• Energy Research
• 2021-2025close
• 11. Sustainability close
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• Roma Tre University close

Annually, 115.000 tons of plastic tableware are used in Italy. The end of life of these objects is particularly troubled because no efficient way of recycling or reusing exist. Studies performed by the European Union demonstrate that about 80% of sea waste is made of plastic, representing a danger to human health and ecosystem. The aim of this paper is to analyse substitutes to disposable plastic tableware using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The alternatives are objects made of bio compostable plastic, both disposable and reusable. This article compares single-use and multi-use tableware made of a Polylactic acid (PLA) - Polybutylene succinate (PBS) blend with traditional disposable tableware made of polypropylene and of polystyrene. In order to perform an effective assessment, the objects are grouped in place settings, each made of a cup, a plate and cutlery. The use of tray mat and napkin is also taken into account. It was assumed that the fossil-based items are sent to landfill whereas the bio-based ones are sent to a compost plant. The functional unit chosen was “the service of 1000 meals”. The impact categories taken into account are Global Warming 100a, Ozone Depletion, Ozone Formation (Vegetation), Acidification, Aquatic Eutrophication, Human Toxicity water and Ecotoxicity water chronic. The results show that the compostable table sets have lower impact than the sets made of fossil-based plastic in all the categories except in Ozone Depletion and in Aquatic Eutrophication. In the categories of Human Toxicity water and Ecotoxicity water chronic, fossil-based materials have higher impact than multi-use one mainly due to the landfill scenario chosen as end of life. Disposable and reusable systems give a different contribution to total impact in different life stages. For disposable systems, the production and the end of life are the critical stages in terms of environmental burden, whereas for reusable systems washing is the most impactful phase. Further improvements can be obtained in the production of bio-based materials by using renewable energy to power the facilities whereas the washing phase can be improved by adopting certified ecopower. The impact of the reusable system strongly depends on the assumptions made on the number of reuses and on the washing modality.

Abstract Identity can improve our understanding of personal climate action, particularly when climate action becomes an expression of a person’s self. However, it is unclear which kind of self or identity is most relevant. Building on a comprehensive series of eight meta-analyses (using data from 188 published articles, N = 414,282 participants) this research systematically compares how strongly climate-friendly intentions and behaviors are associated with place identity, personal connectedness to nature, environmental self-identity (i.e., personal self-definition as a pro-environmentally acting person), and social identity (i.e., identification with social groups). Results suggest robust, medium-sized to strong links of both pro-environmental intentions and behaviors to people’s nature connectedness (r = 0.44/0.52), environmental self-identity (r = 0.62/0.56), and identification with groups considered to support climate-friendly behavior (r = 0.48/0.51), but markedly weaker effects for identification with groups which are unrelated to environmental topics (r = 0.30/0.15) and for place identity (r = 0.18/0.32). Implications for policy interventions and psychological theory are discussed.

Abstract In this paper, a building energy simulation tool is exploited to study the impact of multiple radiative inter-reflections exchanges in an urban environment. The aim is to evaluate their influence on the thermal energy demand of buildings. A street canyon model validated in a previous work is used in TRNSYS to investigate the effects of the related urban radiative trapping. Due to multiple shortwave and longwave reflections, the actual radiation exchanged by the buildings facades is different if compared to a street canyon building, where only shadowing phenomena due to canyon geometry are considered. Buildings energy simulation commercial codes do not take in account inter-reflections inside urban canyons. The objective of this study is to evaluate how multiple shortwave and longwave reflections affect thermal energy demand (cooling and heating) of a street canyon building depending on its orientation, its transparent/opaque surfaces ratio and on the solar absorption factor of the envelope surfaces. Increases in cooling demand up to 50% and decreases in heating demand up to 20% are found.

In accordance with the new recovery plan, Next Generation EU (NGEU), and the need to speed up the transition of cities towards a new sustainable model, this paper provides an overview of the outcomes of the PEDRERA project, which is focused on the development of a novel tool able to calculate multiple key performance indicators that can support renovation actions at the district level, according to a Positive Energy District (PED) concept. The new tool is programmed in Python programming language and is useful to evaluate several strategies for the renovation of existing building stock. It moves from a quick list of input according to several Public Private Partnership (PPP) models, in addition to other potential business models. Furthermore, the design of the model is supported by a step-by-step methodology in order to deal with a “financial appraisal” that is interactive in each context, customizable for each stakeholder, and user-friendly. The paper describes this innovative tool and reports on the stronger potential that this model can offer when it runs in a QGIS software environment and interacts with a PostgreSQL database, as demonstrated in two case studies located in Spain.

