole chain in a Mediterranean site

Abstract A classical LCA methodology is here applied to green roofs including in this analysis also the whole life cycle of the substrate, that represented a lack of previous LCA studies on green roofs. This inclusion will allow a complete and proper application of the LCA methodology to achieve an environmental accounting of the “green roof” performance. We have here chosen to approach the problem by analysing a specific substrate, that is used within an actual extensive green roof. Afterwards, we have applied the LCA methodology to the whole actual extensive green roof whose substrate under analysis is part of. In this manner, we achieved an environmental accounting of the “green roof” pe…

Evaluating the Environmental Performance of Green Roofs by a Life Cycle Approach: an Application of the LCA Method on a Case Study in Italy

Proposal validation of a phenomenoogical model for predicting the vehicular environmental impact

Pollutant concentrations in urban canyon mainly come from vehicular emissions. The search of a quantitative relationship, linking pollutant emissions from mobile sources to the resulting concentrations, at different receptor sites, has brought us to develop a phenomenological model able to calculate the number of running vehicles once the pollutant ground level concentration of CO is known. Unfortunately, we haven't the possibility to test this model by a direct inspection of the traffic flow. Despite this fact it is our aim to validate the proposed traffic model. Mathematical models are considered useful tools in supporting air quality evaluations. The structure of the models usually embod…

L'analisi del ciclo di vita del marmo: un questionario per un'indagine preliminare di settore

Application of optimized artificial intelligence algorithm to evaluate the heating energy demand of non-residential buildings at European level

Abstract A reliable preliminary forecast of heating energy demand of a building by using a detailed dynamic simulation software typically requires an in-depth knowledge of the thermal balance, several input data and a very skilled user. The authors will describe how to use Artificial Neural Networks to predict the demand for thermal energy linked to the winter climatization of non-residential buildings. To train the neural network it was necessary to develop an accurate energy database that represents the basis of the training of a specific Artificial Neural Networks. Data came from detailed dynamic simulations performed in the TRNSYS environment. The models were built according to the stan…

Life Cycle Assessment of Luminescent Solar Concentrators Integrated into a Smart Window

Energies : open-access journal of related scientific research, technology development and studies in policy and management 16(4), 1869 (2023). doi:10.3390/en16041869

An integrated and shared approach to sea of the regional town master plan of Sicily

The work addresses one of the most important problems in contemporary environmental land planning. Already existing procedures, in fact, must now conform to the new requirements imposed by the recent national and international regulations and standards that call for a more conscious approach to the use of natural resources. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), for example, takes into account, the different effects of a plan in various fields such as the environment, the economy and the development. This obviously calls for global analysis tools that could help administrators, stakeholders and technicians in the decision-making process of such complex systems. SEA of the Town Master Pla…

Assessing the Ecological Footprint of an Urban Transportation System

The ecological footprint methodology is here applied to the urban transport system of the Italian town of Palermo (Sicily). By only using the current running fleet, a synthetic indicator represented by the "equivalent bio-productive" land, corresponding to the actual transport configuration, will be built up. This indicator can be usefully adopted for ranking various options in the urban context referring, for example, to different arrangements of the transportation demand between private and public means. This could allow local administrations to environmentally hierarchizing alternative plans concerning the urban transportation

Valutazione ambientale della gestione dei rifiuti urbani nel comune di Palermo tramite la procedura LCA: il ruolo del sistema di trasporto

Applicabilità del marchio ECOLABEL al marmo

Environmental performance of building materials: life cycle assessment of a typical Sicilian marble

Background, aim, and scope: The building sector is strategically important for achieving sustainability. Therefore, the improvement of energy and environmental performances are relevant targets because precious building materials such as marble have a significant impact on the environment. The aim of this paper is an analysis of a typical Sicilian marble (Perlato di Sicilia) to evaluate its energy and environmental performance. Marble plays an important role in the economy of Italy and has a global market share of 58% in terms of exports. For the main production areas of marble, relevant environmental performance data are missing except for one region (Tuscany-Massa e Carrara province). Per…

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of a dish-Stirling Concentrating Solar Power Plant in the Mediterranean area

Abstract Among the different renewable energy sources, solar energy shows the highest exploitation potential to satisfy a substantial portion of the worlds’ future energy demand, guaranteeing at the same time lower emissions than conventional energy providers. Much of this potential is usable thanks to Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technologies, of which the dish-Stirling concentrator is the most efficient. Nevertheless, the production and installation phases of the dish-Stirling technology can have an environmental impact which motivated the assessment of the plant in the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic and social). The present publication evaluated an existin…

Un possibile approccio "Social LCA" per le coperture a verde

Costructal law, exergy analysis and life cycle energy sustainability assessment: an expanded framework applied to a boiler

Purpose Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) is one of the most relevant tools delving in sustainability science, based currently on the triple bottom line idea that is defined as the contemporary implementation of the three tools of life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC) and social life cycle assessment (S-LCA). The methodology is currently being applied to a wide set of products and systems. However, as per in the large interest towards energy-related products, the sustainability assessment of energy systems—in particular those where fluid streams are used—could be more effective if some further stages could be included in the analysis, i.e. a process level analysis …

Extending the current database for the LCA of Building materials: an EU-USA comparison.

