2,202 research outputs found
Water’s consumption for susteinable agriculture
No full textVengono analizzate delle normative europee in materia idrica al fine di confrontare i consumi idrici nazionali da parte dell'agricoltura
A Plackett-Burman Design to Optimize Wood Chipper Settings
No full textThe wood-chipping process is affected by several factors, notably chipper settings and wood characteristics. It is often difficult to test all of these factors in a full factorial experimental plan, due to the large number of trials required. On the other hand, a screening design of the experiment makes it possible to manage a large number of variables in a small number of trials. Hence, this approach is used to test six factors, in order to optimize the productivity and chip quality of a drum wood-chipper. These factors are: feeding speed, screen size, PTO-speed, wood species, wood moisture content, and wood diameter. Productivity was significantly affected by screen size, while chip quality was related to feeding speed, screen size, PTO-speed, and wood species. The results suggest that the optimal configuration can be achieved by adjusting feeding speed, the PTO-speed, and the wood species, as these settings maximize chip quality. Screen size requires further analysis, as larger sizes increase productivity but reduce quality, while the opposite is true for smaller sizes. Thus, the optimal screen size requires a consideration of costs and benefits that may change according to the retail price of premium and regular wood chips, and production costs
The Forest Energy Chain in Tuscany: Economic Feasibility and Environmental Effects of Two Types of Biomass District Heating Plant
No full textThe purpose of this study was to examine two biomass district heating plants operating in Tuscany, with a specific focus on the ex-post evaluation of their economic and financial feasibility and of their environmental benefits. The former biomass district heating plant supplies only public users (Comunità Montana della Lunigiana, CML: administrative body that coordinates the municipalities located in mountain areas), the latter supplies both public and private users (Municipality of San Romano in Garfagnana). Ex-post investment analysis was performed to check both the consistency of results with the forecasts made in the stage of the project design and on the factors, which may have reduced or jeopardized the estimated economic performance of the investment (ex-ante assessment). The results of the study point out appreciable results only in the case of biomass district heating plants involving private users and fuelled by biomasses sourced from third parties. In this case, the factors that most influence ex-post results include the conditions of the woody biomass local market (market prices), the policies of energy selling prices to private users and the temporal dynamics of private users’ connection. To ensure the consistency of ex-post economic outcome with the expected results it is thus important to: (i) have good knowledge of the woody local market; (ii) define energy selling prices that should be cheap for private users but consistent with energy production costs and (iii) constrain private users beforehand to prevent errors in the plant design and in the preliminary estimate of return on investment. Moreover, the results obtained during the monitoring activities could help in providing information on the effectiveness of the supporting measures adopted and also to orient future choices of policy makers and particularly designers, to identify the most efficient configuration of district heating organization for improving energy and environmental performances of communities, and to develop a chain model for the optimization of energy use in the municipality
The economic value of fire damages in Tuscan agroforestry areas
No full textThe Tuscan Region (Central Italy) spends about 12 million euros every year in the prevention and suppression of forest fires. In this context, this study aims to analyse the economic and environmental benefits derived from fire suppression activities. Starting from a case study of a real fire event in Tuscany, we simulated three hypothetical scenarios (with different fire durations) without fire extinction activities planned by using the open source software FARSITE. Benefits derived from fire extinction activities can be quantified as the avoided damage, which has been calculated through the estimation of the total economic value of forests not destroyed by fire thanks to the extinction action. The avoided damage is represented by the difference between values of forest areas burned by the real fire event and those burned by simulated fire. By providing an economic estimation of avoided damages, our results confirm that forest fire services and forest management have a high impact on both the economy and the environment
Approcci innovativi per la classificazione delle aree rurali: dagli indirizzi europei all'applicazione locale/Innovative approaches to the classification of rural areas: from the european addresses to the local application
No full textThe rurality index has been explored using Spatial Statistical Techniques, Multicriteria Decision Support System and Cluster Analysis to obtain areas with homogenous characteristics. The profile outlined is an effective tool to support decision-makers in defining actions aimed to the development of rural areas, in view of a global rationalization and optimization of resources. To check the consistency of results, the model was tested within Basilicata region, which is well-known to the authors and which has been extensively investigated with regard to its levels of rurality. The results show eight homogeneous areas, classified in relation to the Rural Index. The results obtained enable locating resources based on specific needs
