• Energy Research
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• GB close
• UA close
• CNR ExploRA close

Great efforts have been paid to improve engine efficiency as well as to reduce the pollutant emissions. The direct injection allows to improve the engine efficiency; on the other hand, the GDI combustion produces larger particle emissions. The properties of fuels play an important role both on engine performance and pollutant emissions. In particular, great attention was paid to the octane number. Oxygenated compounds allow increasing gasoline's octane number and play an important role in PM emission reduction. In this study was analyzed the effect of fuels with different RON and with ethanol and ethers content. The analysis was performed on a small GDI engine. Two operating conditions, representative of the typical EUDC cycle, were investigated. Both the engine performance and the exhaust emissions were evaluated. The gaseous emissions and particle concentration were measured at the exhaust by means of conventional instruments. Particle size distribution function was measured in the range from 5.6 nm to 560 nm by means of an Engine Exhaust Particle Sizer (EEPS). The results point out that the better result in terms of performance and emission reduction was observed for the high RON fuel. The fuels with ethanol as additive show a large fuel consumption and a not valuable effect on exhaust emissions

CONTEXT: Agroforestry is gaining interest in in Europe however the trade-offs associated with its uptake are still uncertain. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore the sustainability trade-offs and synergies associated with a range of agroforestry systems in Europe and assess the underlying reasons for different performance regarding environmental, economic, social and governance domains. METHODS: Five case-studies of agroforestry from nothern, eastern and southern Europe were assessed using an established sustainability assessment tool, the Public Goods tool (PG tool). The case studies were selected to represent a range of innovative and traditional systems, encompassing arable and livestock, wood fuel and tree fruit crops. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: All five of the case studies were performing well across a diverse range of sustainability criteria, with average scores of three out of five or higher across the assessment categories. Social capital and animal health and welfare management scores were particularly high, due to high rates of on-farm employment of between 0.4 and 2.3 full-time labour units per hectare, and a high volume of local sales alongside effective health planning and husbandry through health planning and a lack of restrictions on natural behaviour. Land Equivalent Ratios were greater than 1 within each case and were particularly high for established silvopasture systems (over 1.5). Fossil fuel use was considerably lower than the industry average in most of the case studies (between 17 and 92% of the country-average per hectare for three of the cases). Economic performance was highly variable, with high labour costs contributing to negative margins. SIGNIFICANCE: The assessments show that agroforestry systems have considerable potential to contribute to multiple sustainability objectives, and that environmental and social sustainability objectives are particularly well addressed through increased efficiency of land-use, increased opportunities for on-farm employment and engagement with local communities. However considerable financial barriers still exist and may prevent its further uptake. Promoting the future uptake of agroforestry in Europe therefore requires the commitment of multiple actors in supply chains to plan policies, farm-practices and knowledge exchange that can support the delivery of sustainability benefits.

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global mean temperature rise this century to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. This target has wide-ranging implications for Europe and its cities, which are the source of substantial greenhouse gas emissions. This paper reports the state of local planning for climate change by collecting and analysing information about local climate mitigation and adaptation plans across 885 urban areas of the EU-28. A typology and framework for analysis was developed that classifies local climate plans in terms of their alignment with spatial (local, national and international) and other climate related policies. Out of eight types of local climate plans identified in total we document three types of stand-alone local climate plans classified as type A1 (autonomously produced plans), A2 (plans produced to comply with national regulations) or A3 (plans developed for international climate networks). There is wide variation among countries in the prevalence of local climate plans, with generally more plans developed by central and northern European cities. Approximately 66% of EU cities have a type A1, A2, or A3 mitigation plan, 26% an adaptation plan, and 17% a joint adaptation and mitigation plan, while about 33% lack any form of stand-alone local climate plan (i.e. what we classify as A1, A2, A3 plans). Mitigation plans are more numerous than adaptation plans, but planning for mitigation does not always precede planning for adaptation. Our analysis reveals that city size, national legislation, and international networks can influence the development of local climate plans. We found that size does matter as about 80% of the cities with above 500,000 inhabitants have a comprehensive and stand-alone mitigation and/or an adaptation plan (A1). Cities in four countries with national climate legislation (A2), i.e. Denmark, France, Slovakia and the United Kingdom, are nearly twice as likely to produce local mitigation plans, and five times more likely to produce local adaptation plans, compared to cities in countries without such legislation. A1 and A2 mitigation plans are particularly numerous in Denmark, Poland, Germany, and Finland; while A1 and A2 adaptation plans are prevalent in Denmark, Finland, UK and France. The integration of adaptation and mitigation is country-specific and can mainly be observed in two countries where local climate plans are compulsory, i.e. France and the UK. Finally, local climate plans produced for international climate networks (A3) are mostly found in the many countries where autonomous (type A1) plans are less common. This is the most comprehensive analysis of local climate planning to date. The findings are of international importance as they will inform and support decision-making towards climate planning and policy development at national, EU and global level being based on the most comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of local climate planning available to date.

