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Cities are progressively heightening their climate aspirations to curtail urban carbon emis- sions and establish a future where economies and communities can flourish within the Earth’s eco- logical limits. Consequently, numerous climate initiatives are being launched to control urban car- bon emissions, targeting various sectors, including transport, residential, agricultural, and energy. However, recent scientific literature underscores the disproportionate distribution of climate poli- cies. While cities in the Global North have witnessed several initiatives to combat climate change, cities in the Global South remain uncovered and highly vulnerable to climate hazards. To address this disparity, we employed the Balanced Iterative Reducing and Clustering using the Hierarchies (BRICH) algorithm to cluster cities from diverse geographical areas that exhibit comparable socio- economic profiles. This clustering strives to foster enhanced cooperation and collaboration among cities globally, with the goal of addressing climate change in a comprehensive manner. In summary, we identified similarities, pa􏰀erns, and clusters among peer cities, enabling mutual and generaliza- ble learning among worldwide peer-cities regarding urban climate policy exchange. This exchange occurs through three approaches: (i) inner-mutual learning, (ii) cross-mutual learning, and (iii) outer-mutual learning. Our findings mark a pivotal stride towards a􏰀aining worldwide climate ob- jectives through a shared responsibility approach. Furthermore, they provide preliminary insights into the implementation of “urban climate policy exchange” among peer cities on a global scale.

With an increasing share of regenerative wind and solar energy in electricity supply, the aspect of load flexibility will gain importance, i.e. there is an increasing need for buffer capacities and / or power plants must be able to react more flexibly to changes of the demand. As an alternative or in addition to the new construction of peak­load power plants (pump storage systems, gas power plants), load-flexible dust burner technologies can be used in existing incinerators to increase the load flexibility and the fuel flexibility when using especially local regenerative fuel sources. Flexibility of the burner concept means an increase in changing fuel composition and non-stationary operation, which may cause changes of the combustion behavior and, hence, of the emission behavior. Flexibility in fuel sources changes the combustion and emission behavior, too, especially with regard to low rank fuels with high ash contents containing chlorine and alkali species. To control these non-stationary processes in the burner and downstream boiler area for an efficient operation, contact-free optical measurement methods are applied in addition to the measurement systems existing in the furnace chamber and furthermore control methods based on computational intelligence. Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 1334-1337

In Sardinia (Italy), the highest frequency of extreme events is recorded in the Central-East area (3-4 events per year). The presence of high and steep mountains near the sea on the central and south-eastern coast, causes an East- West precipitation gradient in autumn especially, due to hot and moist currents coming from Africa. Soil structure and utilization make this area highly vulnerable to flash flooding and landslides. The specific purpose of this work is to provide a description of the heavy rainfall phenomenon on a statistical basis. The analysis mainly focuses on i) the existence of trends in heavy rainfall and ii) the characterization of the distribution of extreme events. First, to study possible trends in extreme events a few indices have been analyzed by the linear regression test. The analysis has been carried out at annual and seasonal scales. Then, extreme values analysis has been carried out by fitting a Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD) to the data. As far as trends are concerned, different results are obtained at the two temporal scales: significant trends are obtained at the seasonal scale which are masked at the annual scale. By combining trend analysis and GPD analysis, the vulnerability of the study area to the occurrence of heavy rainfall has been characterized. Therefore, this work might support the improvement of land use planning and the application of suitable prevention systems. Future work will consider the extension of the analysis to all Sardinia and the application of statistical methods taking into account the spatial correlation of extreme events.

The present study deals with the use of renewable energy sources (RES) for biofuel production in addition to the power derived from hydroelectric and heat produced by district heating plants. It follows and integrates the main aim to reduce the use of fossil fuels in the considered study area according to the Directive Europe 2020. The possibility to address animal manure and other local biomass to the biogas yield with subsequent upgrading to biomethane was investigated, starting from the production up to the end use. The proposed solution implies the realization of one centralized biogas plant coupled with the upgrading section and one filling station. Details were deepen in order to improve the economic sustainability of the plant, the direct involvement of farmers in the management company and the acceptance level from the residents. Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 2099-2101

