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The characteristics of excess aerobic granular sludge, related to its structure and chemical composition, limit the efficiency of anaerobic digestion. For this reason, pre-treatment methods and compositions with other organic substrates are used. In earlier work, no attempt was made to intensify the methane fermentation of the excess aerobic granular sludge by adding fatty waste materials. The aim of the research was to determine the effects of co-digestion of pre-hydrodynamically cavitated aerobic granular sludge with waste fats on the efficiency of methane fermentation under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The addition of waste fats improved the C/N ratio and increased its value to 19. Under mesophilic conditions, the highest effects were observed when the proportion of volatile solids from waste fats was 25%. The amount of biogas produced increased by 17.85% and CH4 by 19.85% compared to the control. The greatest effects were observed in thermophilic anaerobic digestion at 55 °C, where a 15% waste fat content in volatile solids was ensured. This resulted in the production of 1278.2 ± 40.2 mL/gVS biogas and 889.4 ± 29.7 mL/gVS CH4. The CH4 content of the biogas was 69.6 ± 1.3%. The increase in biogas and CH4 yield compared to pure aerobic granular sludge anaerobic digestion was 34.4% and 40.1%, respectively. An increase in the proportion of waste fats in the substrate had no significant effect on the efficiency of methane fermentation. Strong positive correlations (R2 > 0.9) were observed between biogas and CH4 production and the C/N ratio and VS concentration.

Car-sharing services are developing at an ever-increasing pace. Taking into account the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and pursuit of the sustainable development of transport, implementing electric cars in car-sharing fleets is being proposed. On the one hand, these types of vehicles are referred to as emission-free, but on the other hand, their environmental friendliness is questionable due to the emission of carbon dioxide during the production of energy to power them. Although many scientific papers are devoted to the issue of reducing emissions through car sharing, there is a research gap concerning the real production of carbon dioxide by car-sharing vehicles during car-sharing trips. To fill this research gap, the objective of the article was to analyze the actual level of carbon dioxide emissions from combustion and electric vehicles from car-sharing systems produced when renting rides. The test results showed that the electric car turned out to be significantly less emitting. The use of electric vehicles in car-sharing fleets can reduce carbon dioxide emissions from 14% to 65% compared to using cars with internal combustion engines. However, the key role during car-sharing trips is played by the driving style of the drivers, which has been omitted from the literature to date. This should be properly regulated by service providers and focus on the proper use of energy from electric vehicle batteries, especially at low temperatures. The article provides support for operators planning to modernize their fleet of vehicles and fills the research gap concerning car-sharing emissions.

Research on corona discharge, shared by physics, chemistry and electrical engineering, has not arrested yet. As a dissipative process, the development of corona increases the resistive losses of transmission lines and enhances the line capacitance locally. Introducing additional losses and propagation delay, along the line, non-linearity and non-uniformity of the line parameters; therefore, corona should not be neglected. The present work is meant to provide the reader with comprehensive information on the corona macroscopic phenomenology and development, referring to the most relevant contributions in the literature on this subject. The models proposed in the literature for the simulation of the corona development are reviewed in detail, and sensitivity curves are provided to highlight their dependence on the input parameters.

Nowadays, heating using wood, briquettes, or pellets is a curious replacement to fossil fuels such as coal, oil, or gas. Unfortunately, the combustion of biofuels, especially in low-power boilers with unstable operating conditions, releases a lot of gas pollutants (e.g., carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO), and various organic compounds) that are usually generated due to the incomplete product combustion. The combustion of biofuel in grate boilers with top-down ignition is a new approach, popular in society (mainly used for coal fuels), which improves the combustion process and reduces the amount of pollutants emitted. This study evaluated the impact of ignition techniques on the emission level of gas pollutants during the combustion of wood logs, briquettes, and pellets of pine in grate-based charging boilers. The combination of top ignition mode with pinewood logs allowed us to achieve a reduction of 6% in CO and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission into the atmosphere. However, the combination of top-down ignition mode with pellets and briquettes produced, in fully operational conditions, 1- to 18-fold higher levels of CO and SO2 respectively, than bottom-up ignition, after an initial period of low level CO and SO2 emissions. During the tests (mainly with ignition from top), substantial emissions of NO were observed of up to 400 mg·m−3 at 10% O2. Therefore, further research is required to decrease emission related to the content of nitrogen in biomass. In this respect, research of impact on the combustion temperature of such emissions is needed.

