69 research outputs found
Significant but transient: The impact of an energy saving app targeting Swiss households
No full textIn Global North countries, persuasive apps supporting households in reducing their energy consumption are widespread, as promising policy tools for the energy and climate transition. Despite their growing diffusion, fed by the large-scale smart meter roll-out currently ongoing in many energy systems, rigorous studies providing evidence on their effects are still missing, especially for the long-term. We address this research gap by analysing a one-year long app-based electricity saving intervention performed in Switzerland between 2018 and 2019, involving 55 self-selected households. Adopting a quasi-experimental approach and considering four full years of energy consumption data, we estimate the app's average treatment effect over time and perform heterogeneity analyses on household sub-groups, on varying their characteristics and intensity of app use. The app reduced consumption and CO2 emissions during the intervention (average treatment effect on the treated equal to 4.95%, statistically significant at the 0.05 level; Cohen's d effect size equal to 0.35). However, one year later the effect disappeared. Our results put policies based on persuasive app use into perspective: taken in isolation, persuasive apps may exhibit limitations regarding long-lasting effects. To avoid relapse, future interventions might embed app use into broader processes explicitly aimed at redefining shared norms and conventions on household energy consumption practices, for instance within living lab processes
Comprehensive Testing and Application of the PIP Procedure: the Verbano Project case study
No full textVerbano
No full textL’obiettivo del progetto è la soluzione del problema Verbano tramite la scelta di una nuova regolazione e di oppurtuni interventi strutturali. Tale soluzione deve tendere a minimizzare i danni causati da eventi alluvionali tanto a monte quanto a valle, i danni indotti dalla mancata fornitura idrica agli utenti irrigui ed idroelettrici di valle e quelli subiti dalla navigazione e dal turismo quando si deprimono eccessivamente i livelli lacuali, senza trascurare, nel contempo, il mantenimento di un deflusso minimo nel Ticino, a valle dello sbarramento del Panperduto. In tale ricerca si dovranno ovviamente tener conto dei vincoli posti dalla capacità di smaltimento delle portate all’incile del lago e dalla necessità di mantenere attiva la sua naturale funzione di laminazione in occasione di eventi alluvionali che interessino anche il Po
Challenges and opportunities in deploying a mobility platform integrating public transport and car-pooling services
No full textThis paper introduces a new mobility platform that favours reducing individual car use, by combining car flexibility with advantages offered by public transport, such as punctuality, comfort, safety and low environmental impact. Such platform services are delivered by means of a smartphone app that, thanks to advanced artificial intelligence algorithms, performs multi- modal vehicle routing by accounting for walking, public transport and car-pooling rides. To explore citizens’ attitudes and perceptions towards SocialCar, and assess its overall business potential, we tested a prototype version in Canton Ticino (Southern Switzerland), engaging common citizens and their everyday mobility needs.
In this paper we first present the app and the route planning algorithms we developed to match travel demand and offer, commenting on the challenges to be addressed when using real-life data (shortcomings in mapping, public transport and car-pooling data). Then, we describe the methodology used to assess the SocialCar overall potential, based on focus group meetings run before and after the field test, and summarize the results obtained, in terms of strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities for a large-scale diffusion of the SocialCar platform. Finally, we comment on the lessons learnt and provide recommendations for future similar "mobility as a service" platforms
Physico-chemical and microbiological characterization of spontaneous fermentation of Cellina di Nardò and Leccino table olives
No full textTable olives are one of the most important traditional fermented vegetables in Europe and their world consumption is constantly increasing. In the Greek style, table olives are obtained by spontaneous fermentations, without any chemical debittering treatment. Evolution of sugars, organic acids, alcohols, mono and polyphenol compounds and volatile compounds associated with the fermentative metabolism of yeasts and bacteria throughout the natural fermentation process of the two Italian olive cultivars Cellina di Nardò and Leccino were determined. A protocol was developed and applied aimed at the technological characterization of LAB and yeast strains as possible candidate autochthonous starters for table olive fermentation from Cellina di Nardò and Leccino cultivars. The study of the main physic-chemical parameters and volatile compounds during fermentation helped to determine chemical descriptors that may be suitable for monitoring olive fermentation. In both the analyzed table olive cultivars, aldehydes proved to be closely related to the first stage of fermentation (30 days), while higher alcohols (2-methyl-1-propanol; 3-methyl-1-butanol), styrene, and o-cymene were associated with the middle stage of fermentation (90 days) and acetate esters with the final step of olive fermentation (180 days)
EnCOMPASS - An integrative approach to behavioural change for energy saving
No full textThis paper presents the research objectives of the enCOMPASS project, which aims at implementing and validating an integrated socio-technical approach to behavioural change for energy saving. To this end, innovative user-friendly digital tools will be developed to 1) make energy data consumption available and understandable for different types of users and stakeholders (household residents, office employees, school pupils, building managers, utilities, ICT providers) and to 2) empower them to collaborate in order to achieve energy savings and manage their energy needs in efficient, cost-effective and comfort-preserving ways. The project will demonstrate how this can be achieved with a novel approach that integrates user-centered visualisation of energy data from smart sensors and user-generated information with context-aware collaborative recommendations for energy saving, intelligent control and adaptive gamified incentives enabling effective and sustained behavioural change
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