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Nowadays, the issues related with environment preservation assume an increasing importance. Progressively, more sustainable solutions/techniques are being developed to combat environmental destruction. The decision to include themes related to the environment in the curriculum of technological courses in higher education aims to promote more sustainable behaviors and in an indirect way, increase the environmental literacy of the population. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the environmental literacy focusing on four topics, i.e., air pollution, water pollution, global warming, and energy resources. For this purpose, a questionnaire was developed and applied to a convenience sample, formed by individuals of both genders, aged between 20 and 81 years old. The questionnaire intended to collect data to characterize the sample and assess the literacy regarding environmental issues. In order to carry out the environmental literacy assessment, the respondents were asked to express their degree of agreement with some statements related with the environmental themes mentioned above. The data collected was analyzed using data mining tools. The results suggest that the population’s literacy is satisfactory in relation to some issues, but insufficient in relation to others, equally important, but less disseminated.

Sustainability assessment and rating systems are intended to foster more sustainable design, construction, operation, maintenance and disassembly/deconstruction promoting and making possible a better integration of environment, societal, and cost concerns with other traditional decision criteria. The use of improved and building technologies can contribute considerably to better environmental cycle and then to the sustainability of the constructions. It is widely recognised in the of Building Sustainability Assessment that Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a much preferable method for evaluating the environmental pressure caused by materials, Building assemblies and the whole life-cycle of a building. Nevertheless, LCA tools are not extensively used in building design and most of building sustainability assessment and systems are not comprehensive or consistently LCA-based. Reasons for this failure above all related to the huge variety and amount of material flows and processes of building’s Lifecycle and to the complexity of the stages of a LCA. This paper will present the difficulties and possible solutions to integrate more accurate environmental methods in rating systems. In this context, the paper will also present the work that is being carried out in the development of the Portuguese Building Sustainability Assessment system (SBTool PT)

In this work it is proposed the design of a system to handle Distributed Energy Resources (DER), which is a new reality due to Electric Vehicles (EVs), Microgeneration (MG) and the open Electrical Markets (EM). This upcoming reality brings the need of the ‘old’ central energy control to be installed locally. For that we propose a local energy broker, responsible to handle local energy flow and to exchange energy with ‘big’ market players, and based on a collaborative approach, to promote user’s participation to increase systems knowledge. The energy broker uses an Information Communication Technology (ICT) network to establish a collaborative communication between the involved parts.

The use of the mean-variance approach (MVA) is well demonstrated in the financial literature for the optimal design of financial assets portfolios. The electricity sector portfolios are also guided by similar objectives, namely maximizing return and minimizing risk. Based on this assumption, this paper proposes a possible MVA for the definition of optimal electricity portfolios relying on renewable energy sources (RES). The model was applied for the Portuguese case and the results demonstrated that the less risky solutions are characterised by a mix of RES technologies. Though recognising the usefulness of the proposed MVA, this case also evidence the need to further proceed with a modified approach recognizing the technical constraints and specificities of the electricity sector.

The feasibility of cellulase recycling in the scope of bioethanol production from recycled paper sludge (RPS), an inexpensive byproduct with around 39% of carbohydrates, is analyzed. RPS was easily converted and fermented by enzymes and cells, respectively. Final enzyme partition between solid and liquid phases was investigated, the solid-bound enzymes being efficiently recovered by alkaline washing. RPS hydrolysis and fermentation was conducted over four rounds, recycling the cellulases present in both fractions. A great overall enzyme stability was observed: 71, 64 and 100% of the initial Cel7A, Cel7B and β-glucosidase activities, respectively, were recovered. Even with only 30% of fresh enzymes added on the subsequent rounds, solid conversions of 92, 83 and 71% were achieved for the round 2, 3 and 4, respectively. This strategy enabled an enzyme saving around 53-60%, while can equally contribute to a 40% reduction in RPS disposal costs.

AbstractThe protic ionic liquid (PIL) N‐butylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([BIm][TfO]) was obtained for the first time and incorporated into a sol–gel‐derived di‐ureasil matrix with a concentration of X=5, 10, and 30 %, where X is the ratio of the mass of PIL per mass of poly(oxyethylene). Four years after their synthesis, the resulting quasi‐anhydrous electrolytes remained amorphous, homogeneous, flexible, and thermally stable below 200 °C. SEM/EDS data revealed the presence of the PIL at the surface of the xerogels with X>5 %, demonstrating that this type of morphological characterization is mandatory to avoid misleading ionic conductivity values. The highest ionic conductivity was produced in the washed sample with X=30 % (3.5×10−5 and 2.1×10−3 S cm−1 at 25 and 170 °C, respectively). The present family of electrolytes yielded higher conductivities than the N‐ethylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate‐based analogues introduced earlier by our group and may thus be considered as promising candidates for applications in fuel cells.

Abstract Energy shortage, global warming, and climate change led to an increase in the use of alternative sources of energy, with renewable energy sources (RES) playing a fundamental role in this new energetic paradigm. However, the investment costs often constitute a major barrier to their spread use. Moreover, the overall benefits of renewable energy technologies are often not well understood and consequently they are often evaluated to be not as cost effective as traditional technologies. From the moment that the energy sector started a deregulation process, with a high level of competitiveness and associated increased market uncertainty, traditional project evaluation techniques alone became insufficient to properly deal with these additional risk and uncertainty factors. The diffusion of the renewable energy technologies is also affected by this feature. The way investors evaluate their investments call now for the use of more sophisticated evaluation techniques. Real options approach can deal with these issues and, as so, began to be considered and applied for the energy sector decision aid. This approach it is now extensively widespread in evaluating investment projects in the energy sector. A large set of applications in almost all fields of energy decision making, from electricity generation technologies appraisal to policy evaluation is available in the literature. However the use of this technique in the field of RES is still limited and worth to be analysed. This paper addresses this issue. A review of the current state of the art in the application of real options approach to investments in non-renewable energy sources and RES is presented, giving perspectives for further research in this field.

In referring to the fashion system or business, we can address to a wide variety of approaches. On an economical and business analysis, fashion can be defined as a cycle that allows to some mature industries, such as clothing, footwear or even cars, to be dynamic and maintain certain profitability over the time. While our attention tends to focus solely on the finished products, we must understand that these are the result of a long chain of stages, activities and technologies whose interaction is largely responsible for the product’s success on the market. Sustainability arises as a main vector of differentiation for fashion brands in today’s world context. In a fast moving industry such as fashion, sustainability is a concept for designers to explore, breaking the grounds for the environmental impact of the production supply, considerations of end uses or the lifecycle of the product. One of the challenges that we can present to fashion brands nowadays is to deliver a blend of both sustainability and elegance in fashion. In an era dominated by economic and financial crises, how can fashion brands coop with this new reality and enhance their differentiation vectors in order to succeed? This paper intends to explore the sustainable business model and strategy for fashion brands towards a more responsible branding, facing the challenges that the new world places upon them. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)