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Maintaining critical data access latency requirements and ensuring efficient energy consumption on the field devices are two important challenges of Industry 4.0. The traditional, centralized industrial networks which offer primitive data distribution functions, might be incapable of meeting such strict requirements. In this paper, in order to overcome this issue, we focus on a network of resource constraint IoT devices, and exploit the presence of a few more capable Edge nodes that act as distributed local data storing proxies for all IoT devices. We show that, given the proxy locations in the network, the initial energy supplies of the nodes, a pattern of data requests from IoT devices, and the maximum access latency that consumer nodes can tolerate, the problem of finding how to distribute the data on the Edge nodes maximizing the network lifetime is computationally hard. We design an offline centralized heuristic algorithm for identifying which paths in the network the data should follow and on which proxies they should be cached, in order to meet the data access latency constraint and to maximize the network lifetime. We implement the method and evaluate its performance using a testbed of IEEE 802.15.4-enabled network nodes. We demonstrate that the proposed heuristic (i) guarantees data access latency below the given threshold, and (ii) performs well in terms of network lifetime with respect to a theoretically optimal solution.

Research and development of cost-effective, high-performance thermal insulation materials for the construction sector has to be focused on their final application. In particular, solutions for refurbishing historic buildings, which represent 40% of the European building stock, have to offer a good compromise between environmental quality, energy efficiency and conservation aspects. In this paper, the experimental assessment of an insulation material based on aerogel technology, recently developed in the European project EFFESUS, is presented with regard to the material's thermal performance, compatibility with historic fabric and reversibility. The overall results obtained in laboratory testing on a real-size mock-up and in a real-world case application indicate that the new material is a promising solution for retrofitting historic buildings, thanks to its thermal properties, easy application, reversibility and material compatibility.

The EU policy of reducing the emissions of combustion generated pollutants entails climate induced deterioration to become more important. Moreover, products applied to preserve outdoor built heritage and their preliminary performance tests often turn out to be improper. In such context, the paper reports the outcomes of the methodology adopted to assess the durability and efficiency of nano-based consolidating products utilized for the conservation of carbonate artworks, performing field exposure tests on Carrara marble model samples in different sites in the framework of the EC Project NANOMATCH. Surface properties and cohesion, extent and penetration of the conservative products and their interactions with marble substrates and environmental conditions are here examined after outdoor exposure for eleven months in four different European cities and compared with the features of undamaged and of untreated damaged specimens undergoing the same exposure settings.

Olive pomace is an interesting agro-industrial byproduct that can be a potential raw material for densified biomass products. At first, 2-phase (2 PH) and 3-phase (3 PH) olive pomace pellets were analyzed in order to evaluate their quality in terms of the main parameters required by the European Standard EN 17225-6. The characterization of the pure pellets has shown important problems because of out of limits values of nitrogen, durability and copper in the two olive pomace. To improve the properties of olive pomace pellets, the possibility of manufacturing pellets by mixing olive pomace and olive tree pruning (PR) was investigated. Several blends at different weight ratios were analyzed in order to verify the effect of mixing on the pellet properties. It can be concluded that the physical properties of all mixtures are in compliance with the requirements of the standard. In particular, two best blends in terms of physical, chemical and mechanical characteristics were identified as becoming potential fuel for combustion and gasification applications: 75PR252 PH (75% pruning and 25% 2-phase pomace) and 50PR503 PH (50% pruning and 50% 3-phase pomace).

AbstractWe used simulation modeling to assess potential climate change impacts on wildfire exposure in Italy and Corsica (France). Weather data were obtained from a regional climate model for the period 1981–2070 using the IPCC A1B emissions scenario. Wildfire simulations were performed with the minimum travel time fire spread algorithm using predicted fuel moisture, wind speed, and wind direction to simulate expected changes in weather for three climatic periods (1981–2010, 2011–2040, and 2041–2070). Overall, the wildfire simulations showed very slight changes in flame length, while other outputs such as burn probability and fire size increased significantly in the second future period (2041–2070), especially in the southern portion of the study area. The projected changes fuel moisture could result in a lengthening of the fire season for the entire study area. This work represents the first application in Europe of a methodology based on high resolution (250 m) landscape wildfire modeling to assess potential impacts of climate changes on wildfire exposure at a national scale. The findings can provide information and support in wildfire management planning and fire risk mitigation activities.

The kinetic behaviour of olive tree pruning (PR), two- (2PH) and three-phase (3PH) olive pomace and their blends was investigated under combustion condition using thermogravimetric analysis. PR was blended with 2PH and 3PH at different ratios (25:75, 50:50 and 75:25) and tested in the temperature range from ambient to 1000°C in order to evaluate the co-combustion behaviour. Results showed that the thermal degradation of all samples can be divided into three regions (drying, devolatilisation, char oxidation) with different combustion properties, depending on the percentage of PR. Significant interaction was detected between the fuels, and reactivity of 2PH and 3PH was improved upon blending with PR. The iso-conversional methods, Ozawa-Flynn-Wall and Vyazovkin, were employed for the kinetic analysis of the oxidation process. The results revealed that the activation energy of PR was higher than the one of 2PH and 3PH, and the minimum value was obtained for 25PR752PH sample.

The paper describes a novel approach, Total Factory Simulation, for integration of energy and material flows in manufacturing as well as building simulation combined in a csolution to support planning and optimization of green factories. The first ready module of the approach based on PlantSimulation which explains the integration of energy flows based on programming and thermodynamic estimations within the application is in focus of this paper. A use case of the module in an Italian SME is presented for sequencing purposes taking into account environmental performances

The increasing demand for renewable energy may lead to the conversion of millions of hectares into bioenergy plantations with a possible substantial transitory carbon (C) loss. In this study we report on the greenhouse gas fluxes (CO2, CH4, and N2O) measured using eddy covariance of a short-rotation bioenergy poplar plantation converted from agricultural fields. During the first six months after the establishment of the plantation (June-December 2010) there were substantial CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions (a total of 5.36 +/- 0.52 MgCO2eq ha(-1) in terms of CO2 equivalents). Nitrous oxide loss mostly occurred during a week-long peak emission after an unusually large rainfall. This week-long N2O emission represented 52% of the entire N2O loss during one and an half years of measurements. As most of the N2O loss occurred in just this week-long period, accurately capturing these emission events are critical to accurate estimates of the GHG balance of bioenergy. While initial establishment (June-December 2010) of the plantation resulted in a net CO2 loss into the atmosphere (2.76 +/- 0.16 Mg CO2eq ha(-1)), in the second year (2011) there was substantial net CO2 uptake (-3.51 +/- 0.56 Mg CO2eq ha(-1)). During the entire measurement period, CH4 was a source to the atmosphere (0.63 +/- 0.05 Mg CO2eq ha(-1) in 2010, and 0.49 +/- 0.05 Mg CO2eq ha(-1) in 2011), and was controlled by water table depth. Importantly, over the entire measurement period, the sum of the CH4 and N2O losses was much higher (3.51 +/- 0.52 Mg CO2eq ha(-1)) than the net CO2 uptake (-0.76 +/- 0.58 Mg CO2eq ha(-1)). As water availability was an important control on the GHG emission of the plantation, expected climate change and altered rainfall pattern could increase the negative environmental impacts of bioenergy. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.