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East Lisbon is being exposed to large-scale urban regeneration processes, where luxury residential projects and mixed-use spatial developments are already underway. Thus, it is a living laboratory for “smart”, “creative” and “green” projects, as well as related urban public space interventions. Braço de Prata is an urban space overlooked by developers, being surrounded by obsolete industrial buildings. Concerning the recent interest in international investments in brownfield regeneration and greenfield developments, it represents an attractive urban terrain as a post-industrial working-class neighbourhood, where “smart” and “green” suggest transforming space so that both new and old residents can live and work together and share public space regardless of analysis on their environmental recognitions. The aim of this paper is to present an empirical evaluation model that examines the possible impacts of environmental negligence through the reorganisation of the physical and social fabric. The analyses focus on dwellers’ moral understanding of their changing environment as site-specific domains to address the unique conditions that affect transiently defined presumptions about the collective needs. Taking an evaluative approach in the Braço de Prata case, this paper demonstrates the specific socio-ecological implications of urban inequality in post-industrial neighbourhoods that could be threatened by new decisions, both through urban planning approaches and instruments.

Abstract Scenedesmus obliquus biomass was used as a feedstock for comparing the biological production of hydrogen by two different types of anaerobic cultures: a heat-treated mixed culture from a wastewater treatment plant and Clostridium butyricum DSM 10702. The influence of the incubation temperature and the carbon source composition were evaluated in order to select the best production profile according to the characteristics of the microalgal biomass. C. butyricum showed a clear preference for monomeric sugars and starch, the latter being the major storage compound in microalgae. The highest H 2 production reached by this strain from starch was 468 mL/g, whereas the mixed culture incubated at 37 °C (LE37) produced 241 mL/g. When the mixed culture was incubated at 58 °C (LE58), a significant increase in the H 2 production occurred when xylose and xylan were used as carbon and energy source. The highest H 2 yield reached by the LE37 culture or in co-culture with C. butyricum was 1.52 and 2.01 mol/mol of glucose equivalents, respectively. However, the ratio H 2 /CO 2 (v/v) of the biogas produced in both cases was always lower than the one produced by the pure strain. In kinetic assays, C. butyricum attained 153.9 mL H 2 /L h from S. obliquus biomass within the first 24 h of incubation, with a H 2 yield of 2.74 mol/mol of glucose equivalents. H 2 production was accompanied mainly by acetate and butyrate as co-products. In summary, C. butyricum demonstrated a clear supremacy for third generation bioH 2 production from S. obliquus biomass.

This paper explores how market and regulatory factors affect stakeholders' investments in smart grid projects in Europe. Distribution System Operators (DSOs), universities, and technology manufacturers are leading investors, with a cumulative 2286 M€ financed since 2002. Statistical tests were conducted on these groups' investments in smart grid projects in the EU-28, Norway, and Switzerland from 2008-2015, to evaluate the influence of the following factors on investment: the level of distribution sector concentration, the regulatory mechanism in place, and the existence of innovation stimulus mechanisms. The level of distribution sector concentration did not significantly influence investments by these three groups. Market-minded stakeholders, such as DSOs and technology manufacturers, invested more in countries that employed hybrid, incentive, or innovation-stimulus mechanisms; meanwhile, collaborative knowledge-seeking institutions, such as universities, were not swayed by these factors. Taking these findings into consideration will help policy makers design adequate incentives for stakeholders.

The sustainability assessment methodology has to be demonstrated in order to become the tool in the engineering practice. This chapter is devoted to the attempt to evaluate the sustainability of energy systems and show how it can be used in the everyday engineering practice. Obviously, this type of approach has its limitation due to the lack of data for the serious consideration of the system. But it should be anticipated that these excises might serve as guidance for eventual future applications. Also, it should be emphasised that this type of methodology will become an useful tool only if it proves to be justified in the engineering practice.

Abstract Lighting simulation is a useful instrument in predicting lighting conditions in buildings. Modelers can use several matrix methods according to the buildings’ characteristics and the objectives of the analysis. However, it is unknown which methods are the most appropriate for lighting analysis of heritage buildings. The Joanina Library located in the University of Coimbra – a World Heritage building – was used to compare different matrix methods (2PH, 3PH, and 5PH) under several solar models (BRL, DISC, Perez, and Reindl) using Radiance-based simulations. On-site measurements (indoor and outdoor) were used to calculate each method’s accuracy under different solar models. The combination of the 2PH method with the DISC solar model presented the highest accuracy with an average MBEr and RMSEr of 2.8 % and 43.6 %, respectively. Therefore, the 2PH method was the best choice for the case study, even though the 3PH method may also be considered, especially for parametric studies of improving measures.

This research studied the impacts of the environmental Kuznets curve and the determinants of economic growth for Visegrad countries from 1990 to 2018. This paper reflects on the effects of renewable and non-renewable energy, urban population, foreign direct investment, economic growth, and carbon dioxide emissions. According to our results, the panel of unit root tests showed that the variables under study are integrated into the first differences. Considering the empirical results for the environmental Kuznets curve, we observe that economic growth is positively correlated with pollution emissions; nevertheless, the squared income per capita is negatively impacted by carbon dioxide emissions. Energy consumption increases carbon emissions, and foreign direct investment confirms the pollution halo hypothesis. Therefore, the econometric results showed that renewable energy consumption promotes regional growth. Consequently, urban population and foreign direct investment positively correlate with economic growth.

Restructuring of the electric power industry requires network open access, and has many objectives, the first of which is to lower prices for consumers. Various models for restructuring the electric power business have appeared and others proposed. Those models can be classified into three categories: (1) models based on regulation; (2) models based on marginal cost theory; and (3) models based on a mixture of marginal cost theory and bilateral contracts. The paper presents illustrative, numerical simulation results for these models. The results indicate that models based on marginal cost theory are not the best for consumers. Numerical results indicate that models based on regulation perform better-they yield completely satisfactory results for the suppliers and lower costs for consumers. The co-existence of a pool does not hinder the role of bilateral contracts. The remaining load, which corresponds to low-level consumers and partly to large consumers, must be satisfied by pool resources. Consumers on bilateral contracts benefit from less expensive energy, as compared to pool prices. Consumers whose load is not satisfied by a contract arrangement get energy at pool prices.