Search results for "Energy demand"
showing 8 items of 48 documents
Techno-economic analysis of integrated processes for the treatment and valorisation of neutral coal mine effluents
2020
Abstract The disposal of highly-concentrated neutral coal mine effluents into the environment constitutes a severe threat to the natural ecosystem. This work proposes and compares five novel treatment chains to purify the effluent and recover raw materials. The chains present different combinations of pre-treatment and concentration technologies. In all cases, the solution sent to the concentration step is concentrated up to saturation to recover water and sodium chloride. Concerning the technical performances, the treatment chains are compared in terms of total energy demand and salt recovery. Furthermore, the economic feasibility assessment is performed via a novel global parameter, i.e. …
Energy efficiency improvement in hospital buildings, based on the example of a selected type of hospital facility in Poland
2019
Abstract Energy demand in hospitals is of highly diverse nature: heat energy, cool energy and electricity. A guarantee of energy supply is required to ensure continuity of medical procedures. Taking care of the lowest possible costs of hospital operations, special attention should be paid to energy efficiency of the installations used in the hospital buildings. The paper presents an analysis of energy demand for heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting in an example hospital in Poland. The selected object was considered a reference as it was built according to a repetitive construction plan, according to which several dozen other hospitals were built in Poland. On the basis of data from 2…
Green Roofs as Effective Tools for Improving the Indoor Comfort Levels of Buildings—An Application to a Case Study in Sicily
2020
In the line of pursuing better energy efficiency in human activities that would result in a more sustainable utilization of resources, the building sector plays a relevant role, being responsible for almost 40% of both energy consumption and the release of pollutant substances in the atmosphere. For this purpose, techniques aimed at improving the energy performances of buildings&rsquo
Review on Life Cycle Assessment of Solar Photovoltaic Panels
2020
The photovoltaic (PV) sector has undergone both major expansion and evolution over the last decades, and currently, the technologies already marketed or still in the laboratory/research phase are numerous and very different. Likewise, in order to assess the energy and environmental impacts of these devices, life cycle assessment (LCA) studies related to these systems are always increasing. The objective of this paper is to summarize and update the current literature of LCA applied to different types of grid-connected PV, as well as to critically analyze the results related to energy and environmental impacts generated during the life cycle of PV technologies, from 1st generation (traditiona…
Energy poverty in Italy
2014
Despite the existence of two targeted national programmes (�Bonus gas� and �Bonus energia�) in Italy there is no official definition of energy poverty (EP). The purpose of this study is to provide the reader with a set of indicators to fill this gap. We present a range of poverty measures which estimate that between 5 and 20 per cent of households was in EP in 2012. A selection based on qualitative criteria suggests the use of a low-income/high-costs indicator modified to include the economically vulnerable households with no heating expenses. According to this statistic the proportion of households in EP during the period 1997-2012 was broadly stable at around 8 per cent. Our simul…
Assessment of cross-flow filtration as microalgae harvesting technique prior to anaerobic digestion: Evaluation of biomass integrity and energy demand
2018
[EN] In the present study, the effect of cross-flow filtration (CFF) on the overall valorization of Chlorella spp. microalgae as biogas was assessed. The effect of CFF on microalgae cell integrity was quantified in terms of viability which was correlated with the anaerobic biodegradability. The viability dropped as the biomass concentration increased, whereas anaerobic biodegradability increased linearly with the viability reduction. It was hypothesized that a stress-induced release and further accumulation of organic polymers during CFF increased the flux resistance which promoted harsher shear-stress conditions. Furthermore, the volume reduction as the concentration increased entailed an …
Ventilative cooling application in Mediterranean buildings: impacts on grid interaction and load match
2016
The concept of load matching refers to the simultaneous occurrence of loads and generation in buildings: it can be increased and optimised with modifications on both the energy demand and generation, but its pre-requisite is to guarantee passive energy efficiency. In the Mediterranean areas, a major challenge in new buildings is the increasing overheating even during mildly hot seasons. Ventilative cooling can be a potential solution to such issues and have an impact on load match in buildings and their grid interaction. The study analyses the potential of ventilative cooling to improve the load match in three different case studies in Italy. Ventilative cooling proved viable in moderately …
Green value and spatial approaches of energy demand management.
2020
Les contraintes économiques et environnementales actuelles impliquent un besoin de maîtrise de la demande d’énergie du secteur résidentiel. Pour parvenir à cette fin, il est nécessaire d’identifier les déterminants de la consommation d’énergie des ménages puis de trouver des solutions pour réduire la demande d’énergie. Les travaux présentés dans la thèse portent sur le rôle des choix de localisation des ménages dans la formation de la demande d’énergie du secteur résidentiel et s’intéresse à la valeur verte comme outil de promotion des biens immobiliers énergétiquement efficaces. Le premier chapitre étudie les choix de localisation résidentielle et de consommation énergétique des ménages da…