Search results for " Sustainability and the Environment"
showing 10 items of 1854 documents
Energy management of multi-carrier smart buildings for integrating local renewable energy systems
2016
The proposed paper aims at defining a Building Management System (BMS) able to control energy flows inside a smart building integrated with various energy networks and Renewable Energy Resources (RES). The smart building envisaged in this work interacts with different energy carriers and is equipped with cogeneration and RES systems, as well as storage devices, which enable a certain degree of flexibility in the energy usage. The smart building is modelled as a multi-carrier hub, by defining the graphical and mathematical model of the building system. Moreover, the control criteria of the BMS are explained and the implementation of the BMS itself is depicted, along with some early results. …
Vernacular and bioclimatic architecture and indoor thermal comfort implications in hot-humid climates: An overview
2018
Abstract Sustainable urban development, especially in disadvantaged regions, has increasingly gained a major strategic priority. New settlements and urban regeneration programs have to achieve an improvement of social life quality, promote economic growth and increase environmental protection practices and proper use of local resources. In this framework, building environment development must exploit natural resources with responsible approach by using local materials and traditional techniques. In this end, indoor comfort and energy consumption have to match the territories needs. Low energy and passive heating/cooling techniques should be considered as a valid option in many building proj…
Improvement of Energy Efficiency for Indoor Lighting in a Big Shopping Center
2018
As the progressive diffusion of shopping centers in Italy, the paper analysis the potential energy savings in the indoor lighting plant, thanks to new technologies as LED lamps and Building Automation System. The case study, applied to a big shopping mall in the middle of Italy, shows great results, thanks to the high efficiency of LED technology, high number of operating hours and the implementation of a control system. An economic and environmental evaluation is reported.
Life cycle energy performances and environmental impacts of a prefabricated building module
2018
Abstract The paper explores the energy performances and environmental impacts of a prefabricated building module located in Messina (Sicily, Italy) through an approach that combines both the non-steady state building simulation and the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The building uses renewable energy technologies and is usable in emergency situations or as simply temporary housing. Results show that the building module causes the emission of 1.5 t of CO2eq/m2 and consumes 29.2 GJ/m2 of primary energy during its life cycle. The building achieves the Net Zero Energy Building target even if it has relevant environmental impacts in the materials production stage (72% on average of the total…
Multi-objective optimization of building life cycle performance. A housing renovation case study in Northern Europe
2020
While the operational energy use of buildings is often regulated in current energy saving policies, their embodied greenhouse gas emissions still have a considerable mitigation potential. The study aims at developing a multi-objective optimization method for design and renovation of buildings incorporating the operational and embodied energy demands, global warming potential, and costs as objective functions. The optimization method was tested on the renovation of an apartment building in Denmark, mainly focusing envelope improvements as roof and exterior wall insulation and windows. Cellulose insulation has been the predominant result, together with fiber cement or aluminum-based cladding …
A Survey on Daylighting Education in Italian Universities : Knowledge of Standards, Metrics and Simulation Tools
2021
Daylighting is a strategic topic to achieve sustainable buildings, so it is more and more imperative that it is implemented in architecture curricula to prepare a new generation of daylighting-oriented practitioners. In this frame, the DAYKE project (Daylight Knowledge in Europe) was set up to explore the level of knowledge about daylighting among European professionals and students. DAYKE-Europe was replicated as DAYKE-Italy to study the knowledge of daylight standards, metrics and software among Italian architecture students, and to compare it to that observed within DAYKE-Europe. A sample of 542 questionnaires were collected in five universities. Primary outcomes were: (i) a general low …
Fluorogenic detection of Tetryl and TNT explosives using nanoscopic-capped mesoporous hybrid materials
2013
[EN] A hybrid capped mesoporous material, which was selectively opened in the presence of Tetryl and TNT, has been synthesised and used for the fluorogenic recognition of these nitroaromatic explosives.
Artificial Neural Networks to Predict the Power Output of a PV Panel
2014
The paper illustrates an adaptive approach based on different topologies of artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the power energy output forecasting of photovoltaic (PV) modules. The analysis of the PV module’s power output needed detailed local climate data, which was collected by a dedicated weather monitoring system. The Department of Energy, Information Engineering, and Mathematical Models of the University of Palermo (Italy) has built up a weather monitoring system that worked together with a data acquisition system. The power output forecast is obtained using three different types of ANNs: a one hidden layer Multilayer perceptron (MLP), a recursive neural network (RNN), and a gamma m…
Assessment of the Operating Temperature of Crystalline PV Modules Based on Real Use Conditions
2014
Determining the operating temperatureTcof photovoltaic panelsPVis important in evaluating the actual performance of these systems. In the literature, different correlations exist, in either explicit or implicit forms, which often do not account for the electrical behaviour of panels; in this way, estimatingTcis based only on the passive behaviour of thePV. In this paper, the authors propose a new implicit correlation that takes into account the standard weather variables and the electricity production regimes of aPVpanel in terms of the proximity to the maximum power points. To validate its reliability, the new correlation was tested on two different PV panels (Sanyo and Kyocera panels) and…
Biodegradability Prediction of Fragrant Molecules by Molecular Topology
2016
Biodegradability is a key property in the development of safer fragrances. In this work we present a green methodology for its preliminary assessment. The structure of various fragrant molecules is characterized by computing a large set of topological indices. Those relevant to biodegradability are selected by means of a hybrid stepwise selection method to build a linear classifier. This model is compared with a more complex artificial neural network trained with the indices previously found. After validation, the models show promise for time and cost reduction in the development of new, safer fragrances. The methodology presented could easily be adapted to many quasi-big data problems in R…