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The European Union has set ambitious targets of raising the share of EU energy consumption produced from renewable resources from 20% by 2020 to 27% by 2030. The aim of this paper is to assess the role of woody biomass in renewable energy as gross final energy consumption in the European Union (the EU-28). The paper identifies leading and lagging countries in biomass development by focusing on their current biomass use and forecasts future perspectives. The research compares and evaluates the role of biomass in renewable energy in the EU-28 focusing on countries' potential resources and policy support. The study shows that all countries are making efforts to reach the 20% target in 2020 and exhibit a trend of increasing renewable energy as gross final energy consumption towards the new target of 2030. Solid biomass plays an important role in reaching the EU's renewable energy targets. The majority of the EU-28 countries are close to reaching their national renewable energy targets and show a very attractive biomass development. Unless energy consumption decreases however, some member states will face serious problems in reaching their renewable energy target in 2020. Following our analysis, the largest problems occur in those MS having a relative high-energy consumption pattern: France, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is unlikely that they can comply with expected renewable energy demand, unless they mobilize more woody biomass from their available domestic potential (France, Germany) or considerably increase their woody biomass imports (mostly wood pellets) from elsewhere (United Kingdom).

Coal will continue to be the main energy source in China for the immediate future, although the environmental pollution and ecological impacts of each stage in the full life cycle of coal mining, transportation, and combustion generate large quantities of external costs. The Late Permian coals in southwestern (SW) China usually contain high amounts of fluorine (F), arsenic (As), and ash, which together with high-F clays cause abnormally high levels of endemic fluorosis, As poisoning, and lung cancer in areas where coal is mined and burned. In this paper, we estimate the external costs of the life cycle of coal. The results show that the externalities of coal in SW China are estimated at USD 73.5 billion or 284.3 USD/t, which would have accounted for 6.5 % of the provincial GDP in this area in 2018. The external cost of human health accounts for 87.2% of the total external costs, of which endemic skeletal fluorosis diseases and related lung cancers have the most important impact. Our study provides a more precise estimate of externalities compared with its counterparts in other provinces in China. Therefore, several policy recommendations would be proposed to internalize the external cost.

The land transformation process in the last decades produced the urbanization growth in flat and coastal areas all over the world. The combination of natural phenomena and human pressure is likely one of the main factors that enhance coastal dynamics. These factors lead to an increase in coastal risk (considered as the product of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability) also in view of future climate change scenarios. Although each of these factors has been intensively studied separately, a comprehensive analysis of the mutual relationship of these elements is an open task. Therefore, this work aims to assess the possible mutual interaction of land transformation and coastal management zones, studying the possible impact on local coastal communities. The idea is to merge the techniques coming from urban planning with data and methodology coming from the coastal engineering within the frame of a holistic approach. The main idea is to relate urban and land changes to coastal management. Then, the study aims to identify if stakeholders’ pressure motivated the deployment of rigid structures instead of shoreline variations related to energetic and sedimentary balances. The influence of coastal protection (described by an indicator taking into account the linear density of the rigid protection extension alongshore) measures have been considered. Finally, the economical performances in the period just after the land transformation have been studied by means of a dimensionless index based on the concept of the local unit. The method has been applied to the case study of the Abruzzo Region. Results reveal a large urbanization growth and a generalized over-protection of the coast with a resulting spatial alternation of shoreline retreat and advance. On the other hand, the analysis of the local economy reveals that the presence of tourism activities does not necessarily lead to an increase in the local economy. Indeed, the most important improvement in local economies in the region can be associated with coastal stretches characterized by a high environmental value.

Global warming (GW) and urban pollution focused a great interest on hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as cleaner alternatives to traditional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). The environmental impact related to the use of both ICEV and HEV mainly depends on the fossil fuel used by the thermal engines, while, in the case of the BEV, depends on the energy sources employed to produce electricity. Moreover, the production phase of each vehicle may also have a relevant environmental impact, due to the manufacturing processes and the materials employed. Starting from these considerations, the authors carried out a fair comparison of the environmental impact generated by three different vehicles characterized by different propulsion technology, i.e., an ICEV, an HEV, and a BEV, following the life cycle analysis methodology, i.e., taking into account five different environmental impact categories generated during all phases of the entire life of the vehicles, from raw material collection and parts production, to vehicle assembly and on-road use, finishing hence with the disposal phase. An extensive scenario analysis was also performed considering different electricity mixes and vehicle lifetime mileages. The results of this study confirmed the importance of the life cycle approach for the correct determination of the real impact related to the use of passenger cars and showed that the GW impact of a BEV during its entire life amounts to roughly 60% of an equivalent ICEV, while acidifying emissions and particulate matter were doubled. The HEV confirmed an excellent alternative to ICEV, showing good compromise between GW impact (85% with respect to the ICEV), terrestrial acidification, and particulate formation (similar to the ICEV). In regard to the mineral source deployment, a serious concern derives from the lithium-ion battery production for BEV. The results of the scenario analysis highlight how the environmental impact of a BEV may be altered by the lifetime mileage of the vehicle, and how the carbon footprint of the electricity used may nullify the ecological advantage of the BEV.