Anaerobic Digestion (AD) has been recognized as a viable solution to produce renewable energy and to reduce global warming especially when secondary feedstock and/or wastes are used. Several LCA studies analysed the environmental performances of biogas production systems. The results of this review highlight that the goal, scope, life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methodology, feedstocks and geographical regions covered by the studies vary widely. Most studies are based in Europe, several in China and few in South and North America and in Africa. To better highlight how the choices on the feeding mix, the digestate storage, the surplus heat valorisation as well as the plant size can affect the environmental performances of agricultural AD plants four plants have been analysed in this study. The results suggest that the energy crops production and the operation of anaerobic digesters, including digestate emission from open tanks, are the main contributors to the impacts from biogas electricity. This entails that it is environmentally better to have smaller plants using slurry and waste rather than bigger plants fed with energy crops. Recovering heat waste as well as covering of digestate tank would improve significantly the environmental sustainability of biogas electricity, and particularly the global warming category.

One of the consequences of the generally agreed rise of global temperatures, furtherly exacerbated by the growth of water demand caused by the needs of a growing population, is an increase of areas with water stress. This will imply and in part is already implying, an always greater imbalance between water (and in particular drinking water) demand and supply. These issues are among those investigated by the "Adapting Drinking Water resources to the Impacts of Climate change in Europe" (ADWICE) project that had, among its main goals, the identification of priority adaptation measures aimed at reducing drinking water vulnerability to the pressures of a changing climate. In this paper these adaptation measures are described, with special attention given to their associated European water policy context. The complexity of designing and implementing such adaptation measures will benefit from integrating drinking water concerns with wider water management, within a framework able to facilitate the necessary complex collaborations between various actors involved in the different scales of the decision-making arena and to develop an effective science policy interfacing mechanism. Last, but not least, because drinking water is commonly considered by stakeholders and citizens to be a public service, drinking water managers should enable their involvement in the adaptation decision-making process, to ensure their acceptance and cooperation and to prevent conflicts.

The fate of peripheral forest tree populations is of particular interest in the context of climate change. These populations may concurrently be those where the most significant evolutionary changes will occur; those most facing increasing extinction risk; the source of migrants for the colonization of new areas at leading edges; or the source of genetic novelty for reinforcing standing genetic variation in various parts of the range. Deciding which strategy to implement for conserving and sustainably using the genetic resources of peripheral forest tree populations is a challenge.Here, we review the genetic and ecological processes acting on different types of peripheral populations and indicate why these processes may be of general interest for adapting forests and forest management to climate change. We particularly focus on peripheral populations at the rear edge of species distributions where environmental challenges are or will become most acute. We argue that peripheral forest tree populations are "natural laboratories" for resolving priority research questions such as how the complex interaction between demographic processes and natural selection shape local adaptation; and whether genetic adaptation will be sufficient to allow the long-term persistence of species within their current distribution.Peripheral populations are key assets for adaptive forestry which need specific measures for their preservation. The traditionally opposing views which may exist between conservation planning and sustainable forestry need to be reconciled and harmonized for managing peripheral populations. Based on existing knowledge, we suggest approaches and principles which may be used for the management and conservation of these distinctive and valuable populations, to maintain active genetic and ecological processes that have sustained them over time.