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Abstract Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is a growing reality worldwide and its development involves implementing techniques to log and estimate the solar resources available. In this paper an easy methodology for the pre-classification of facades in BIPV projects has been described. This step is previous to the calculation of the complete solar potential in a building, and don't include the shape and shading factors. The proposed methodology covers the development of a new model that allows the irradiation factor (IF) to be estimated on facades with only 2 input parameters: the latitude of the place and the azimuth angle of the photovoltaic generator. The necessary tools to assess the “Energetic Efficiency Rating” for BIPV facades are provided, as an initial stage to be applied by architects and engineers.

Efforts are needed in order to increase confidence for carbon accounts in the land use sector, especially in tropical forest ecosystems that often need to turn to default values given the lack of precise and reliable site specific data to quantify their carbon sequestration and storage capacity. The aim of this study was then to estimate biomass and carbon accumulation in young secondary forests, from 4 and up to 20 years of age, as well as its distribution among the different pools (tree including roots, herbaceous understory, dead wood, litter and soil), in humid tropical forests of Costa Rica. Carbon fraction for the different pools and tree components (stem, branches, leaves and roots) was estimated and varies between 37.3% (±3.3) and 50.3% (±2.9). Average carbon content in the soil was 4.1% (±2.1). Average forest plant biomass was 82.2 (±47.9) Mg ha−1 and the mean annual increment for carbon in the biomass was 4.2 Mg ha−1 yr−1. Approximately 65.2% of total biomass was found in the aboveground tree components, while 14.2% was found in structural roots and the rest in the herbaceous vegetation and necromass. Carbon in the soil increased by 1.1 Mg ha−1 yr−1. Total stored carbon in the forest was 180.4 Mg ha−1 at the age of 20 years. In these forests, most of the carbon (51&-83%) was stored in the soil. Models selected to estimate biomass and carbon in trees as predicted by basal area had R2 adjustments above 95%. Results from this study were then compared with those obtained for a variety of secondary and primary forests in different Latin-American tropical ecosystems and in tree plantations in the same study area. Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Costa Rica

Continuous phosphorus discharges in bodies of water, generated by human activities, such as agriculture, domestic effluences or wastewater from industrial processes, produce contaminated water and eutrophication. For this reason, efficient and low-cost systems that can remove phosphorus from contaminated water are necessary. In addition, it is important to generate renewable energy such as the energy produced in biomass power plants, taking advantage of the available biomass waste in each place. When producing this renewable energy, the resulting ash is a residue that can be used for phosphorus removal by adsorption processes. Moreover, according to the concept of the circular economy, the ash waste generated in this bio energy process should be reduced as much as possible. One of the advantages of this research being that surplus phosphorus-laden ash can be reused as fertilizer in agricultural fields. Considering this, the efficiency of reed ash (RA) (Phragmites australis) has been analysed in batch experiments, as well as the effect of several parameters on the removal of phosphate, such as contact time, phosphate-ash ratio, ash dose and temperature. Significant results obtained show that RA can be used to improve water quality.

The marine environment has been in the spotlight of economic development due to the growing demand for areas to promote activities associated with the concept of Blue Economy. This is the case of the renewable energy and aquaculture sectors, whose expansion towards offshore is determined by the increase global demand for energy and food, and by exceeding of the carrying capacity of coastal and terrestrial systems. In this context, the multi-use strategy can be an alternative to minimize conflicts between activities and impacts on the surrounding social-ecological environment. This contribution presents a preliminary approach to identify opportunities for individual exploitation and the possibilities of multi-use between wind energy, wave energy and aquaculture in Brazil?s Exclusive Economic Zone. Technical, operational, and biological aspects were evaluated, through a Suitability Index validated in previous works, to identify zones with favorable conditions for energy exploitation and farming of six fish species. Additionally, overlaps between conservation areas and multi-use zones were considered to analyze possible spatial conflicts. Zones with multi-use possibilities with different combinations between these sectors were identified: i) wave energy and aquaculture presented the largest areas for multi-use, distributed in the south, southeast and northeast; ii) possibility of combining wind energy and aquaculture was identified in the northeast; and iii) multi-use possibilities in the south for marine energies. Zones with multi-use possibilities were identified in protection and conservation areas, such as the combination of wave exploitation and Greater Amberjack farming, with 63% overlap. Therefore, this case study is a guide for future local studies in the marine region of Brazil, mainly in the selection of sites for analysis. The present contribution represents a starting point for the discussion about multi-use in the country C.V.C. Weiss is grateful to the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for the PDJ (Pós-doutorado Junior) fellowship granted (151228/2020–5), and the financial support from the Universidad de Cantabria (UC) through the Agusto González de Linares and Margarita Salas Grants (POS-UC-2019-06 and RMS-04, respectively). J. Bonetti is a Research Fellow of CNPq (Grant 306633/2019–1). Raúl Guanche acknowledges the Grant RYC-2017-23260 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and “ESF Investing in your future”. This work is framed in the project “ACUFLOT”, supported by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge Ministry of Spain and the IHCantabria - Instituto de Hidráulica Ambiental de la Universidad de Cantabria