Postal de Claudio Vivas a Maruja Vieira, junio 23 de 1955
No full textPostal de Claudio Vivas a Maruja Vieira, felicitándola por el reconocimiento que le fue otorgado a la autora de poemasPostcard from Claudio Vivas to Maruja Vieira, congratulating her for the recognition given to the author of poems.Publicación, fondo Maruja Vieira, carpeta 1, folio
Approcci innovativi per la classificazione delle aree rurali: dagli indirizzi europei all’applicazione locale
No full textThe rurality index has been explored using Spatial Statisti- cal Techniques, Multicriteria Decision Support System and Cluster Analysis to obtain areas with homogenous charac- teristics. The profile outlined is an effective tool to support decision-makers in defining actions aimed to the develop- ment of rural areas, in view of a global rationalization and optimization of resources. To check the consistency of re- sults, the model was tested within Basilicata region, which is well-known to the authors and which has been exten- sively investigated with regard to its levels of rurality. The results show eight homogeneous areas, classified in rela- tion to the Rural Index. The results obtained enable locat- ing resources based on specific needs
Towards sustainable and inclusive communities: an integrated approach to assess sustainability in rural areas
No full textSustainable development is a priority in EU rural development strategies. Due to the multidimensionality of the sustainability issue, this paper presents a Spatial Decision Support System to assess territorial sustainability and help decision-makers in rural planning process. Four globally valid sustainability dimensions were considered (long-term ecological sustainability, satisfaction of basic human needs, promotion of intragenerational and intergenerational equity), measured by a set of socio-cultural-political-environmental indicators by using the Mazziotta and Pareto method.The results of the S-DSS, implemented and verified in Basilicata region (southern Italy), provide the maps of sustainability values for each dimension at municipalities level, showing the usefulness of the tool to identify and monitor rural areas that require priority interventions and resources, in order to foster sustainable rural development
A model for the economic evaluation of cultural ecosystem services : the recreational hunting function in the agroforestry territories of Tuscany (Italy)
No full textCultural ecosystem services (CESs) are non-material benefits generated by natural and human ecosystems that substantially contribute to human well-being. Estimating the monetary value of CESs is challenging because there is no real market for these services and therefore there is no actual market price. This study seeks to define an economic evaluation method for these services, with special reference to a recreational CES that has so far received little discussion: hunting. We conducted an online survey in the province of Siena (Tuscany, Italy). The Consumer Surplus estimate of hunters was made using the travel-cost method with a detailed analysis of the annual expenditure on hunting activities, and a negative binomial statistical regression. The results reflect the nature of hunting activity and show the dynamics that have occurred over recent decades. In fact, whereas hunting used to be strongly connected to the rural world as it was an income supplement for local communities, nowadays it has turned into an elitist and almost exclusively recreational activity. In any case, knowing the economic value of ecosystem services constitutes an essential background for planning effective land management and development policies in the short and long term
A SPATIAL ANALYSIS MODEL TO ASSESS THE FEASIBILITY OF SHORT ROTATION FORESTRY FERTIGATED WITH URBAN WASTEWATER: BASILICATA REGION CASE STUDY
No full textThe large-scale cultivation of energy crops irrigated with non-conventional water resources could reduce the negative impacts of fossil fuel use, while still saving potable supplies and decreasing pollution in surface water, particularly in water-deficient environments, like the Mediterranean region. Energy planning is a complex process involving multiple decision makers and criteria. Given the spatial nature of the problem, the research proposes a spatial analysis model to assess the agronomic and economic feasibility of vegetation filter systems in Basilicata region, southern Italy. The model chosen for land suitability analysis is the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) with the use of linguistic quantifiers. The suitability map obtained from the OWA model was used as input in the spatial analysis functions to quantify the productivity and irrigation needs of the species, the potential irrigable service area of the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), as well as the distances between them and SRF, which are all key elements in the economic evaluation. The results show that the distance is the main element that influences the feasibility: only 25 out of 163 WWTPs are cost-effective and can actually irrigate 864 ha of SRF. The research demonstrates that there is a great potential for bio-energy development in the region with significant economic advantages; in fact, there is a large number of sites with positive NPV up to 50,876.43 €/ha and payback period between 3 and 10 years. The implementation of vegetation filter systems could create chains with a high number of local actors (farmers, intermediaries, forest nurseries, etc.) and contribute to promoting territorial development and employment
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