1,721,324 research outputs found
Life-cycle optimization of building performance: a collection of case studies
Full text linkThe building sector is one of the most impacting on the energy demand and on the environment in developed countries, together with industry and transports.
The European Union introduced the topic of nearly zero-energy building (nZEB) and promoted a deep renovations in the existing building stock with the aim of reducing the energy consumption and environmental impacts of the building sector. The design of a nZEB, and in general of a low-energy building, involves different aspects like the economic cost, the comfort indoor, the energy consumption, the life cycle environmental impacts, the different points of view of policy makers, investors and inhabitants. Thus, the adoption of a multicriteria approach is often required in the design process to manage some potential conflicting domains. In detail, one of the most suitable approaches is to integrate the preliminary building design (or renovation) phase in a multi-objective optimization problem, allowing to rapidly compare many alternatives and to identify the most adapt interventions
Wind Energy Potential and its Sustainable Implementation in Sicily - A GIS Based Methodolgy
No full textLife Cycle Assessment of solar heating and cooling systems: the tool “ELISA”
No full textSolar heating and cooling (SHC) systems play an important role in the achievement of energy and climate European goals. The benefits of these technologies should be evaluated taking into account their lifecycle energy and environmental impacts, calculated by applying the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology.
The development of a complete LCA can be difficult and time-consuming particularly for no-LCA experts, discouraging them in the inclusion of the lifecycle perspective in their assessments. To overcome this limit, the paper presents “ELISA - Environmental Lifecycle Impacts of Solar Air-conditioning systems”, a user-friendly simplified tool for estimating the lifecycle energy and environmental benefits/impacts of solar technologies in different geographic contexts compared to conventional plants.
ELISA can be used by researchers, designers and decision-makers to introduce the lifecycle thinking approach in the design phase of SHC systems, taking into account environmentally sound considerations in the field of the solar systems
THE IMPACT OF GAMIFICATION AND INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES ON STUDENTS' ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS: A CASE STUDY IN A SCHOOL
No full textSustainability education is essential to promote responsible and conscious behaviours among younger generations. This study analyses the impact of gamification and interactive activities on students' environmental awareness, focusing on circular economy concepts, carbon footprint, and product life cycle. The research is based on two seminars held in a school located in Palermo, South of Italy, where students participated in innovative educational experiences, including games, digital tools, and hands-on activities. In addition to experiential learning, participants engaged in a team-based game focused on the Sustainable Development Goals, encouraging reflection through a playful approach. The analysis, supported by questionnaires, direct observations, and carbon footprint calculations, highlights increased engagement and a better understanding of environmental issues. The results suggest that game-based learning methodologies can make sustainability education more effective, engaging, and applicable to students’ everyday lives
Comparative life cycle assessment of alternating and direct current electric loads: The case study of a power supply unit
Full text linkDistributed energy systems operating in direct current have potential benefits if compared with systems in alternating current, due to the reduction of energy conversions. This study performs an energy analysis of an office building to estimate the potential energy benefits of replacing alternating current loads with direct ones. The results indicate that modest but measurable improvements in energy performance can be obtained, evidenced by a 1.27 % reduction in total energy consumption and 4.50 % decrease in computer-related use, a 1.62 % reduction in grid imports, a 2.16 % decline in PV energy exports, thereby enhancing overall energy efficiency and self-sufficiency. Moreover, the study aims to quantify the life cycle impacts reduction for electric loads in direct current, through the analysis of a computer's power supply unit. The results show that the impacts for the manufacturing stage, considering 17 categories, is between 15 % and 45 %. For both configurations the use phase impacts are predominant compared to manufacturing except for water use. The applied approach can be replicated for other electric loads and buildings to support the idea that direct current outperforms their counterparts in terms of energy and environmental performance and that direct current microgrids can be more sustainable also in a life-cycle perspective
Energy and environmental life cycle assessment of an institutional catering service: An Italian case study
Full text linkFood production is recognised as one of the major drivers for global environmental pressure. In the last years,
changes in consumption models result in an increasing population consuming food out of home that pose the
catering service sector at the centre of the European Union policies aimed at improving the environmental sustainability
of the food sector. In this framework, better technical knowledge on the environmental impacts of
catering service is essential in order to identify potential actions towards amore sustainable food sector. This article
presents an environmental assessment of a school catering service operating in Italy and delivering approximately
2,518,128 meals per year. Starting from primary data on the amount of each food consumed in the
catering service examined, we perform an environmental analysis of an equivalent meal ready to be consumed
in the schools canteens by using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology consistent with ISO 14040 standard.