This paper critically assesses the effect of fossil fuel dependence and polluting emissions from the transport sector on the performance of logistics operations in the context of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM). We collected macro-level time-series data for a sample of 27 European Union (EU) countries over the period 2007–2018. A new Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) algorithm is adopted in a multivariate framework to investigate the dynamic interactions among a range of Logistics Performance Indexes (LPI), the demand for oil products, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fuel combustion in the transport sector. Empirical findings show that oil product consumption and CO2 emissions sharply influence the transport logistics indexes. However, a feedback relationship is discovered for environmental pollution, indicating that oil use is not significantly driven by supply chain performance. Based on our empirical insights, adequate policy recommendations are provided to help turning the logistics sector towards a more sustainable path in the European area.

Abstract The maritime transport and the port-logistic industry are key drivers of economic growth, although, they represent major contributors to climate change. In particular, maritime port facilities are typically located near cities or residential areas, thus having a significant direct environmental impact, in terms of air and water quality, as well as noise. The majority of the pollutant emissions in ports comes from cargo ships, and from all the related ports activities carried out by road vehicles. Therefore, a progressive reduction of the use of fossil fuels as a primary energy source for these vehicles and the promotion of cleaner powertrain alternatives is in order. The present study deals with the design of a new propulsion system for a heavy-duty vehicle for port applications. Specifically, this work aims at laying the foundations for the development of a benchmark industrial cargo–handling hydrogen-fueled vehicle to be used in real port operations. To this purpose, an on-field measurement campaign has been conducted to analyze the duty cycle of a commercial Diesel-engine yard truck currently used for terminal ports operations. The vehicle dynamics has been numerically modeled and validated against the acquired data, and the energy and power requirements for a plug-in fuel cell/battery hybrid powertrain replacing the Diesel powertrain on the same vehicle have been evaluated. Finally, a preliminary design of the new powertrain and a rule-based energy management strategy have been proposed, and the electric energy and hydrogen consumptions required to achieve the target driving range for roll-on and roll-off operations have been estimated. The results are promising, showing that the hybrid electric vehicle is capable of achieving excellent energy performances, by means of an efficient use of the fuel cell. An overall amount of roughly 12 kg of hydrogen is estimated to be required to accomplish the most demanding port operation, and meet the target of 6 h of continuous operation. Also, the vehicle powertrain ensures an adequate all-electric range, which is between approximately 1 and 2 h depending on the specific port operation. Potentially, the hydrogen-fueled yard truck is expected to lead to several benefits, such as local zero emissions, powertrain noise elimination, reduction of the vehicle maintenance costs, improving of the energy management, and increasing of operational efficiency.

AbstractThe paper focuses on the nexus between climate change and armed conflicts with an empirical analysis based on a panel of 2653 georeferenced cells for the African continent between 1990 and 2016. Our econometric approach addresses unobservable heterogeneity in predicting the probability of violent events and the persistency of conflicting behaviour over time. The proposed strategy also accounts for both changes in climatic conditions and spatial dynamics. The two main findings carry policy-relevant implications. First, changes in climatic conditions influence the probability of conflicts over large spatial ranges, thus suggesting that the design of adaptation policies to reduce climate vulnerability should account for multiple spatial interrelations. Second, the persistency of violence calls for planning adaptation strategies for climate resilience jointly designed with measures in support of peacekeeping.

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship among ecological footprint (EF), electricity consumption, and GDP in China using annual data ranging from 1960 to 2019. However, factors like trade openness, urbanization, and life expectancy might increase EF as ecological distortions are mainly human-induced. This study explores the effect of these variables on the environment, which is captured by EF. Quantile Regression estimates indicate that electricity consumption and real GDP increase environmental degradation, while trade and urbanization reduce EF, allowing for a higher environmental quality. On the other hand, the spectral Granger-causality tests reveal that only urbanization and life expectancy affect environmental degradation over the whole frequency domain. In the current geopolitical scenario, relevant policy implications may be derived.