Search results for "policy"
showing 10 items of 4513 documents
Combined gasification-oxidation system for waste treatment with supercritical water: Lca and performance analysis
2020
In this study the environmental performance of a first-of-its-kind integrated process based on supercritical water gasification and oxidation (SCW-GcO), was evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA). The process was applied to the treatment of carbon black and used oil as model wastes. Mass and energy balances were performed using Aspen Plus, and the environmental assessment was carried out through SimaPro. A “from cradle to grave” approach was chosen for the analysis, considering impact categories such as climate change, ozone depletion, human toxicity, particulate matter, land use, resource depletion, and other relevant indicators. The environmental profile of the SCW-GcO process was co…
Modeling the natural gas supply chain for sustainable growth policy
2020
Abstract Natural gas has been used globally as a transitional fuel for supporting a green-energy-supply strategy, which has been questioned for the intermittence and lack of reliability of renewables. This paper proposes a System Dynamics model for assessing alternative security of supply policy along the natural gas value chain. The model incorporates demand, transport, production and reserves of natural gas variables according to a systemic perspective. It also includes a module for evaluating the effect of natural gas price on the demand and supply levels, respectively. Alternative supply policies are evaluated under different scenarios. The chosen case-study focuses on the Colombian nat…
Smart Urban Energy Districts and Energy Policies
2018
The deployment of smart cities appears a strategic factor for reducing environmental impact and increasing competitivity of economic systems across the world. Although terminology is similar worldwide, the different political assets and social enviroments largely affect the development models. Drivers indeed are quite different, such as the speed at which transformations take place. As a result, implementation of measures is carried out differently and realizations of smart city projects can be strongly different. Europe, China and U.S.A. approaches are compared in this paper to provide the reader with a broader view about different smart city implementations, with a focus on the electricit…
Economic feasibility of stationary electrochemical storages for electric bill management applications: The Italian scenario
2016
Battery energy storage systems (BESSs) are expected to become a fundamental element of the electricity infrastructure, thanks to their ability to decouple generation and demand over time. BESSs can also be used to store electricity during low-price hours, when the demand is low, and to meet the demand during peak hours, thus leading to savings for the consumer. This work focuses on the economic viability of BESS from the point of view of the electricity customer. The analysis refers to a lithium-ion (Li-ion), an advanced lead-acid, a zinc-based, a sodium-sulphur (NaS) and a flow battery. The total investment and replacement costs are estimated in order to calculate the cumulated cash flow, …
A Systematic Review of the Hydrological, Environmental and Durability Performance of Permeable Pavement Systems
2021
Due to urbanization, large portions of vegetated territory have been replaced by waterproof surfaces. The consequences are greater outflows, lower infiltration, and lower evapotranspiration. Pavement systems made with permeable surfaces allow the infiltration of water, ensuring reduction of runoff volume. In this paper, the methods of analysis of the hydrological and environmental performance of the pavement systems are reviewed in the context of urban drainage and regarding their durability. The purpose is to present an overview of the studies published during the last decade in the field. The Pubmed and Web Science Core Collection electronic databases were used to conduct the scientific l…
Soil conservation and sustainable development goals(SDGs) achievement in Europe and central Asia: Which role for the European soil partnership?
2021
Abstract Voluntary soil protection measures are not sufficient to achieve sustainable soil management at a global scale. Additionally, binding soil protection legislation at national and international levels has also proved to be insufficient for the effective protection of this non-renewable natural resource. In 2012, the FAO Members established the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) with the mission to facilitate and contribute exchange of knowledge and technologies related to soils, and develop dialogue and raise awareness for the need to establish a binding global agreement for sustainable soil management. Moreover, region-specific aspects of implementation are considered and strengthened th…
Occurrence of antibiotics and antiretroviral drugs in source-separated urine, groundwater, surface water and wastewater in the peri-urban area of Chu…
2020
Recently, there has been an increased interest in bridging the knowledge gap in the occurrence and fate of pharmaceuticals in African urban water cycles. In this study, the occurrence of 7 antibiotics and 3 antiretrovirals in source-separated urine, groundwater, wastewater and surface water of the peri-urban area of Chunga in Lusaka, Zambia, was studied. In groundwater, the pharmaceuticals were only sporadically present with 4 antibiotics and 1 antiretroviral detected. The concentration of the antibiotics ranged from below limit of quantification (<LOQ) to 880 ng/L, with sulfamethoxazole having the highest detection frequency of 42.3%. In the surface water, a comparatively high concentrati…
Vision guided robotic inspection for parts in manufacturing and remanufacturing industry
2020
AbstractEnvironmental and commercial drivers are leading to a circular economy, where systems and components are routinely recycled or remanufactured. Unlike traditional manufacturing, where components typically have a high degree of tolerance, components in the remanufacturing process may have seen decades of wear, resulting in a wider variation of geometries. This makes it difficult to translate existing automation techniques to perform Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) for such components autonomously. The challenge of performing automated inspections, with off-line tool-paths developed from Computer Aided Design (CAD) models, typically arises from the fact that those paths do not have the r…
Public Policy Design for Climate Change Adaptation: A Dynamic Performance Management Approach to Enhance Resilience
2017
This chapter proposes dynamic performance management (DPM) as a suitable method to identify policies in the context of climate change adaptation. Namely, it focuses on the role it can play to support the analysis of how to enhance resilience of social and economic systems to climate change. While ‘resilience’ is a buzzword in the policymaking world, putting the concept into practice is still undeveloped. In a public administration focused on accountability, intangible outcomes of resilience represent a complication. The chapter discusses the findings and lessons from a case study applying the proposed approach. The results highlight the role of a dynamic performance approach to support stak…
An Additive Model to Predict the Rheological and Mechanical Properties of Polypropylene Blends Made by Virgin and Reprocessed Components
2021
In this work, an additive model for the prediction of the rheological and mechanical properties of monopolymer blends made by virgin and reprocessed components is proposed. A polypropylene sample has been reprocessed more times in an extruder and monopolymer blends have been prepared by simulating an industrial process. The scraps are exposed to regrinding and are melt reprocessed before mixing with the virgin polymer. The reprocessed polymer is, then, subjected to some thermomechanical degradation. Rheological and mechanical experimental data have been compared with the theoretical predictions. The results obtained showed that the values of this simple additive model are a very good fit fo…