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Coconut coir dust is finding broad application in the ornamental sector as peat substitute. However, deeper investigations are needed since its performances are variable and not always optimal for different plant species and growing conditions. The use of non-thermal plasma (NTP) in re-circulating nutrient solution appears a promising and sustainable strategy to enhance crop protection, decrease the use of sanitizers and pesticides, and increase yield and quality of ornamental productions. Nevertheless, only a few examples of NTP application on containerized crops under operational growing conditions are available, particularly in combination with different substrates and fertigation regimes. In this work the application of NTP was tested on the nutrient solution used for the production of Ranunculus asiaticus potted plants. The effect was assessed in growing plants using two substrates (both 50:50 v v-1): 1) peat:perlite, and 2) coconut coir dust:perlite, and with two levels of fertilization. Plants grown on coconut coir dust had lower total biomass and flower number. On the other hand, in terms of biomass and tissue nutrient content, R. asiaticus plants developeded better at lower nutrient concentration than at the standard nutrient solution. NTP treatment increased the green biomass while did not improve the flower production. NTP-based sanitizing effects on the root zone, where the number of colony-forming units of fungi was significantly reduced, were observed only in presence of the standard nutrient solution.

Treball Final de Grau en Finances i Comptabilitat. Codi: FC1049. Curs acadèmic: 2018/2019 The financial system has a key role today, the fight against climate change. The financial system is working towards a circular and low carbon economy entering financial instruments such as green bonds into its markets. Green bonds are in constant expansion and are a great support to finance investments and projects that promote the mitigation of climate change. This report is divided into two parts: in a first phase the concept of green bond is introduced and an analysis and description of the current European and Spanish market is carried out; in the second phase, a quantitative analysis of the green bonds issued by Repsol, one of the main companies with the highest emission of greenhouse gases in Spain, is done. The results of the analysis show that the financial system has a concern for the environment and that it is working constantly to create standards, regulations and labels that lead to a solid development of the market of green financial instruments.

The EU policy of reducing the emissions of combustion generated pollutants entails climate induced deterioration to become more important. Moreover, products applied to preserve outdoor built heritage and their preliminary performance tests often turn out to be improper. In such context, the paper reports the outcomes of the methodology adopted to assess the durability and efficiency of nano-based consolidating products utilized for the conservation of carbonate artworks, performing field exposure tests on Carrara marble model samples in different sites in the framework of the EC Project NANOMATCH. Surface properties and cohesion, extent and penetration of the conservative products and their interactions with marble substrates and environmental conditions are here examined after outdoor exposure for eleven months in four different European cities and compared with the features of undamaged and of untreated damaged specimens undergoing the same exposure settings.

Viticulture is a worldwide agricultural sector with a relevant economic importance, especially in regions where the climate and environmental conditions meet requirements for the production of high quality wines. The impact of climate change combined with the increased frequency of extreme events predicted for the next future has already shown its potential detrimental effects on viticulture suitability, but few studies currently explored the effect of long-term climate change and extreme events by considering the inter-varietal variability of grapevine. In this study, the combined effect of mean climate change and extreme events (frost events at bud break and suboptimal temperatures for fruit-set) under future scenarios (RCP 4.5 and 8.5 for two time slices 2036-2065 and 2066-2095, respectively) was evaluated considering four grapevine varieties with very early, early, middle-early and late phenological cycles. The UniChill model calibrated for these varieties was applied in Europe to assess phenological dynamics (budbreak and flowering) using the outputs of a statistical downscaling procedure. Frost impact around budbreak stage as well as the impact of suboptimal temperature around flowering was estimated under present and future scenarios. The results showed a general earlier occurrence of budbreak and flowering stages with a particular relevance on northeastern Europe. The effect of warmer temperatures had a greater effect on late compared to very early and early varieties in western regions. The frequency of frost events at budbreak (T-min < 0 degrees C) showed wide variability across Europe, with a strong decrease in western regions (e.g. Spain and UK) and an increase in central Europe (e.g. Germany) for future scenarios. The decrease in the frequency of frost events was especially evident for very early and early varieties. The impact of suboptimal temperatures at flowering evidenced a significant variability across a latitudinal gradient while this effect did not show significant results when comparing cultivars and scenarios. The results of these studies highlighted that in a warmer climate frost events rather than stress at flowering will reshape the distribution of grapevine varieties in Europe.

The EU-28 is one of the largest emitters of CO2 in the world and the most committed to reducing emissions. However, the national environmental strategies of the Member States are still diverse. This study is aimed at evaluating the environmental performance of European economies by analysing the fluctuations of CO2 emissions and their links with economic activity over the period 1950e2012. The methodological framework is based on a dynamic factor analysis to determine an index of the EU fluctuation of CO2 emissions in parametric form. This index can be used to monitor the progress towards common behaviour across Member States, with a time-varying recursive method. Following this approach, we also track the efforts made to decouple CO2 emissions from GDP. Based on these analyses, we develop a CO2 emissions-GDP linkage matrix to attain useful information on the EU Member State environmental performance.

