Search results for "Renewable resource"
showing 10 items of 50 documents
A Simple Analytical Model for Remote Assessment of the Dynamics of Biomass Accumulation
2011
Efficient means for assessment of the dynamics and the state of the stocks of renewable assets such as wood biomass are important for sustainable supplies satisfying current needs. So far attention has been paid mainly to the economic aspects of forest management while ecological problems are rising with the expected transfer from fossil to renewable resources supplies of which from forest being essential for traditional consumers of wood and for emerging biorefineries. Production of biomass is more reliant on assets other than money the land (territory) available and suitable for the purpose being the first in the number. Studies of the ecological impacts (the “footprint”) of sustainable u…
Adjustment costs, uncertainty, and the theory of investment: the case of non-renewable natural resources
1992
Abstract This paper examines the effects of mineral price and extraction cost uncertainty on the investment program of a competitive resource-extracting industry that faces convex costs of adjustment. The results show that depletion of mineral reserves will slow down if the marginal adjustment cost function is concave or linear, whereas the effect will be ambiguous if the function is convex.
Zero Emissions and Bio-refineries for Natural Fibres, Biomaterials and Energy: Genesis of Concepts. Review
2015
Depletion of world recourses, increasing pollution, and climate change make us to shift from linear economy to system economy—an economy of technologies integrated to reach a system of non-polluting zero emissions production. Transition to renewable resources requires replacing the present crude oil refinery by biomass refinery. Along with conventional biomass refinery technologies bioengineering and nano-technologies become significant players in systems designed as clusters of integrated bio-refinery technologies. The authors consider a number of case studies of biomass conversion into value-added chemicals and sources of energy, the steam explosion auto-hydrolysis (SEA) in particular. Re…
Electrifying Organic Synthesis
2018
Abstract The direct synthetic organic use of electricity is currently experiencing a renaissance. More synthetically oriented laboratories working in this area are exploiting both novel and more traditional concepts, paving the way to broader applications of this niche technology. As only electrons serve as reagents, the generation of reagent waste is efficiently avoided. Moreover, stoichiometric reagents can be regenerated and allow a transformation to be conducted in an electrocatalytic fashion. However, the application of electroorganic transformations is more than minimizing the waste footprint, it rather gives rise to inherently safe processes, reduces the number of steps of many synth…
Fracture Toughness of PIR Foams Produced from Renewable Resources
2012
Rigid low-density closed-cell polyisocyanurate (PIR) foams are used primarily as a thermal insulation material. Traditionally, they are manufactured from constituents produced by petrochemical industry. Introducing renewable materials in PIR formulation brings definite economical and environmental benefits. Fracture toughness of PIR foams obtained from renewable resources (with the polyol system comprising up to 80% of rapeseed oil esters) and petrochemical PIR foams has been characterized experimentally, by compact tension tests, for mode I crack propagation along the rise direction of the foams.
A methodological approach for assessing businness investments in renewable resources from a circular economy perspective
2018
Abstract In this paper, we have analyzed a feasibility project for the realization of a biogas plant at a company in the viticulture sector located in south-central Sicily. Using engineering formulas, we identified the electrical power that the plant could produce using waste products created by the vineyard itself, examined the new and interesting opportunities that have arisen with the encouragement and development of biogas production in Italy, and then assessed the economic feasibility of the investment itself, considering an investment scheme of total capital self-financing. The possibility of using wastes from wine production comes from an in-depth study of the circular economy, that …
Thermal and structural properties of a hemp–lime biocomposite
2013
Abstract The need to reduce greenhouse gases emission produced by the building sector leads to the research of renewable and less impacting materials that can replace traditional ones. This subject has encouraged new researches on biocomposite concretes with the aim to exploit renewable resources like vegetal fibres intended as materials whose production processes are generally characterized by low costs and energy demand. This biocomposite is obviously much lighter than concrete and, therefore, can be suitably used in such cases where a structure cannot be overloaded, for instance in the realization of a green covering on top of a preexistent building. In this work, a first analysis of the…
Performance comparison between overlapped and woven spacers for membrane distillation
2017
The sustainable production of freshwater from seawater desalination is receiving increasing attention. Recently, some desalination technologies are taking advantage from the coupling with renewable resources; among them, membrane distillation (MD) is one of the most promising since it can be easily powered by low-grade thermal energy. MD being an emerging technology, efforts are required to optimize geometry and operating conditions of real units in order to reduce the unitary freshwater production cost. In particular, temperature polarization is a well-known detrimental effect for the process driving force; spacers are traditionally used to enhance mixing and make temperature boundary laye…
Key Biochemical Attributes to Assess Soil Ecosystem Sustainability
2011
Soil is not a renewable resource, at least within the human timescale. In general, any anthropic exploitation of soils tends to disturb or divert them from a more “natural” development which, by definition, represents the best comparison term for measuring the relative shift from soil sustainability. The continuous degradation of soil health and quality due to abuse of land potentiality or intensive management occurs since decades. Soil microbiota, being ‘the biological engine of the Earth’, provides pivotal services in the soil ecosystem functioning. Hence, management practices protecting soil microbial diversity and resilience, should be pursued. Besides, any abnormal change in rate of in…
An Integrated Assessment Model on Local Aptitudes for Green-Energy Self-sustainability
2018
The Encyclical Letter Laudato Si of the Holy Father Francis on “Care for our Common Home” holds human society responsible for the achievement of a fairer world, through research into solutions to environmental problems and a moderate and efficient use of nonrenewable resources. It recalls that energy usage is one of the major factors of environmental pressure and shares the crucial questions of current European and international energy policies. In Italy, for the electric sector, energy policy requires the increase of energy production by renewable sources and the development of a transmission grid able to support a diffused and non-programmed production of electrical energy (a smart grid),…