1,721,773 research outputs found
A Decision Support Methodology to Foster Renewable Energy Communities in the Municipal Urban Plan
No full textRenewable Energy Communities (RECs) represent a possible solution to facilitate the transition to carbon neutrality and reduce energy poverty in urban areas. Although the topic has received little attention from urban planning scholars and practitioners, they can make a significant contribution in the enhancement of RECs. To this end, this article proposes a methodology that allows identifying priority urban areas where the Municipal Urban Plan can incentivize RECs’ establishment. These areas are spatially identified where a minimization of the constraints on RECs’ formation and a maximization of their energy and social benefits are expected. The application of the proposed methodology to an Italian municipal area where the Plan is being drawn up is presented. The obtained results show how priority areas can be found both in the urban center and in rural areas, suggesting that urban planning can encourage different REC configurations, depending on the settlement fabric and land use, as well as the number of buildings to be clustered and potential leaders who can lead the community development process
Open-access web mapping as a virtual survey tool for cultural heritage: An application to the Armenian religious architecture documented by Paolo Cuneo
Full text linkCurrent state of conservation of cultural heritage plays a key role in the safeguard process, especially in the case of assets exposed to natural hazards including earthquakes. National and International guidelines and many studies recommend interdisciplinary methods, which can exploit the tools offered by the world of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The latter is largely employed in the case of the cultural heritage valorisation and virtual fruition by a large audience, but recent emergencies induced by natural hazards empowered a renewed approach to the condition assessment and monitoring of architectural and artistic assets. On the other hand, a large amount of information is available on the world wide web and many open access web mapping platforms are very effective in providing graphical and visual representation of urbanised areas.In the present paper, the use of web-based tools and platforms is investigated and evaluated from the perspective of selected users, namely restorer architects and structural engineers, whose skills and competences need to be integrated for a safe and reliable risk management of historical and architectural assets. The investigation is inspired by the experience of Paolo Cuneo and his contribution to the documentation of the Middle East architectural culture and aims at extending and transferring to the modern times his lessons. Herein, the attention is focussed on the Monastery of Haghpat, North Armenia, whose main characteristics are briefly recalled along with the outcomes of the virtual survey and its features
C-glycoside clustering on calix[4]arene, adamantane, and benzene scaffolds through 1,2,3-triazole linkers
No full textA route has been paved toward the preparation of triazole glycocluster libraries via the copper(I)-catalyzed modern version of the classical Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azides to alkynes. Up to four 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole rings bearing carbon-linked glycosyl fragments were constructed on various scaffolds via multiple cycloadditions of suitably polyfunctionalized calix[4]arene, adamantane, and benzene derivatives with ethynyl and azidomethyl C-glycosides. Each cycloaddition occurred with high regioselectivity to give exclusively the 1,4-disubstituted triazole ring in very high yield up to an average value of 98%. The high degree of efficiency of this approach and its wide scope constitute a simple and practical mean for the attachment of various sugar units to polyfunctionalized substrates
On the SeVAMH survey protocol for safety and safeguard of artistic assets. Overview and validation at the Monumental complex of Santa Chiara in Naples.
Full text linkThe availability of data concerning cultural heritage is a key condition for the preservation and enhancement of valuable assets, particularly when they are exposed to relevant hazards, and needs to be improved when safety evaluation, like those associated with the Artistic Limit State (ALS) of heritage structures and assets, are required. This task can be supported by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that can provide easy-to manage and efficient tools capable to properly describe the current conditions of cultural heritage components in a comprehensive way. Hierarchical and structured information can be collected and managed in the form of databases made of heterogeneous data, including pictures and sketches. In such a context, one of the main aspects of the process is the correlation between movable and immovable assets and their potential interactions under exceptional actions
The path to renewable energy consumption in the European Union through drivers and barriers: A panel vector autoregressive approach
No full textRenewable energy consumption brings sustainable economic growth and pollution reduction. Despite the worldwide increase in renewable energy consumption, global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are rising and there are still considerable differences in the share of renewable energy consumption in national energy portfolios. These concerns require further effort at the policy level, especially by countries that make extensive use of energy imports. These countries could improve their lack of energy independence by using renewable energy sources and leveraging a few factors to facilitate their transition. This study aims to investigate renewable energy consumption drivers, focusing on the role of socio-technical (rather than economic) aspects such as policy stringency, lobbying, public awareness, and education. We employ a panel vector autoregressive model in first differences to test the complex dynamic relationships among renewable energy consumption, policy stringency, lobbying, public awareness, and education, controlling for variables such as per capita income and import levels, for 12 European Union net energy importing countries. Results show that the positive income effect prevails in the influence of the level of carbon dioxide emissions (negative) on renewable energy consumption, despite the latter being more significant in countries with higher levels of education. Increasing energy needs push traditional sources towards complementarity with renewable energy consumption, implying a positive lobbying effect. Public awareness is not enough to facilitate the transition to renewable energy consumption. By contrast, policy stringency has positive direct and indirect effects on renewable energy consumption, suggesting that the approach adopted by the European Commission in the recent Green Deal is a step in the right direction. Moreover, as shown, policymakers are able, through renewable energy consumption, to generate a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions and electricity production from oil, gas, coal, and nuclear sources in the first instance, but also in net energy imports, even if at a later stage
The institutional and socio-technical determinants of renewable energy production in the EU: implications for policy
Full text linkDespite the consensus that the transition to renewable energy is a process that encompasses institutional, regulatory, technical, political, social, and cultural aspects, such issues have rarely been addressed in a comprehensive way. This study explores the determinants of renewable energy production (REP), focusing on institutional and socio-technical aspects. We employ a panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model to test dynamic relationships for the period 1990–2015 among several variables, as have emerged in the literature: REP, policy stringency, public awareness, lobbying, education, controlling for income and energy imports. Focusing indiscriminately on 18 European Union (EU) member states, the results show that environmental policy stringency does not influence REP, while income and education impact negatively. This evidence is counter-intuitive, and would be surprising if we did not consider the strong heterogeneity between countries. EU member states are engaging in energy transition at different speeds, depending on their individual starting point: this differs from country to country in terms of installed capacity and energy security. Moving from the recent European Green Deal, we divide the sample into two panels based on energy imports to account for different starting points: countries less active on the production side (that depends particularly on energy imports), and countries more active on the production side. Results for the first panel show that an increase in policy stringency would lead to a decrease in lobbying and an increase in REP. Policy efforts must be clearly established and consistently preserved to support REP, at least if there are increasing returns to exploit. Results for the second panel show that lobbying negatively affects the transition to REP, while an increase in public awareness will promote an increase in REP. Therefore, priority should be given to the ‘social’ aspect, and policymakers should increase efforts to reduce the proportion of energy generated from oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear fuel
Il complesso monumentale di Santa Chiara a Napoli: un modello innovativo per la conoscenza e la valorizzazione
No full textThe evolution of digital technologies and their application to the cultural heritage have led to the experimentation of new communication and new way to approach to the knowledge. Therefore, specialists from different disciplinary sectors had to manage a large amount of data that would be suitable to a variety of applications, and also find the best way to represent and then communicate that information. In conclusion of a research work carried on the monumental complex of Santa Chiara in Naples, this paper aims to show how a three-dimensional model designed to carry out vulnerability analysis on historical heritage can be improved with additional information that allow to communicate the history of a building, supporting new forms of enhancement and fruition
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