Upgrading of bio-oils for using them as transport fuel or as source for chemicals is a challenging task that has recently attracted a lot of attention. One of the most studied approaches in literature is hydrodeoxygenation, which is also the topic of this work. The light phase of a pyrolysis oil, produced in the bioliq® pilot plant in Karlsruhe, was treated with hydrogen (80 bar, pressure at room temperature) under mild hydrotreating conditions (250°C) in the presence of a catalyst. Different nickel-based catalysts were employed and were compared to Ru/C as benchmark. Nickel on different high surface area supports showed similar catalytic performance with inferior hydrogenation performance compared to Ru/C. Extensive quantitative 1H-NMR analysis was used for observing variations in the concentration of specific molecular functional groups in the products, while the distribution of the main elements (C, H, O) in the different phases was determined by elemental analysis and Karl Fischer titration. 1H-NMR and elemental analysis showed that the produced oil has less oxygen content respect to the original bio-oil. This is not only due to the hydrotreating reaction but also to the repartition of apolar compounds in the oil phase and of more polar ones in the aqueous phase. Proceedings of the 22nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 23-26 June 2014, Hamburg, Germany, pp. 1164-1170

Palm oil is the most demanded vegetable oil in the world. It serves as a raw material for a wide range of products as well as food and energy sources. However, the palm oil supply from Southeast Asian countries has been repeatedly under discussion in the EU Commission for its environmental impacts. To gain a deeper under-standing of the related costs and GHG emissions of the palm oil supply, a comprehensive modelling tool is used to assess the Indonesian supply path to Germany. Starting with the cultivation and harvesting of fresh fruit bunches (FFB), the crude palm oil (CPO) production in an oil mill and the cargo handling in Central Kalimantan, the CPO is transshipped through the seaports of Surabaya and Rotterdam to an assumed landing area in the south of Germany. The overall supply costs and GHG emissions add up to 599.08 €/t and 5,156.86 kg CO2-eq./t CPO. Proceedings of the 27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 27-30 May 2019, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 1681-1693

Abstract Svalbard’s main urban centre, Longyearbyen, is a town in constant transition. Established as a coal mining camp, it developed into a mono-industrial company town, was then transformed into a “normal” Norwegian family town, and is today profoundly impacted by climate change and undergoing economic, social and cultural changes at high speed. In this chapter, I examine urban planning and development in Longyearbyen, looking at historical developments and discussing current challenges. I trace the development of the town and show how the societal transformations beginning in the 1970s led to an institutionalization and formalization of urban planning. I then discuss three main issues and challenges related to community development today, brought about by rapid climate and socio-economic change: securing the town against environmental changes, the housing crisis, and a changing identity. I argue that throughout its history, Longyearbyen’s function for the Norwegian state as an upholder of presence and legitimation of sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago has set the premises of urban development and planning. This makes for a complex planning context, in some cases limiting local control and participation. The chapter draws on existing literature, policy and planning documents, as well as ethnographic fieldwork in Longyearbyen.

In the Solar Highways project, knowledge institutes ECN and SEAC, and the executive body of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment (Rijkswaterstaat) teamed up to build a bifacial fully integrated solar noise barrier. Not only is it the largest solar noise barrier in the Netherlands to date, it will also be the largest bifacial noise barrier in the world. The solar noise barrier will be 400 m long and 5 meters high and will be facing east and west. To achieve the objectives of maximum solar energy output and minimum operation and maintenance costs, we designed and published a procurement based on the principles of ‘Most Economically Advantageous Tender’ (MEAT), enabling the weighing of monetary alongside non-monetary aspects in the same procurement. Six system designs were submitted by contractors. After assessment of all submitted offers in the MEAT framework, the assignment was granted to Heijmans Infra. By submitting a design that enables a high cell coverage ratio together with minimized construction shading, the output is maximized. Smart design features ensure minimum operation and maintenance effort. After commissioning of the installation in December 2018, we will carefully monitor it with respect to energy output and maintenance costs. 35th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 1493-1495

Biomass gasification for energy or hydrogen production is a field in continuous evolution, due to the fact that biomass is a renewable and CO2 neutral source. The ability to produce biomass-derived vehicle fuel on a large scale will help to reduce greenhouse gas and pollution, increase the security of European energy supplies, and enhance the use of renewable energy. The Va¨rnamo Biomass Gassification Centre in Sweden is a unique plant and an important site for the development of innovative technologies for biomass transformation. At the moment, the Va¨rnamo plant is the heart of the CHRISGAS European project, that aims to convert the produced gas for further upgrading to liquid fuels as dimethyl ether (DME), methanol or Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) derived diesel. The present work is an attempt to highlight the conditions for the reforming unit and the problems related to working with streams having high contents of sulphur and alkali metals.