Biodiesel is a fuel generally consisting of a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) which is used in alternative or in combination with petroleum diesel for its environmental benefits. Biodiesel is conveniently manufactured from vegetable oils by transesterification of triglycerides with methanol. However, the process brings about the concurrent formation of glycerol, which may become an oversupplied chemical if biodiesel production keeps growing. A novel biodiesel-like material (abbreviated as DMC-BioD) was developed by reacting soybean oil with dimethyl carbonate (DMC), which avoided the co-production of glycerol. The main difference between DMC-BioD and biodiesel produced from vegetable oil and methanol (MeOH-biodiesel) was the presence of fatty acid glycerol carbonate monoesters (FAGCs) in addition to FAMEs. In the following study, details regarding synthesis and composition of DMC-BioD are provided along with physical properties relevant for its use as a fuel. In addition, the production of potential pyrogenic contaminants was investigated by analytical pyrolysis and compared with those from MeOH-biodiesel, and the model compounds tristearin, triolein, trilinolein and oleic acid glycerol carbonate ester (OAGC). The presence of FAGCs influenced both fuel and flow properties, while the distribution of main pyrogenic compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), was little affected. Benefits and drawbacks of DMC as a candidate transmethylating reagent for producing biofuel from renewable resources and alternative co-products (glycerol carbonate and glycerol dicarbonate) are discussed.

Abstract The present work focuses on the numerical simulation of Moderate or Intense Low oxygen Dilution combustion condition, using the Partially-Stirred Reactor model for turbulence-chemistry interactions. The Partially-Stirred Reactor model assumes that reactions are confined in a specific region of the computational cell, whose mass fraction depends both on the mixing and the chemical time scales. Therefore, the appropriate choice of mixing and chemical time scales becomes crucial to ensure the accuracy of the numerical simulation prediction. Results show that the most appropriate choice for mixing time scale in Moderate or Intense Low oxygen Dilution combustion regime is to use a dynamic evaluation, in which the ratio between the variance of mixture fraction and its dissipation rate is adopted, rather than global estimations based on Kolmogorov or integral mixing scales. This is supported by the validation of the numerical results against experimental profiles of temperature and species mass fractions, available from measurements on the Adelaide Jet in Hot Co-flow burner. Different approaches for chemical time scale evaluation are also compared, using the species formation rates, the reaction rates and the eigenvalues of the formation rate Jacobian matrix. Different co-flow oxygen dilution levels and Reynolds numbers are considered in the validation work, to evaluate the applicability of Partially-Stirred Reactor approach over a wide range of operating conditions. Moreover, the influence of specifying uniform and non-uniform boundary conditions for the chemical scalars is assessed. The present work sheds light on the key mechanisms of turbulence-chemistry interactions in advanced combustion regimes. At the same time, it provides essential information to advance the predictive nature of computational tools used by scientists and engineers, to support the development of new technologies.

Commercial buildings are responsible for a significant share of the energy requirements of European Union countries. Related consumptions due to heating, cooling, and lighting appear, in most cases, very high and expensive. Since the real estate is renewed with a very small percentage each year and current trends suggest reusing the old structures, strategies for improving energy efficiency and sustainability should focus not only on new buildings, but also and especially on existing ones. Architectural renovation of existing buildings could provide an opportunity to enhance their energy efficiency, by working on the improvement of envelopes and energy supply systems. It has also to be noted that the measures aimed to improve the energy performance of buildings should pay particular attention to the cost-effectiveness of the interventions. In general, there is a lack of well-established methods for retrofitting, but if a case study achieves effective results, the adopted strategies and methodologies can be successfully replicated for similar kinds of buildings. In this paper, an iterative methodology for energy retrofit of commercial buildings is presented, together with a specific application on an existing office building. The case study is particularly significant as it is placed in an urban climatic context characterized by cold winters and hot summers; consequently, HVAC energy consumption is considerable throughout the year. The analysis and simulations of energy performance before and after the intervention, along with measured data on real energy performance, demonstrate the validity of the applied approach. The specifically developed design and refurbishment methodology, presented in this work, could be also assumed as a reference in similar operations.

The decentralization of the production sector crisis following industries in the suburbs have generated a multitude of empty containers in the medium-large Italian cities, which are abandoned, unsafe, and often dangerous for the community. From this arises the need to recover them and transform them into something else. This is not always possible or interesting for the subjects involved in the transformation. When the abandoned space is (even if only partially) polluted, then any hypothesis of transformation is stopped due to the high impact of decontamination costs, which greatly compromise the profitability of the investment. This paper deals with this issue focusing on a complex case study involving the abandoned area and the buildings of a former paint mill in the center of a typical city in the Turin metropolitan area. The suggested hypothesis is to act only on building components and external areas without any ground modification because of its contamination. Moreover, the new planned use (energy production from renewable sources to supply part of the public administration’s needs) does not foresee neither a stable presence of people nor a further consumption of land. The technical analysis of community energy needs and the subsequent economic and financial study lead to a financial sustainability over a period of about 25 years.