The system boundaries include food and tableware production, food transport, food storage and cooking and
waste treatment. Due to a lack of primary data tableware production, food storage, cooking andwaste treatment
are modelled using literature data or models.
The results of the analysis show that the food production phase is relevant to almost all assessed impact categories
(contribution higher than 65%). The exception is represented by photochemical oxidation impact categories
inwhich the larger impact is linked to the transportation phase. The environmental impacts associated to the tableware
production, food storage and cooking are relevant to global warming and global energy requirement
(contributions higher than 7%).
The scenario analysis of potential actions aimed at reducing the environmental impacts of the catering service
shows that, to obtain amore sustainable food sector, strategiesmust be implemented along the entire food supply
chain and considering a wide range of environmental impact categories
LA LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT APPLICATA AL SETTORE AGROALIMENTARE: IL CASO STUDIO DI TRE PRODOTTI SICILIANI
No full textIl settore agro – alimentare rappresenta uno dei settori economici più significativi a livello
europeo in termini di impatti ambientali e di consumo di risorse. Esso è responsabile di
circa il 5,3% del consumo finale di energia delle industrie europee, di circa l’1,8% del
consumo di acqua, e di circa il 20-30% degli impatti ambientali (Tukker et al., 2006). La
quantità di energia necessaria per coltivare, trasformare, confezionare e distribuire i prodotti
ai consumatori ha rappresentato, nel 2013, una quota pari al 26% del consumo di energia
finale europeo, di cui circa un terzo è causato dalla coltivazione e dall’allevamento del bestiame.
Inoltre, nel 2010, le emissioni di gas a effetto serra connesse al settore sono state pari
a circa 10 GtCO2eq, rappresentando un quinto delle emissioni globali (Monforti-Ferrario
et al., 2015).
Pertanto, quello agro – alimentare è stato identificato come uno dei settori prioritari a
livello europeo su cui intervenire per l’attuazione di strategie di produzione e consumo
sostenibili (European Commission, 2008) e di economia circolare. L’Unione Europea ha
individuato delle possibili azioni per la riduzione degli impatti energetico – ambientali del
settore, alcune delle quali di seguito elencate:
• Applicazione di metodologie di analisi delle prestazioni dei prodotti alimentari lungo
il loro intero ciclo di vita, con particolare riferimento alla metodologia Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA).
• Diffusione di strumenti di comunicazione ai consumatori degli elementi di preferibilità
ambientale dei prodotti alimentari, attraverso dei sistemi di etichettatura.
• Valorizzazione dei prodotti provenienti dalla “filiera corta”, favorendo i mercati locali
e riducendo, quindi, la distanza fra consumatore finale e produttore e limitando il numero
delle intermediazioni.
• Promozione del consumo di prodotti ortofrutticoli stagionali, che oltre ad avere in
media proprietà organolettiche migliori sono caratterizzati da minori impatti legati al
trasporto o alla gestione di serre o di frigoriferi
Preface of "Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Systems and Sustainable Energy Technologies. The Italian Experience"
No full textThis book deals with the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to sustainable energy systems and technologies. It reviews the state-of-the-art of the Italian experiences on the LCA applied to energy, and the most recent results from research in this field, with a particular focus on renewables, bio-energy and sustainable solutions
Data fusion analysis applied to different climate change models: an application to the energy consumptions of a building office
No full textThe paper aims to achieve the modelling of climate change effects on heating and cooling in the building sector, through the use of the available Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecasted data. Data from several different climate models will be fused with regards to mean air temperature, wind speed and horizontal solar radiation. Several climatic models data were analyzed ranging from January 2006 to December 2100. Rather than considering each model in isolation, we propose a data fusion approach for providing a robust combined model for morphing an existing weather data file. The final aim is simulating future energy use for heating and cooling of a reference building as a consequence of the expected climate changes. We compare results, in terms of robustness to overfitting, for two different fusion methodologies, based on the comparison between errors on punctual historical data or prediction models that can be obtained by each climate simulator and by the actual ERA-INTERIM data set. Finally, we map the new aggregated data into a prediction trace of heating and cooling energy requirements. The expected energy demand is in the range of the one provided by single climate models, with a variability that reaches up to the 10% of the overall energy requirements
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