F. Patania

Assessment of micro-wind turbines performance in the urban environments: an aided methodology through geographical information systems

Among renewable energy sources, the electrical generation from micro-wind turbines has not yet disclosed its huge potential especially in urban settings. Increasing the spread of micro-wind turbines not only promotes the decentralized generation of energy, but also helps tackle fuel poverty and to achieve reductions in the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs).This work proposes an innovative methodology to exploit wind flow fields, calculated by means of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) codes in urban environments, within the geographical information system (GIS) platform. In this way, the platform of users is amplified, even non-specialist users, that can utilize wind data to evaluate the potential production of electricity using micro-wind turbines. A pilot study was conducted for assessing the applicability of the approach in a Sicilian city. The results of this case study show the energy yield produced from a building-mounted wind turbine (BUWT). The developed methodology permits to enrich the information usually stored in the GIS platform allowing to supply useful information about suitable sites where micro-wind energy plants can be installed and to assess the production of renewable energy in the urban settings.

Synergic effects of thermal mass and natural ventilation on the thermal behaviour of traditional massive buildings

The energy policies about energy efficiency in buildings currently focus on new buildings and on existing buildings in case of energy retrofit. However, historic and heritage buildings, that are the trademark of numerous European cities, should also deserve attention; nevertheless, their energy efficiency is nowadays not deeply investigated. In this context, this study evaluates the thermal performance of a traditional massive building situated in a Mediterranean city. Dynamic numerical simulations were carried out on a yearly basis through the software DesignBuilder, both in free-running conditions and in the presence of an air-conditioning (AC) system. The results highlight that the massive envelope of traditional residential buildings helps in maintaining small fluctuations of the indoor temperature, thus limiting the need for AC in the mid-season and in summer. This feature is highly emphasised by exploiting natural ventilation at night, which allows reducing the building energy demand for cooling by about 30%.The research also indicates that, for Mediterranean climate, the increase in thermal insulation does not always induce positive effects on the thermal performance in summer, and that it might even produce an increase in the heat loads due to the transmission through the envelope.

GIS-Based Decision Support for Solar Photovoltaic Planning in Urban Environment

In 2007, the European Council decided a fixing goal of 20% contribution of the renewable energy sources (RES) to the total European electric energy production in 2020. Micro-generation systems integrated in urban environment are an interesting opportunity, in terms of research and development of RES. The development of a solar energy planning system to predict the potential of solar energy photovoltaic, solar water heating and passive solar gain is necessary for the optimization of energy efficiency strategies and integration of renewable energy systems in urban areas. The work discussed here relates to solar photovoltaic (PV), technology which has matured to become a technically viable large-scale source of renewable energy sources. This paper illustrates the capabilities of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to determine the available rooftop area for PV deployment for an urban area and how the methodology may enable planners to consider the urban-scale application of solar energy with greatly increased confidence.

A proposed methodology for estimating the performance of small wind turbines in urban areas

Large and medium scale wind turbine systems represent feasible renewable resources of energy, that constitute an alternative to conventional energy supply systems. However the development of small-scale wind turbines is still uncertain due to the difficulty in their use especially in urban areas.

Design solutions for reducing the energy needs of residential buildings

Nowadays the concept of Net ZEB is well-known and widespread in the scientific community. The European Union has set ambitious targets for 2020 and even more ambitious for 2050. In order to reduce the domestic GHG emissions by 80-95%, compared to 1990 levels-till 2050, the building sector has to do its part and to pass through a deep restructure. Therefore, it is grown the interest in design and technical solutions for achieving a zero or nearly zero energy building. This paper investigate several construction technologies and system of energy production that can be adopted to build an “enhanced saving” (parsimonious) building, which can strive for the objective of NetZEB. Moreover the economic analysis of the feasibility of the NZEB target has been developed.

Thermal Comfort In Operating Rooms:A Case Study

This paper focuses on thermal comfort in hospital operating rooms (ORs). Thermal comfort depends on several factors such as temperature conditions of the operating room, insulation of protective clothing, stress, rate of metabolism and safety mechanisms in the body to keep core temperature stable. The modification of any of these elements triggers defense mechanisms which in extreme cases may lead to serious disturbances in the body. The maintenance of recommended standards (ISO 7330) concerning thermal conditions in operating rooms ensures the highest possible physical capabilities of the personnel while providing maximum safety for the patients. The purpose of the present work is to report the results obtained during an experimental campaign carried out at the Umberto I Hospital in Enna in order to improve efficiency of HVAC installations to secure thermal comfort in the operating rooms.

Thermal comfort analysis of public transport passengers in Catania

The issue of passenger comfort on board public transport is gaining increasing importance in the last few years. Thermal comfort and indoor air quality are often a problem for the passengers during transportation. This paper presents the results of measurements and thermal comfort analysis and indoor air quality to which passengers are exposed during the utilization of public transport of Catania city. To individuate the thermal comfort of passengers the following indices are used: gradient of temperature, PMV, RWI, CO2 and CO concentration, SSI and Humidex.

Energy Analysis of Ventilated Roof

The thermal performance of the building envelope is an important requirement for guaranteeing both a comfortable indoor climate and building’s energy efficiency.

Air Quality Inside Cars Moving Into Urban Traffic In Catania City: The Exposure To The Carbon Monoxide

It is well known that gaseous emissions coming from urban traffic represent one of the main sources of air pollution for almost Italian cities. It is well known too that every day a lot of people commutes to work spending a strong dose of time inside vehicles but the same people do not realises how much it is important for health to have good air quality inside vehicle. Aim of research is ‘to correlate air quality insi@ car with that one outdoor measured on the move along streets in the old town of Catania city, In the research people analysed different operating feathres that characterize localized urban pollution, that is: width of streets, height of side buildings, type of traffic flow and meteorological conditions, The tracer gas concentrations have been measured both inside and outdoor vehicles moving along the streets. To validate outdoor pollution data, people compared measures in loco with that ones recorded by the Catania network of environmental steady stations. In this way it has been possible to carry out some first cmnections correlating CO concentration inside and outdoor car.

Slow pyrolysis kinetics of apricots stones by Thermogravimetric Analysis

Thermal degradation and kinetics for apricots stones have been evaluated under dynamic conditions through a Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). Slow pyrolysis processes were carried out in presence of nitrogen atmosphere until a temperature of 600 °C was reached. The effect of different heating rate (10 and 20 °C/min) was evaluated. The DTGA (Derivative Thermogravimetric Analysis) plot for the apricot stones clearly shows that the chosen biomass begins to degrade at 200 °C. Moreover, it exhibits three peaks. The first peak of DTGA (100 °C) was due to moisture evaporation, the second peak (284-303°C) was associated with hemicellulose pyrolysis whereas the third peak (348-356°C) was associated to cellulose pyrolysis whose degradation begins at higher temperatures. The biomass mainly volatilized between 200 °C and 400 °C. The total mass loss was of about 58-60% with respect to the initial weight. Mass loss and its rate were strongly affected by the heating rate. Indeed, it was found that an increase in heating rate results in a shift of thermograms to higher temperatures and above all in very different DTGA peaks. An isoconversional differential method, the Friedman method, was used for the determination of the slow pyrolysis energy activation. In the 10-22% conversion range, mainly corresponding to hemicellulose degradation, the apricot stones activation energy has a value of about 110 kJ/mol for both the heating rate evaluated. In the 35-44% conversion range, mainly corresponding to cellulose degradation, the activation energy has a value of 116 kJ/mol and 76 kJ/mol respectively for the heating rate of 10 and 20 °C/min.