Search results for "Pollution"
showing 10 items of 2765 documents
Assessing the feasibility of cogeneration retrofit and district heating/cooling networks in small Italian islands
2017
Sustainability of energy supply strategies in small islands has been emerging as a severe issue, due to the large margins for improvement and rationalization of the most frequently adopted solutions. In most of the European islands, large amounts of heat are wasted by the operation of engine-based power plants; conversely, heat is produced by boilers (supplied by liquid fuels) or by electric equipment for a number of different uses, like domestic hot water production or space heating in winter. In this paper a techno-economic analysis is proposed to assess the feasibility of CHP-retrofit of the existing power plants and the possible utilization of the recovered heat to supply, via a distric…
The Community Response to Aircraft Noise Around Six Spanish Airports
1993
Abstract The community response to aircraft noise has been studied through a social survey. A total of 1800 persons living in the vicinity of six major Spanish airports have been interviewed at their homes concerning the environmental quality of the area, dissatisfaction with road traffic noise and aircraft noise, activities interfered with by noise, most disturbing aircraft types, and subjective evaluation of airport impact. All the responses obtained in this survey have been compared with aircraft noise levels corresponding to the residence locations of the people interviewed (values of NEF levels were calculated with the INM model). The results obtained in this work allow one to evaluate…
An overview of energy retrofit actions feasibility on Italian historical buildings
2017
Abstract Italian energy policy has determined important keystones in building energy efficiency regulations and their application throughout the country. However, there is still much work to be done in order to make sustainable societies and territories, especially in historical contexts that have the greatest potentiality of energy saving. In detail, in the framework of conservation, restoration, refurbishment, and retrofit actions, the debate among scientists, administrators and skilled people is still open due to the many aspects yet to be considered and solved. In this paper, the state of the art of Italian residential building heritage has been reviewed, while energy retrofit issues an…
History and Environmental Impact of Mining Activity in Celtic Aeduan Territory Recorded in a Peat Bog (Morvan, France)
2003
The present study aims to document historical mining and smelting activities by means of geochemical and pollen analyses performed in a peat bog core collected around the Bibracte oppidum (Morvan, France), the largest settlement of the great Aeduan Celtic tribe (ca. 180 B.C. to 25 A.D.). The anthropogenic Pb profile indicates local mining operations starting from the Late Bronze Age, ca. cal. 1300 B.C. Lead inputs peaked at the height of Aeduan civilization and then decreased after the Roman conquest of Gaul, when the site was abandoned. Other phases of mining are recognized from the 11th century to modern times. They have all led to modifications in plant cover, probably related in part to…
Hydrogen Production from Sea Wave for Alternative Energy Vehicles for Public Transport in Trapani (Italy)
2016
The coupling of renewable energy and hydrogen technologies represents in the mid-term a very interesting way to match the tasks of increasing the reliable exploitation of wind and sea wave energy and introducing clean technologies in the transportation sector. This paper presents two different feasibility studies: the first proposes two plants based on wind and sea wave resource for the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen for public transportation facilities in the West Sicily; the second applies the same approach to Pantelleria (a smaller island), including also some indications about solar resource. In both cases, all buses will be equipped with fuel-cells. A first economic a…
Cost modeling for sludge and waste management from wastewater treatment plants: an empirical approach for Spain
2013
Abstract Wastewater treatment involves the generation of large volumes of sludge and other waste. Managing this waste in an economical and environmentally acceptable way has become a matter of increasing importance over the last few years. While the technologies and processes to reduce sludge generation are being widely studied, research on the economic aspects is much more limited. This study applies a cost-modeling methodology that uses statistical information from a sample of Spanish wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to generate a sewage sludge and waste management cost function with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of the cost structure and predicting the cost savings…
Towards a cyber-physical era: soft computing framework based multi-sensor array for water quality monitoring
2018
Abstract. New concepts and techniques are replacing traditional methods of water quality parameter measurement systems. This paper introduces a cyber-physical system (CPS) approach for water quality assessment in a distribution network. Cyber-physical systems with embedded sensors, processors and actuators can be designed to sense and interact with the water environment. The proposed CPS is comprised of sensing framework integrated with five different water quality parameter sensor nodes and soft computing framework for computational modelling. Soft computing framework utilizes the applications of Python for user interface and fuzzy sciences for decision making. Introduction of multiple sen…
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…
CFD simulation of channels for direct and reverse electrodialysis
2012
Flows within very thin channels, typically filled with spacers, can be often encountered in many processes such as electrodialysis (ED) and reverse electrodialysis (RED). Although the ED and the RED processes have been studied for a long time, the optimization of the fluid dynamics within the channels is still an open problem. In the present work, realized within the EU-FP7 funded REAPower project, computational fluid dynamics simulations were carried out in order to predict the fluid flow field inside a single ED/RED channel. Some different configurations were tested which includes: an empty channel, a channel provided with a spacer, and a channel filled with a purposely manufactured fiber…
Comparison of different uncertainty techniques in urban stormwater quantity and quality modelling
2011
Abstract Urban drainage models are important tools used by both practitioners and scientists in the field of stormwater management. These models are often conceptual and usually require calibration using local datasets. The quantification of the uncertainty associated with the models is a must, although it is rarely practiced. The International Working Group on Data and Models, which works under the IWA/IAHR Joint Committee on Urban Drainage, has been working on the development of a framework for defining and assessing uncertainties in the field of urban drainage modelling. A part of that work is the assessment and comparison of different techniques generally used in the uncertainty assessm…