Search results for " Energy source"
showing 10 items of 477 documents
The role of travel motivations and social media use in consumer interactive behaviour: a uses and gratifications perspective
2020
This paper explores the influence of travel motivations and the gratification provided by social media in consumer stickiness to social media, intention to create user-generated content, and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) review adoption. The study follows a mixed-methods approach. First, a concept mapping study was undertaken to identify the main travel motivations and the gratifications provided by social media when consumers search for information on tourism destinations. A second study using structural equation modelling and SmartPLS 3.2.7 with a sample of 401 heavy users of social media showed the relationships between individual travel motivations and gratifications provided by socia…
Use of the residual capacities of existing reservoirs as storage of the electricity produced by grid-connected intermittent RES plants, by means of p…
2013
Energetic Sustainability Using Renewable Energies in the Mediterranean Sea
2016
The paper is focused on the analysis of the electrical energy sector in the Maltese islands, focusing on the employment of Renewable Energies in order to increase its energy independence. The main renewable source here proposed is wave energy: thanks to its strategic position, Malta will be able to generate electrical energy through the use of an innovative type of Wave Energy Converter (WEC) based on the prototype of linear generator designed and developed by the University of Palermo. This new technology will be able to cut down the electrical energy production from traditional power plants and, consequently, the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Wave energy source and off-shore photovoltai…
Energy Saving in Public Transport Using Renewable Energy
2017
Hydrogen produced by renewable sources represents an interesting way to reduce the energetic dependence on fossil fuels in the transportation sector. This paper shows a feasibility study for the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen in the western Sicilian context, using three different renewable sources: wind, biomass and sea wave. The objective of this study is the evaluation of the hydrogen demand, needed to replace all diesel supplied buses with electrical buses equipped with fuel cells. An economic analysis is presented with the evaluation of the avoidable greenhouse gas emissions. Four different scenarios correlate the hydrogen demand for urban transport to the renewable en…
Mechanical Tests on Innovative BIPV Façade Components for Energy, Seismic, and Aesthetic Renovation of High-Rise Buildings
2018
The paper shows the results of mechanical tests carried out on prototypes of a new Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) component developed by the author and SBskin Smart Building Skin s.r.l. This patented innovative component is able to merge structural function, insulation proprieties, and production of clean energy for retrofit actions and/or the construction of translucent faç
From Silk to Digital Technologies: A Gateway to New Opportunities for Creative Industries, Traditional Crafts and Designers. The SILKNOW Case
2020
Nowadays, cultural heritage is more than ever linked to the present. It links us to our cultural past through the conscious act of preserving and bequeathing to future generations, turning society into its custodian. The appreciation of cultural heritage happens not only because of its communicative power, but also because of its economic power, through sustainable development and the promotion of creative industries. This paper presents SILKNOW, an EU-H2002 funded project and its application to cultural heritage, as well as to creative industries and design innovation. To this end, it presents the use of image recognition tools applied to cultural heritage, through the interoperability of …
A semi-empirical multipurpose steady-state model of a fuel cell for household appliances
2013
In this paper, a multipurpose model of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell for household appliances is proposed. According to a conventional mathematical approach, the proposed model is derived from the physical and electro-chemical equations that rule the fuel cell behaviour. Differently from existing models, a parametric analysis is carried out and a few tunable parameters are accurately selected and identified. Furthermore, this paper proposes an innovative technique of unique model architecture which enables the designer to solve by himself the trade-off between complexity and accuracy on the basis of the specific applications. Three different choices could be performed by the designer…
Addressing the main challenges of energy security in the twenty-first century – Contributions of the conferences on Sustainable Development of Energy…
2016
Abstract Climate change and fossil fuel reserve depletion both pose challenges for energy security and for wellbeing in general. The top ten among them include: Decarbonising the world economy; Enhancing the energy efficiency and energy savings in buildings; Advancing the energy technologies; Moving towards energy systems based on variable renewables; Electrifying the transport and some industrial processes; Liberalizing and extending the energy markets; Integrating energy sectors to Smart Energy Systems; Making the cities and communities smart; Diversifying the energy sources; and Building more biorefineries. Presenting the contributions of selected conference papers published in the speci…
Smart district energy optimization of flexible energy units for the integration of local energy storage
2017
Several changes are involving electrical power systems, especially distribution networks. For this reason, the actors in charge of managing and operating reliably these grids are facing many technical issues regarding demand and supply balancing, Renewable Energy Sources and Electric Vehicles integration, peak load shaving, etc. In this context, many energy actions have been implemented for providing services to the power system managers by means of prosumers' demand and/or supply flexibility. This study reports the development of a centralized energy management solution for smart grids equipped with local storage devices, RES, consumers and other energy facilities in a district context. Th…
Composite Building Materials: Thermal and Mechanical Performances of Samples Realized with Hay and Natural Resins
2017
Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552 Recent years have seen an increasing public interest in issues related to energy saving and environmental pollution reduction in the building sector. As a result, many directives have been issued, the most important being the Directive 2010/31/EU (EPBD Recast) on the energy performance of buildings, which requires that "Member States shall ensure that by 31 December 2020 all new buildings are nearly zero-energy buildings". This goal can be obtained not only by reducing energy demand for heating and cooling, but also, for example, by improving building envelope performances. In this work, a first analysis of the thermal and structural behavi…