Francesco Meneguzzo

Hydrogen Peroxide: A Key Chemical for Today's Sustainable Development.

The global utilization of hydrogen peroxide, a green oxidant that decomposes in water and oxygen, has gone from 0.5 million tonnes per year three decades ago to 4.5 million tonnes per year in 2014, and is still climbing. With the aim of expanding the utilization of this eminent green chemical across different industrial and civil sectors, the production and use of hydrogen peroxide as a green industrial oxidant is reviewed herein to provide an overview of the explosive growth of its industrial use over the last three decades and of the state of the art in its industrial manufacture, with important details of what determines the viability of the direct production from oxygen and hydrogen compared with the traditional auto-oxidation process.

Uncertainties and trends in extreme rainfall series in Tuscany, Italy: effects on urban drainage networks design

Sound basin management at urban or greater scale needs reliable design storm definition. A statistical analysis is carried out on extreme annual rainfall series for durations of 1, 3, 6 and 12 hours occurring at two gauges in Tuscany, Italy. Kendalls test is applied to the extremal series to detect a definite increasing (or decreasing) trend. A special form of an ARIMA model is also fitted to the series to quantify possible linear trends and their respective significance. Results show a clearly increasing trend at shortest duration at both gauges, no trend at longer ones. Time evolution of design storms for all durations and return periods up to 25 years is derived and analysed based on Gumbel distribution. Applications are presented concerning impacts of uncertainties for the design of urban drainage networks.

Citric acid: emerging applications of key biotechnology industrial product

Owing to new biotechnological production units mostly located in China, global supply of citric acid in the course of the last two decades rose from less than 0.5 to more than 2 million tonnes becoming the single largest chemical obtained via biomass fermentation and the most widely employed organic acid. Critically reviewing selected research achievements and production trends, we identify the reasons for which this polycarboxylic acid will become a key chemical in the emerging bioeconomy.Graphical abstractPalermos Fabbrica Chimica Italiana Goldenberg today. In 1930 it was Europe’s largest citric acid plant (photo courtesy of Aldo Ferrande)

LED Street Lighting: A Looking Ahead Perspective

Abstract Provided that LED street lighting is guided by quality principles, outdoor illumination using light-emitting diodes will have a significant global impact helping to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, save relevant amounts of electricity and enhance the quality of life in cities as well as in remote areas. This study summarizes recent findings providing guidelines for further progress in this crucially important technology on the common pathway to sustainable development.

Que faire? A Bioeconomy and Solar Energy Institute at Italy's Research Council in the Context of the Global Transition to the Solar Economy

Driven by insight for which new research and education requires new institutional organisation, and drawing on two decades of research and educational efforts, we devise the profile and activities of a new bioeconomy and solar energy institute at Italys Research Council. We further articulate the institutes activities suggesting avenues on how to deploy sound and giving more useful research, education and policy advice in these crucial fields for making tomorrows common development sustainable. The outcomes of the study are of general interest, because the transition to a solar economy is of intrinsic global nature and the challenges involved are similar in many countries.

Fundamental experiments for revealing physical space anisotropy and their possible interpretation

Physical space anisotropy and the associated new interaction are investigated. These new physical characteristics of space are observed over a broad range of scales and are based on analyses of fluctuations in the β-decay (10–17 cm) and α-decay (10–13 cm) of radioactive elements, the motion of pulsars (the size of our Galaxy is 1022 cm) and the anisotropy of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (the size of our visible Universe is 1028 cm). Experiments on using the new interaction as a source of propulsion for a model space vehicle are considered (Italy, 2012–2014). The coordinate of global anisotropy is determined: right ascension α ≈ 316° ± 5°.

Expanding the Distributed Generation Concept: Toward Decentralized Energy and Water Supply

Abstract Rainwater harvesting decentralizes the water supply in full analogy to what building‐integrated photovoltaics and solar thermal do for electricity and heat. In this new decentralized generation scenario, the built environment is used to collect both sunlight photons and water molecules with significant economic and environmental benefits. Referring to recent progress and to real‐life findings from around the world, this work provides an answer to several relevant questions of direct interest to policy makers and early adopters of broadened distributed generation. The conclusions offer guidelines for developing a successful distributed generation strategy at the regional level by unifying solar energy and water management policies.

Antifouling and Photocatalytic Antibacterial Activity of the AquaSun Coating in Seawater and Related Media

Prolonged testing of the new xerogel photocatalytic coating AquaSun applied to a surface probe immersed in ocean water irradiated with simulated solar radiation shows excellent action against biofouling. Activated by moderate solar radiation, the organosilica film has also good antimicrobial properties. Considering the high stability, the environmental footprint, and the low cost of this sol–gel marine coating, the technology has significant potential toward replacing conventional antifouling and foul-release coatings with a single product of broad applicability.

Guidelines for Integrating Solar Energy in Sicily’s Buildings

Abstract Wise utilization of today’s new solar energy technologies provides buildings with new aesthetic value which is no longer in conflict with efficiency in solar energy conversion. We outline the criteria for incorporating solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal (ST) technologies in the building design in Sicily’s built environment. Better education in solar energy and in solar architecture of architects and civil engineers, as well as better communication efforts of solar energy companies, will be instrumental to afford the long-awaited local and global boom in the adoption of building-integrated PVs.

DI.M.C.OR: A software package for diagnostic wind reconstruction

Abstract Diagnostic models can be relatively simple and practical tools for wind flow modelling the in complex terrain. These models can be suitable for operative use in a wide variety of routinely situations. For this purpose it is necessary to include the mathematical model in a user-friendly software package so that it can be effectively used by the staff of environmental centres. DI.M.C.OR is a software package developed following these guidelines. It includes a diagnostic, mass-consistent model to reconstruct three dimensional wind fields in complex orography. A graphical interface ensures a user-friendly interaction with the code.