AbstractRising atmospheric [CO2] and associated climate change are expected to modify primary productivity across a range of ecosystems globally. Increasing aridity is predicted to reduce grassland productivity, although rising [CO2] and associated increases in plant water use efficiency may partially offset the effect of drying on growth. Difficulties arise in predicting the direction and magnitude of future changes in ecosystem productivity, due to limited field experimentation investigating climate and CO2 interactions. We use repeat near‐surface digital photography to quantify the effects of water availability and experimentally manipulated elevated [CO2] (eCO2) on understorey live foliage cover and biomass over three growing seasons in a temperate grassy woodland in south‐eastern Australia. We hypothesised that (i) understorey herbaceous productivity is dependent upon soil water availability, and (ii) that eCO2 will increase productivity, with greatest stimulation occurring under conditions of low water availability. Soil volumetric water content (VWC) determined foliage cover and growth rates over the length of the growing season (August to March), with low VWC (<0.1 m3 m−3) reducing productivity. However, eCO2 did not increase herbaceous cover and biomass over the duration of the experiment, or mitigate the effects of low water availability on understorey growth rates and cover. Our findings suggest that projected increases in aridity in temperate woodlands are likely to lead to reduced understorey productivity, with little scope for eCO2 to offset these changes.

Vegetated coastal ecosystems, in particular mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses are highly efficient at sequestering and storing carbon, making them valuable assets for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The state of Queensland, in northeastern Australia, contains almost half of the total area of these blue carbon ecosystems in the country, yet there are few detailed regional or state-wide assessments of their total sedimentary organic carbon (SOC) stocks. We compiled existing SOC data and used boosted regression tree models to evaluate the influence of environmental variables in explaining the variability in SOC stocks, and to produce spatially explicit blue carbon estimates. The final models explained 75 % (for mangroves and tidal marshes) and 65 % (for seagrasses) of the variability in SOC stocks. Total SOC stocks in the state of Queensland were estimated at 569 ± 98 Tg C (173 ± 32 Tg C, 232 ± 50 Tg C, and 164 ± 16 Tg C from mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses, respectively). Regional predictions for each of Queensland's eleven Natural Resource Management regions revealed that 60 % of the state's SOC stocks occurred within three regions (Cape York, Torres Strait and Southern Gulf Natural Resource Management regions) due to a combination of high values of SOC stocks and large areas of coastal wetlands. Protected areas in Queensland play an important role in conserving SOC assets in Queensland's coastal wetlands. For example, ~19 Tg C within terrestrial protected areas, ~27 Tg C within marine protected areas and ~ 40 Tg C within areas of matters of State Environmental Significance. Using multi-decadal (1987-2020) mapped distributions of mangroves in Queensland; we found that mangrove area increased by approximately 30,000 ha from 1987 to 2020, which led to temporal fluctuations in mangrove plant and SOC stocks. We estimated that plant stocks decreased from ~45 Tg C in 1987 to ~34.2 Tg C in 2020, while SOC stocks remained relatively constant from ~107.9 Tg C in 1987 to 108.0 Tg C in 2020. Considering the level of current protection, emissions from mangrove deforestation are potentially very low; therefore, representing minor opportunities for mangrove blue carbon projects in the region. Our study provides much needed information on current trends in carbon stocks and their conservation in Queensland's coastal wetlands, while also contributing to guide future management actions, including blue carbon restoration projects.

Innovation Districts are rising as the banners of the new urban, economic, and social paradigm and as a solution to the renaissance of inner cities since they expedite the creation and commercialization of new ideas which leverage the city goals and its technologic and economic attributes. The configuration of accurate indicators to measure the degree of achievement of the innovation district goals is one of the main requirements to ensure district proper development. Even when the study of innovation districts is a topic that is increasingly under study, little is still known about the insight, and it is still needed tools that favor their evolution and development. The aim of this paper is two-fold: on the one hand, it seeks to collect and analyze the indicators that have been used in literature to measure the degree of maturity over the course of the 20-year existence of the 22@Barcelona, an area of innovation that transformed an old industrial district into a knowledge-based one. On the other hand, guided by the four dimensions of the Knowledge Base Urban Development theory and the main actors that make up Triple Helix approach, the paper designs a framework of indicators in the four spheres that shape the regeneration of the district, that is, urban, economic, social and governance. As we shall see, a total of 47 indicators are proposed, indicating for each of them: the environment in which it is applied, the main purpose to which it responds, and the main actor with the greatest power of action over it.