Search results for "environmental quality"

Effectiveness of Posidonia oceanica biotic indices for assessing the ecological status of coastal waters in the Saronikos Gulf (Aegean Sea, Eastern M…

2017

Biotic indices are considered key assessment tools in most national and European policies aimed at improving the quality of coastal waters. At present, several Water Framework Directive (WFD)-compliant biotic indices based on the marine angiosperm Posidonia oceanica have been developed and applied in the Mediterranean Sea. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of four different P. oceanica indices (POMI, PREI, Valencian CS, and BiPo) in evaluating the ecological status of coastal waters in a case study area of Greece. The evaluation, comparison, and validation of the Ecological Status Class (ESC) assessments obtained by each index were based on a set of eight common sites that en…

Green Homeowners? An Empirical Application of Fischel’s Homevoter Hypothesis

2021

It is a no-brainer that owners of private property usually care about their personal possessions. But does this also apply to public goods? Fischel’s homevoter hypothesis argues that property owners—in this case homeowners—will exhibit more than average concern with regard to public goods, particularly local public goods in their own neighborhood such as the local crime rate, nearby schools, and environmental quality. This contribution applies Fischel’s hypothesis to the public good of residential environmental conditions. Based on survey and administrative data collected in two cities, Mainz in Germany and Zurich in Switzerland, it examines whether house and apartment owners, as compared t…

Decadal oscillations of the aquatic chemistry of river waters in Latvia

2018

Abstract. Water quality changes of surface waters can be used to assess human impact intensity, but of importance is to consider also impacts of climate change/variability and naturally occurring changes of environmental quality. In Latvia, during the recent decades a major reduction of anthropogenic pressure has happened due to restructuring of economy and industrial production, resulting in major decrease of loading of many groups of pollutants. However, trends and driving factors for other groups of substances have not been much studied. Long term (1980–2012) results of hydrochemical monitoring, performed in rivers of Latvia, are analysed during this study in connection with long-term se…

Toward a European Eco-label brand for residential buildings: Holistic or by-components approaches?

2011

The Eco-label scheme is becoming ever more important in the environmental certification of products and services, especially in light of the recent ambitious aim of containing greenhouse emissions and improving the efficiency of utilizing energy sources. A recently-introduced hypothesis concerns the European Eco-label scheme relating to buildings, in the awareness that the construction industry is of primary importance to the whole economic and social life of states. This scheme should adopt an integrated approach to environmental problems and include construction, day-to-day management, and the possible disposal of building materials, throughout the life cycle of the building. In addition,…

A new environmental label for farm Holidays: a tool for improving the integrated relational tourism

2009

La perspectiva de la sostenibilidad en la sociedad del conocimiento interconectado: gobernanza, educación, ética

2013

El presente artículo pretende estimular la reflexión sobre la introducción de la perspectiva de la sostenibilidad en las nuevas sociedades de la información y del conocimiento sustentadas por las TIC, y caracterizadas por una globalización que dista mucho de ser inclusiva. Implica la construcción de un sistema mundial que promueva la búsqueda de la calidad ambiental, la justicia social y una economía equitativa y viable a largo plazo. La UNESCO ha señalado tres caminos básicos para conseguirlo: la gobernanza, la educación y la éticaLa gobernanza puede propiciar una conectividad social equitativa, cambios en los modelos de producción y consumo y la búsqueda y aplicación de soluciones reales …

Pedotechnique applications in large-scale farming: Economic value, soil ecosystems services and soil security

2019

Abstract Since ancient times Humans and Soil have experienced interwoven links. Nowadays soil scientists continue to stress such links highlighting the importance of soil in: i) satisfying the ever growing Human demand for food, water and energy, and ii) providing ecosystem services that mitigate climate changes, influence human health and improve biodiversity. Pedotechniques are recently used to generate soils suitable for table grape cultivation in order to increase productivity and grape quality, thus to get substantial financial returns. We show one emblematic study case of pedotechniques applied in Sicily (Italy). Aims of the investigation were: i) stressing threats to soil security de…

Indoor Comfort in School Buildings: The Case Study of Palermo

2014

Buildings primary energy consumption in developed countries accounts for about 40% of whole uses. Therefore, the European Union has released many regulations, concerning energy saving issues; particularly, it has enacted Directive 2002/91/EC regarding the energy performance of buildings, and its Recast Directive 2010/31/EU, that promotes the Nearly Zero Energy Building targets, introducing more strict parameters in this aim. Furthermore, the latter Directive asks Member States to include within their national plans measures aimed at supporting public authorities to become early adopters of building energy efficiency improvements. In the same time, Public Authorities should implement effecti…

Environmental Quality of Groundwater in Contaminated Areas—Challenges in Eastern Baltic Region

2020

The lack of water in the future will force society to find more sophisticated solutions for treatment and improvement of groundwater wherever it comes from. Contamination of soil and groundwater is a legacy of modern society, prevention of contaminants spread and secondary water reuse options shall be considered. The aim of the book chapter is to give oversight view on problems and challenges linked to groundwater quality in Eastern Baltic region whilst through case studies explaining the practical problems with groundwater monitoring, remediation and overall environmental quality analysis. The reader will get introduced with case studies in industry levels as credibility of scientific fund…

Energy Performance and Indoor Comfort of a 1930s Italian School Building: A case study

2021

Reducing energy consumption in the building tertiary sector, which accounts for a big share of the total energy use (and related CO 2 emissions) at European and Italian level, represent a strong element of safety for the EU-28. On the other hand, it is important to improve the, often overlooked, indoor comfort conditions of Italian schools since they have a significant impact on the well-being, productivity, health and safety of their occupants. Thus, it is appropriate to take into account the combination of both needs, also in light of the climate change scenario, in order to identify adequate improvement measures and justify such economic investment. This paper brings a contribution to th…