Relationships between pollutant emissions from vehicles and levels of concentrations: a phenomenological approach

The level of air quality in urban centres is affected by emission of several pollutants, mainly coming from the vehicles flowing in their road networks. This is a well known phenomenon that influences the quality of life of people. Despite the deep concern of researchers and technicians, we are far from a total understanding of this phenomenon. On the contrary, the availability of reliable forecasting models would constitute an important tool for administrators in order of assessing suitable actions concerning the transportation policies, public as well private. As matter of fact, the definition of a physical model requires the knowledge of many parameters, involving the running fleet, the …

L'Esito della NERD.

Environmental and energy performances of a newly installed Dish-Stirling Concentrating Solar Power plant based in Palermo

n the last decade there has been a significant increase globally in solar based electricity production, like those produced from Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants. One of the most efficient CSP technologies today is the Dish-Stirling characterized by an efficiency greater than 30%, which may become highly competitive by 2030 according to the International Energy Agency. On one hand, the Dish-Stirling is responsible for high environmental impacts, caused during its production and installation due to their energy consumption and use of energy intensive raw material. On the other hand, no direct emissions are released during its use phase. However, only a careful analysis of the entire li…

A simplified method for the environmental impact of urban transportation

Strategic Environmental Analysis (SEA) of the building Sector: an Annotated List of Indicators and a Simple Methodology

With respect to the SEA of the town planning scheme of the Sicilian region, we will analyse through the paper the most commonly adopted indicators of sustainability and we will select the most promising of them for the purpose. Moreover, a simplified approach will be introduced for the assessment of the SEA by utilising both simple and aggregate indicators: simple indicators (selected among those proposed in the literature) will lead to the “technical” assessment of the SEA, while aggregate indicators (built up by properly grouping the simple ones) will lead to the “political” assessment of the Sicilian urbanistic sector. Simple indicators will refer to official data, essentially concerning…

The cost of green roofs disposal in a life cycle perspective: covering the gap.

Abstract This study is aimed at providing a contribution in overcoming the current gap, especially in Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Benefit – Cost (BCA) analyses, due to the lack concerning the green roof disposal costs. Therefore, we have applied to an actual extensive green roof the LCC methodology suggested by D. G. Woodward (that appears like one of the most formalized and generalizable), but we have extended the analysis to the disposal phase. This will allow a complete and proper application of the LCC methodology in order of achieving an economic accounting of this component through its life cycle. In this way, it is possible to achieve the complete evaluation of the “green roof” perf…

Analisi delle prestazioni di sostenibilità del marmo in edilizia

State of the Art on Sustainability Assessment of Positive Energy Districts: Methodologies, Indicators and Future Perspectives

The concept of Positive Energy District is one of the main areas of research and extensive applications of the principles of the clean energy transition within the building sector. In the past years, the most widely accepted definitions have focused specifically on carbon neutrality, while several other aspects regarding all sustainability approaches (including environmental, social and economic perspective) were included qualitatively or to a lesser degree. This paper proposes a discussion on the state of the art of the sustainability assessment of Positive Energy Districts, by investigating environmental, social and economic sustainability applications. The three sustainability dimensions…

Is there a need for more effective quality awards for agritourisms?

Il ruolo della raccolta differenziata

L’impatto ambientale dei profilati in alluminio per infissi: una metodologia di analisi in campo

Environmental impact of marble mining: the case study of a Sicilian marble quarry

In Itinere STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT of an integrated provincial waste system

In the paper, the practical problem of analysing in an integrated way the performance of provincial waste systems is approached, in the framework of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). In particular, the in itinere phase of SEA is analysed herein. After separating out a proper group of ambits, to which the waste system is supposed to determine relevant impacts, pertinent sets of single indicators are proposed. Through the adoption of such indicators the time trend of the system is investigated, and the suitability of each indicator is critically revised. The structure of the evaluation scheme, which is essentially based on the use of ambit issues and analytical indicators, calls …

First Life Cycle Impact Considerations of Two Wave Energy Converters

The work presents two different revolutionary devices for the utilization of a new entry of renewable energy sources: sea wave. The first technology is based on linear generators, able to directly converts a linear motion into electrical output, limiting to minimum the chain of energy conversion. The other solution is based on a mechanical motion converter, coupled with alternators. The scope of this paper is to compare the two different systems designed by University of Palermo, through Life Cycle Assessment, in order to evaluate the global effects of the two systems to the environment.

Thermal anomalies detection in a photovoltaic plant using artificial intelligence: Italy case studies

This paper proposes the application of artificial intelligence techniques for the identification of thermal anomalies that occur in a photovoltaic system due to malfunctions or faults, with the aim to limit the energy production losses by detecting faults at an early stage. The proposed approach is based on a Thermographic Non-Destructive Test conducted with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles equipped with a thermal imaging camera, which allows the detection of abnormal operating conditions without interrupting the normal operation of the PV system rapidly and cost-effectively. The thermographic images and videos are automatically inspected using a Convolutional Neural Network, developed by an open-s…

La Valutazione Ambientale Strategica dei piani di gestione dei rifiuti: applicazione alle fasi di raccolta, trasporto e riutilizzo