• Energy Research
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Three urban redevelopment projects recently undertaken in Europe-Ria 2000 in Bilbao, Spain; Emscher Park in Germany; and Gasometer in Vienna, Austria, are presented and discussed in the paper. All three innovate on three independent levels culture, economy and urban organization, and provide high quality places to assist their cities and regions to cope with a global competitive environment. All three were also designed to represent the best of the sustainable practice in Europe at the time. In the same time, the basic philosophy of all three is deeply rooted in creative economies and elaborate their basis principles. The paper explores their design solution in order to identify the points where creative industries and sustainability meet, and investigates if, and to what extent, they comply with the principles of sustainability. Urban design and physical space are in focus, while other areas are considered as long as they contribute to the design, or reflect a credo that architecture and urban design are among those that play a central role in building cities' reputation and character. The author argues that all three materialized some of the basic principles of sustainability, by elaborating ideas of genius loci and the relationship between identity and locality. Emscher Park has been the most successful in demonstrating how the Brownfield site and devastated area could be transformed into the cultural landscape. Ria 2000 brought in a new interpretation of balance between the man made and natural environments. Gasometer has been least successful, and rather its solutions go after the traditional redevelopment paradigm.

This paper consists of three parts. The starting position of the first part is that technical and technological modernization, in addition to the undoubted benefits, also brings some problems that result in a long-term ecological crisis. One of the key social and environmental problems based on modernization is the issue of the dramatic proportions of rapid population growth in the last few decades. The second part of the paper deals with the problems that follow from rapid population growth, such as preserving the quality of life and environmental quality, as well as the issue of sustainable development. It is pointed out that the growing population rapidly endangers the planet's key resources (deforestation, water, air, and soil pollution, etc.) and that the survival of the human species is at stake. Special attention is paid to the violation of the existing water supplies, which directly threatens the health and physiological survival of people, especially in the big cities of underdeveloped countries. The third part of the paper shows that, among other things, it is essential to develop adequate environmental awareness (ecocentrism), which should encourage both the politically powerful and ordinary people to change their habits and to devote more attention to the preservation of the environment.

The results obtained during the recycling of spent nickel based catalysts that generate in the oil hydrogenation process are presented. Nickel based catalysts are used for selective hydrogenation of the highly active plants oils. The used catalysts are classified in the H11 category of hazardous materials; they are deposited on the site and are potentially dangerous to the environment. Laboratory experimental research defined optimal conditions (temperature, time and solid-liquid ratio) and technological process of catalysts recycling. Hazardous waste is being converted to the category of non-hazardous, and extracted nickel as nickel-sulphate represents commercial product. The degree of recovery of nickel is higher than 95%.

Biomass can be considered strategic potential, not only because it is a renewable source of energy and it is widespread, but also because its application can provide a sufficient amount of energy to reduce emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, resulting in a minimum negative impact on environment. This paper presents an overview of techniques for biomass burning, as well as technical and technological characteristics of plant for the production of energy from biomass in order to promote the implementation of renewable energy sources. It also presents the option and joint combustion of biomass and fossil fuels. The decisive factor in the increased use of biomass should be its low acquisition and operating costs, but the application of modern low-emission incinerator is economically viable only for large plants, because then gets maximum effect from the problem of fuel (straw and specially planted Culture (Miscanthus Sinesis)). .

Refurbishment of existing building stock using energy-saving phase-changing smart materials and technologies, in addition to improved indoor climatic conditions, offer an opportunity for increasing housing energy efficiency and value. This fast developing technology becomes increasingly cost-effective with much shorter payback periods. However, it is undertaken only on a limited scale; because of lack of knowledge about their changeable properties and dynamism in that they behave in response to energy fields. Main characteristics, which make them different form others, are: immediacy transience, self-actuation, selectivity and directness. Phase change processes invariably involve the absorbing, storing or releasing of large amounts of energy in the form of latent heat. These processes are reversible and phase-changing materials can undergo an unlimited number of cycles without degradation. Since phase-changing materials can be designed to absorb or release energy at predictable temperatures, they have naturally been explored for use in architecture as a way of helping deal with the thermal environment in a building. Technologies based on sealing phase-changing materials into small pellets have achieved widespread use in connection with radiant floor heating systems, phase change wallboards, mortar or facade systems. Thermal characteristics of existing buildings can be improved on increasing their thermal-stored mass by implementation products of phase-changing smart materials. In addition to contributing to carbon reduction and energy security, using phase-changing materials in the building sector stimulates innovations.

The main goal of this work is to identify, classify and research the problems which determine the existence of Zemun from the urbanistic point of view, by analyzing the facts in historic context of its development which were relevant for producing the present situation. The method which could provide the most useful results was the analysis of potentials and limitations of the Zemun’s urban area, considering the wide range of parameters – from geophysical to social and cultural ones. Another fact constantly kept in mind, was the pathological frame surrounding all aspects of the social life in Serbia of the 1990s, so it was possible to clearly distinguish the parameters typical for Zemun as the urban area from the ones which result from the recent social circumstances, extremely unfavourable for sustaining urbanity at all. In potentials analysis, the main nodal points of possible future development of Zemun were identified. They are based on the historical integrity of the town of Zemun, as well as on the quality of the geophysical conditions. Stress was laid on the fact that the structure of all of these parameters can rarely be seen in such a suitable and balanced composition as in the case of Zemun. The limitations analysis showed that, in terms of consequences of disintegration processes in Serbian society, the extent of devastation of the urban tissue of Zemun, which can be noticed in many aspects, is exceeding the simple sum of particular problems. It is also obvious that their basic common feature is association to violation and abuse, as well as to arbitrary, incomplete and/or tendentious interpretation of the legal regulations concerning building and managing urban space. Apart from pointing out the evident lack of understanding of the architectural economical and legal background, which are all essential for the functioning of a city, a more detailed view of the mentioned limitations gives the idea about deeper and long-term reasons which created the foundation for the processes which took place in the town during the last ten years. On the basis of the conducted analyses, and after determining the main aims, this work also recommends the instruments and activities necessary to accomplish them. The solutions were sought in the boundaries of the legal regulations current situation and facts limiting the possible range of action. This work is not, of course, capable of processing all the problems that, speaking of city planning, building and management, exist in the town of Zemun, and it is not the goal to do that. The intention is to make possible the use of classifications and suggestions presented within this work as a foundation for a more detailed analysis of particular cases, and, on the other hand, to enable a more comprehensive look at this area of interest, which is often not possible as a repercussion of state bureaucracy and overlapping of the authorities and interests among relevant institutions.