• Energy Research
• Restricted close
• Open Source close
• Embargo close
• 13. Climate action close
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• IT close
• DE close
• EU close

Artículos en revistas Islands are facing considerable challenges in meeting their energy needs in a sustainable, affordable and reliable way. The present paper develops an integrated approach to economically assess initiatives that can transform island power systems into smart ones. Single and multi-action initiatives fostering the deployment of renewable energy sources (RES), energy storage systems (ESS), demand-side management (DSM), and electric vehicle (EV) are considered. An hourly unit commitment on a weekly basis is proposed to assess the impact of the initiatives on the system operation costs of five prototype island power systems, which have been identified by applying clustering techniques to a set of sixty islands power systems. The different investment costs of the initiatives are accounted for determining their corresponding internal rate of return (IRR) through their lifetime. The economic assessment of single and multi-action initiatives for five prototype islands representing sixty island power systems quantifies which initiatives are most suitable for which type of island power system. The assessment shows that islands of different sizes and features require different initiatives. Larger islands tend to DSM initiatives, whereas smaller islands tend to RES initiatives. Multi-action initiatives achieve highest system operation cost reduction, whereas single action initiatives yield to highest IRR. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

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 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

Several Italian and Chinese temperate lakes with soluble reactive phosphorus concentrations  20 μg C L-1 h-1) and could favor the release of inorganic phosphorus. High extracellular enzyme activities and phosphorus solubilizing bacteria abundance in sediments accelerated nutrient regeneration. In these conditions, the positive GLU-AP relationship suggested the coupling of carbon and phosphorus regeneration; an efficient phosphorus regeneration and high nitrogen levels (up to 0.067 and 0.059 mg L-1 NH4 and NO3 in Italy; 0.631 and 1.496 mg L-1 NH4 and NO3 in China) led to chlorophyll a peaks of 14.9 and 258.4 μg L-1 in Italy and China, respectively, and a typical algal composition. Conversely, in the oligo-mesotrophic lakes, very low nitrogen levels (in Italy, 0.001 and 0.005 mg L-1 NH4 and NO3, respectively, versus 0.053 and 0.371 mg L-1 in China) induced high LAP, while low phosphorus (33.6 and 46.3 μg L-1 total P in Italy and China, respectively) led to high AP. In these lakes, nitrogen and phosphorus regeneration were coupled, as shown by positive LAP-AP relationship; however, the nutrient demand could not be completely met without the supply from sediments, due to low enzymatic activity and phosphorus solubilizing bacteria found in this compartment.

AbstractDonor–acceptor dyes are a well‐established class of photosensitizers, used to enhance visible‐light harvesting in solar cells and in direct photocatalytic reactions, such as H2 production by photoreforming of sacrificial electron donors (SEDs). Amines—typically triethanolamine (TEOA)—are commonly employed as SEDs in such reactions. Dye‐sensitized photoreforming of more sustainable, biomass‐derived alcohols, on the other hand, was only recently reported by using methanol as the electron donor. In this work, several rationally designed donor–acceptor dyes were used as sensitizers in H2 photocatalytic production, comparing the efficiency of TEOA and EtOH as SEDs. In particular, the effect of hydrophobic chains in the spacer and/or the donor unit of the dyes was systematically studied. The H2 production rates were higher when TEOA was used as SED, whereas the activity trends depended on the SED used. The best performance was obtained with TEOA by using a sensitizer with just one bulky hydrophobic moiety, propylenedioxythiophene, placed on the spacer unit. In the case of EtOH, the best‐performing sensitizers were the ones featuring a thiazolo[5,4‐d]thiazole internal unit, needed for enhancing light harvesting, and carrying alkyl chains on both the donor part and the spacer unit. The results are discussed in terms of reaction mechanism, interaction with the SED, and structural/electrochemical properties of the sensitizers.