The three different future scenarios showed an increase in mean temperature for all months between 0.5-2.4°C and a reduction in precipitation (by 4-7%) for the period 2030-2059 (MPI, KNMI, SMHI). The results of the present work show that climate change will bring a reduction of water resource availability and some alterations in the hydrological regime. The SWAT model, which proved to be a valuable operational tool for evaluating the potential impact of climate change on water resources, estimates a reduction of total water yield and a shift of the flow regime towards drier conditions, although the river type classification will probably remain essentially unvaried. A sever reduction of snowfall in the mountainous part of the basin was also estimated that is expected to impact the flow regime. However, it is important to take into account that several sources of uncertainties, which depend both on the used hydrological models and on the climate change scenarios, affect the predictions of the hydrological response of a river basin under climate change. In addition, some of the assumptions made (i.e. that land use does not change in the future) could be incorrect as climate change could also result in a significant alteration of land cover. Hence, we have to consider projections not as a predictive method, but as a tool that may be used to assess changes in process dynamics.

The current advancement of the bioenergy sector along with the need for sustainable agricultural systems call for context-specific crop residue management options - implying variable degrees of removal - across climatic regions, soil types and farming systems around the world. A large database (n=660) on the effects of crop residue management on soil organic carbon (SOC) and crop yields was compiled from studies published in the last decade and analyzed using descriptive and multivariate statistics and data mining techniques. Removing crop residues from the field led to average SOC contents that were 12 and 18% lower than in soils in which crop residues were retained, in temperate and tropical climates respectively. The dataset showed a wide variability as a result of the wide range of biophysical and management factors affecting net changes in SOC. In tropical climates the effect of crop residue management on SOC was subject to local climate and soil texture. In these regions the addition of C via crop residues was crucial in sustaining SOC especially in coarse textured soils. Yields increased following residue retention in tropical soils, while low SOC corresponded with lower crop production in temperate areas. Our results suggest that crop residue removal is not recommended in tropical soils, particularly in coarse-textured ones, and in SOC-depleted soils in temperate locations. Partial residue removal can be considered in temperate climates when soils are well-endowed in SOC. Future policies must consider the role of residues within different agro-ecosystems in order to advance agriculture and the bio-energy sector sustainably.

Recent growth in biodiesel production by transesterification reaction has produced a significant surplus of glycerol, it being the main byproduct of such process, thus destabilizing the market and making necessary to find new glycerol applications to support the eco-sustainability of the global process of biomass transformation. An appealing strategy is represented by the transformation of glycerol into oxygenated fuel additives to gain benefits both in terms of environmental compliance and efficiency of diesel engines. Etherification of glycerol in presence of an O-alkylant agent, like isobutene (IB), leads to a mixture of tert-butylglycerol ethers, but only poly-ethers are suitable additives due to their good miscibility with diesel. In presence of tert-butyl alcohol (TBA), to overcome thermodynamic constraints related to the water formation, the use of a proper catalyst based on Hyflon ionomer and a permselective membrane coupled with a batch reactor allows to reach a poly-ethers yield of about 80%, a value threefold higher than that reported in literature. The use of bio-ethanol or bio-butanol which are renewable reactants could be an interesting alternative to valorize derived glycerol. Anyway, they are less activated alcohols than TBA, thus the reaction results to be thermodynamically more difficult. Proceedings of the 22nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 23-26 June 2014, Hamburg, Germany, pp. 847-854

Today, green roofs are a building system which provides interesting benefits over traditional roof solutions. The most important advantages are the reduction of surface runoff in cities, improvement of the urban climate, biodiversity support, improvement of the durability of roofing materials, and, especially, energy savings. This paper has the aim of studying the performance of green roofs as a passive system for energy savings, within a wider objective of seeking constructive solutions suitable for sustainable and environmentally friendly architecture. This idea is tested at an experimental installation available at the University of Lleida, with several cubicles testing the energy performance of different construction solutions. This work raises the possibility of using recycled rubber from tires as a drainage layer in green roofs, substituting the porous stone materials currently used (such as expanded clay, expanded shale, pumice, and natural puzolana). This solution would reduce the consumption of these natural materials, which also require large amounts of energy in its transformation process to obtain their properties. Moreover it would provide a solution to the problem of waste rubber from the tires, known as rubber crumbs. Since the purpose of the drainage layer is the optimum balance between air and water in the green roof system, first the ability for draining of recycled rubber granules was studied and was compared with the offered by stone materials. The new solution using rubber crumbs is also studied to test if it would keep the same insulating properties that the green roof with stone materials presented in previous studies. Early results show that this extensive green roof system can be a good passive energy savings tool in Continental Mediterranean climate in summer, and that rubber crumbs can be an interesting substitute for stone materials used as drainage layer in this type of green roofs.