Search results for " impact assessment"
showing 10 items of 193 documents
New solutions for prefabricated secondary substations in the view of sustainability
2016
The secondary substations will assume an important role as “smart nodes” of the smart grid. So in few years there will be a widespread dissemination on the territory of this apparatus. Consequently, great care have to be taken not only on safety issues, but also on the constructive methodology, in order to determine low environmental impact and decommissioning cost. This paper focuses on innovative solutions for the realization of prefabricated secondary substations, in the direction of sustainability. Innovative layout and enclosure topologies have been here taken into account. In particular, by considering that the substation concrete box is, at the same time, uneconomical and with strong…
TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL OF TYRES: TWO EU APPROACHES. A REVIEW
2015
The treatment and disposal of tyres from vehicles has long been of considerable environmental importance. The main problem lies in the mixed composition of the tyres. Studies have been undertaken to modify the structure of the tyres, especially with reference to the percentage of granulated rubber incorporated, in order to improve their performance, and also to reduce their environmental impact during normal functioning (noise, particulates, etc.) and facilitate recycling and final disposal. The aim of the present study is to review and compare how used tyres are treated and disposed of in two different EU countries. The first is Italy, which has been part of the European Union since its in…
Energy-environmental assessment of the UIA-OpenAgri case study as urban regeneration project through agriculture
2020
Abstract Sustainable agriculture is strongly promoted by Agenda 2030 and peri-urban agriculture is considered strategic for agri-food sustainability. Although, innovative farming practices are being implemented, the analysis of their impacts often does not reach the required depth. Within the EU project ‘UIA-OpenAgri - New Skills for new Jobs in Peri-urban Agriculture’, a regeneration process of a peri-urban area in Milan (Italy) was started, through the development of an innovative food hub. 28 innovative foodchains are assessed by a Life Cycle Assessment approach based on primary data collected from the involved start-ups. Non-Renewable Cumulative Energy Demand and the Global Warming Pote…
Research on ecological design to enhance comfort in open spaces of a city (Valencia, Spain). Utility of the physiological equivalent temperature (PET)
2013
For many years now, research has focused on issues concerning making cities easier to live in and some of the most important of these concern climatology and thermal comfort issues. There is also a growing awareness of the importance of open spaces and green areas, as key elements in providing opportunities for human interaction, leisure and physical exercise. They are important for all inhabitants, but particularly so for children and the elderly population. Of especial interest are the studies which have examined the interaction of comfort with the urban climate. This issue was studied throughout the twentieth century, but recently the role which can be played by biometeorological indices…
Efficiency of wastewater treatment facilities: The influence of scale economies.
2018
The water cycle, from catchment to discharge, is a sector that involves an important investment and operation and maintenance costs. In particular, sewage treatment is a challenge for governments because they are having to consider economic, environmental, and social aspects. Within the European Union, implementation of Directive 91/271/EEC is responsible for the location of wastewater treatment facilities in the territory, due to the requirement that all urban areas must have this infrastructure to reduce the environmental impact of treated water in water bodies. Different sizes of municipalities affect the design of each wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and cause variations in the operat…
Technical assessment and evaluation of environmental models and software: Letter to the Editor
2011
International audience; This letter details the collective views of a number of independent researchers on the technical assessment and evaluation of environmental models and software. The purpose is to stimulate debate and initiate action that leads to an improved quality of model development and evaluation, so increasing the capacity for models to have positive outcomes from their use. As such, we emphasize the relationship between the model evaluation process and credibility with stakeholders (including funding agencies) with a view to ensure continued support for modelling efforts. Many journals, including EM&S, publish the results of environmental modelling studies and must judge the w…
The Environmental Issue in Sicily
2014
In Italy, despite the number of protected natural areas and the abundance of scientific research upon the landscape, the level of control of human pressure on the environmental system is still seriously inadequate. Among the main factors is the disconnection between urban/regional and sectorial planning, in the frame of the detachment of the nature conservation policies from the landscape and territorial policies, which is the focus of the present research. The regional situation is rendered even more serious by the lack of an up-to-date planning law (the Sicilian planning law was passed in 1978), the poor diffusion of territorial and vast area planning (the Regional Master Plan has never b…
Evaluating Socio-economic Impact of Age-Friendly Environments
2018
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2007), physical and social environments are key determinants of whether people can remain healthy, independent and autonomous. Health and well-being are not only determined by our personal characteristics but also by the envi-ronment where we were born and where we live throughout our life (WHO 2015). In fact, promoting age-friendly environments (AFE) is the most effective approach for responding to demographic change because they empower elderly people to age in better health, they pro-mote their social inclusion and active participation, and they help them to live autonomously into old age (Parent 2012). AFE foster health, well-being and t…