The hygrothermal behaviour of an internally insulated historic wall is still hard to predict, mainly because the physical characteristics of the materials composing the historic wall are unknown. In this study, the hygrothermal assessment of an internally thermal insulated masonry wall of an historic palace located in Ferrara, in Italy, is shown. In situ non-destructive monitoring method is combined with a hygrothermal simulation tool, aiming to better analyse and discuss future refurbishment scenarios. In this context, the original U-value of the wall (not refurbished) is decreased from 1.44 W/m2K to 0.26 W/m2K (10 cm stone wool). Under the site specific conditions of this wall, not reached by the sun or rain, it was verified that even in the absence of vapour barrier, no frost damage is likely to occur and the condensation risk is very limited. Authors proposed further discussion based on simulation. The results showed that the introduction of a second gypsum board to the studied technology compensated such absence, while the reduction of the insulation material thickness provides a reduction of RH peaks in the interstitial area by 1%; this second solution proved to be more efficient, providing a 3% RH reduction and the avoidance of further thermal losses.

This paper addresses the energy conservation problem in computing systems. The focus is on energy-efficient routing protocols. We formulated and solved a network-wide optimization problem for calculating energy-aware routing for the recommended network configuration. Considering the complexity of the mathematical models of data center networks and the limitations of calculating routing by solving large-scale optimization problems, and methods described in the literature, we propose an alternative solution. We designed and developed several efficient heuristics for equal-cost multipath (ECMP) and Valiant routing that reduce the energy consumption in the computer network interconnecting computing servers. Implementing these heuristics enables the selection of routing paths and relay nodes based on current and predicted internal network load. The utility and efficiency of our methods were verified by simulation. The test cases were carried out on several synthetic network topologies, giving encouraging results. Similar results of using our efficient heuristic algorithm and solving the optimization task confirmed the usability and effectiveness of our solution. Thus, we produced well-justified recommendations for energy-aware computing system design to conclude the paper.

The paper presents a modified algorithm for determining the accuracy parameter of the system for differential corrections and monitoring (SDCM) navigation solution in air navigation. For this purpose, a solution to determine the resultant accuracy parameter was proposed by using two on-board global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers. The mathematical algorithm takes into account the calculation of a single point positioning accuracy for a given GNSS receiver and a weighting factor combining the position error values. The weighting factor was determined as a function of the number of tracked GNSS satellites used in the SDCM single point positioning solution. The resultant accuracy parameter was expressed in ellipsoidal coordinates BLh (B—latitude, L—longitude, h—ellipsoidal height). The study used GNSS kinematic data recorded by two on-board receivers: Trimble Alloy and Septentrio AsterRx2i, located in a Diamond DA 20-C1 aircraft. The test flight was performed near the city of Olsztyn in north-eastern Poland. Calculations and analyses were performed using RTKLIB software and the Scilab environment. On the basis of the performed tests, it was found that the proposed algorithm for SDCM system allows for improvement in the determination of the resultant accuracy value by 56–80% in relation to the results of position errors from a single GNSS receiver. Additionally, the proposed algorithm was tested for the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) system, and in this case, the improvement in the accuracy parameter was even better and was in the range of 69–89%. The resulting SDCM and EGNOS positioning accuracy met the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) certification requirements for SBAS systems in air navigation. The mathematical algorithm developed in this work was tested positively and can be implemented within the SBAS augmentation system in air navigation.

The global energy crisis has spurred increased investments in energy efficiency and clean energy initiatives; however, the results have fallen short of expected effectiveness. Concurrently, population growth and urbanisation drive a persistent surge in energy demands, especially within the residential sector, significant to overall building energy consumption. Current research focuses on residents’ responses to one-shot investments for energy efficiency or clean sources. The renovation wave, involving a massive number of existing buildings, calls for the mobilisation of huge investments that can be hard to afford in the short run. Sustainable behavioural change is complementarily rising as a key asset for maximising the overall estimated energy saving potential. Despite significant efforts to analyse household energy use and promote behavioural transformations, the literature remains gaping about future users, particularly the younger generation, as future leaders of sustainable development who exhibit a more responsible approach towards climate-related issues but also a strong dependency on digital-based solutions, which may influence energy use patterns and living habits, also impacting relations among peers and overall societal sustainability and energy efficiency. This article proposes a systematic literature review to analyse the variables affecting young people’s energy behaviour at home. The aim is to investigate the engines and gaps between strategies or tools for behaviour change and the expected effects, then find potential methods to address that barrier to identify a more promising approach, encouraging the younger generation to translate towards more sustainable energy behaviours.