Search results for " renewable energy."
showing 10 items of 130 documents
Tropical Fruits as an Opportunity for Sustainable Development in Rural Areas: The Case of Mango in Small-Sized Sicilian Farms
2018
Over the last decades, in many rural areas in Southern Europe, farmers have abandoned agricultural activity, especially on small-sized farms, leading to an exodus from rural areas towards urbanized ones. In this context, in the early 1980s, some Sicilian farmers introduced mango on their small-sized farms, as certain areas of Sicily are well suited to tropical and subtropical crops, but also to meet increasing consumer interest for these fruits, as they are perceived as functional foods. This paper aimed to evaluate the economic sustainability of mango and to determine whether its introduction could be considered as an alternative to traditional crops. In particular, an economic-financial a…
Towards criteria for sustainable process selection: On the modelling of pure subtractive versus additive/subtractive integrated manufacturing approac…
2017
Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes can be counted among the disruptive technologies that are capable of transforming conventional manufacturing routes. The ability to create complex geometries, the reduction in material scraps during manufacturing, and the light-weighting due to the think-additive redesign of the components represent the main points of strength of AM. However, for some applications (such as the production of metal components for the automotive and aerospace industries), the surface finishing and dimensional/geometrical part tolerancing that can be achieved via AM processes might not be adequate to satisfy the imposed product specifications, and finish machining operation…
A review of diagnostics and prognostics of low-speed machinery towards wind turbine farm-level health management
2016
Abstract Large wind farms are gaining prominence due to increasing dependence on renewable energy. In order to operate these wind farms reliably and efficiently, advanced maintenance strategies such as condition based maintenance are necessary. However, wind turbines pose unique challenges in terms of irregular load patterns, intermittent operation and harsh weather conditions, which have deterring effects on life of rotating machinery. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in the area of diagnostics and prognostics pertaining to two critical failure prone components of wind turbines, namely, low-speed bearings and planetary gearboxes. The survey evaluates those methods that are applicabl…
Selection of a Sustainable Functional Pasta Enriched with Opuntia Using ELECTRE III Methodology
2017
In the last decade, the nutritional and health benefits of Opuntia (Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.) were discussed by academic scientists and private companies. In particular, the introduction of this substance in frequently consumed foods, like, for example, pasta and bakery products, could have a wide diffusion due to its rich composition in polyphenols, vitamins, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and amino acids. The identified natural cactus compounds are responsible for biologically relevant activities including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, hypoglycemic, antimicrobial, and neuro-protective properties. The aim of this paper is the evaluation of the best combination of Opuntia quantity an…
Maristem stem cells of marine/aquatic invertebrates: from basic research to innovative applications
2018
The “stem cells” discipline represents one of the most dynamic areas in biomedicine. While adult marine/aquatic invertebrate stem cell (MISC) biology is of prime research and medical interest, studies on stem cells from organisms outside the classical vertebrate (e.g., human, mouse, and zebrafish) and invertebrate (e.g., Drosophila, Caenorhabditis) models have not been pursued vigorously. Marine/aquatic invertebrates constitute the largest biodiversity and the widest phylogenetic radiation on Earth, from morphologically simple organisms (e.g., sponges, cnidarians), to the more complex mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms, and protochordates. These organisms contain a kaleidoscope of MISC-type…
Performance Study of Twisted Darrieus Hydrokinetic Turbine With Novel Blade Design
2021
Abstract Twisted Darrieus water turbine is receiving growing attention for small-scale hydropower generation. Accordingly, the need for raised water energy conversion incentivizes researchers to focus on the blade shape optimization of twisted Darrieus turbine. In view of this, experimental analysis has been performed to appraise the efficiency of a spiral Darrieus water rotor in the present work. To better the performance parameters of the studied water rotor with twisted blades, three novel blade shapes, namely U-shaped blade, V-shaped blade, and W-shaped blade, have been numerically tested using a computational fluid dynamics three-dimensional numerical model. The maximum power coefficie…
Le filiere del sistema agricolo per l'energia e l'efficienza energetica
2011
Increasing the use of renewable energies and Energy Efficiency offer significant opportunities for Italy to reduce fossil energy, greenhouse gas emissions and secure its energy supply. This report presents a brief analysis of the most important supply chains of the Agriculture system. Greatest attention is paid to the significant role that agriculture and its supply chains are likely to play in terms of bioenergy production and energy saving. Special attention is devoted to new agricultural activities like those associated with the reduction of vegetable food waste, the agrotourism, the urban agriculture, the plastic coverings and the greenhouses, the plant protection and the fertilizers. D…
Effect of substrate improvement on optimising biogas yield from anaerobic digestion
2014
Masteroppgave i fornybar energi ENE 500 Universitetet i Agder 2014 The anaerobic digestion process involves the decomposition of the organic matter to yield biogas; gas that is mainly composed of methane and carbon dioxide with traces of some other gases. This process is used for different purposes including municipal waste treatment, wastewater treatment, fertilizer production, and farm wastes disposal as well as energy production. It is accomplished in three main stages; hydrolysis, acidogenesis and methanogenesis with each of the stages achieved by specific microorganisms that are active in limited ranges of operational and environmental conditions. These conditions are controlled to ach…
Short term wind speed prediction using Multi Layer Perceptron
2012
Among renewable energy sources wind energy is having an increasing influence on the supply of energy power. However wind energy is not a stationary power, depending on the fluctuations of the wind, so that is necessary to cope with these fluctuations that may cause problems the electricity grid stability. The ability to predict short-term wind speed and consequent production patterns becomes critical for the all the operators of wind energy. This paper studies several configurations of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), a well-known tool able to estimate wind speed starting from measured data. The presented ANNs, t have been tested through data gathered in the area of Trapani (Sicily). Diffe…
Recharge stations: A review
2016
Charging equipment for all-Electric Vehicles (EVs) is classified by the rate at which the batteries are charged. Charging times vary based on how depleted the battery is, how much energy it holds, the type of battery, and the type of Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE). In this paper, a review of the innovative charging stations is reported.