Giorgia Peri

Environmental Implications of Traffic Flow Delays: a Model for Urban Streets

In this paper the problem of roads capacity is dealt in presence of perturbations of the vehicular flow. In particular, among the different disturbing causes, it is here considered the presence of vehicles parked along the road in relation to their parking activity. Having already established the delay, caused by those vehicles leaving their stationary positions and entering the traffic flow or by those who slow down the flow to park, it is possible to evaluate the changes in time running values. Related to these times delay, the extra pollutant emissions by a given urban running fleet is also evaluated, by utilizing emission factors depending on age, type, volume capacity and engine of the vehicles.

An MAS-based subjective model for indoor adaptive thermal comfort

The achievement of high level personalized sets of comfort parameters is contemplated within the more general context of so-called smart buildings, where people, by means of the new communication technologies, become active actors to the process of the singling out and control of the best indoor conditions. This dynamic intelligence approach would usefully contribute to better energy-efficient and environment-friendly management of buildings. Multi-agent schemes are suitable tools in this aim, since they are able to manage the user–building–plant system, where adaptivity of people to indoor conditions is suitably achieved. In this article, a contribution to the development of the classical Fangers model is presented, embodying a users personal preferences referring to his/her cognitive–emotive–relational ambit. The proposed algorithm is based on a particular multi-agent aimed at the assessment of subjective indoor comfort. Such a subjective–adaptive model is meant herein as a tool for achieving an optimal control of thermal comfort conditions in buildings.

A numerical solution that determines the temperature field inside phase change materials: application in buildings

Abstract The use of novel building materials that contain active thermal components would be a major advancement in achieving significant heating and cooling energy savings. In the last 40 years, Phase Change Materials or PCMs have been tested as thermal mass components in buildings, and most studies have found that PCMs enhance the building energy performance. The use of PCMs as an energy storage device is due to their relatively high fusion latent heat; during the melting and/or solidification phase, a PCM is capable of storing or releasing a large amount of energy. PCMs in a wall layer store solar energy during the warmer hours of the day and release it during the night, thereby decreasing and shifting forward in time the peak wall temperature. In this paper, an algorithm is presented based on the general Fourier differential equations that solve the heat transfer problem in multi-layer wall structures, such as sandwich panels, that includes a layer that can change phase. In detail, the equations are p...

Is the Eco-label EU Decision for hard coverings really capable of capturing the environmental performances of the marble productive chain? A field verification by means of a life cycle approach

PurposeThis work intends to show whether the Eco-label EU Decision for hard coverings, in which marble is contemplated among hard coverings as a natural product, is really capable of capturing the environmental performances of the marble productive chain, in other words whether it is actually viable for the natural products, like marble.MethodsAfter a preliminary critical analysis of the suitability for marble of the current EU Decision (2009/607/EC), a classical life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology has been applied on the field to the marble “Perlato di Sicilia.” More specifically, the whole productive chain of a couple of firms treating the “Perlato di Sicilia” marble has been examined. The life cycle analysis is actually a cradle-to-gate analysis which includes the raw material extraction, processing phase, and finishing operations.Results and discussionBoth the preliminary critical analyses of the structure of the Decision and the in-field checking on the two firms of the Custonaci marble district in Sicily singled out several conflicting points of the Decision for the marble working chain. These difficulties could be reasonably extended to other natural stones, such as granite, for which similar working processes are applied.Based on the outcomes of both these analyses, in the present work, a set of new indicators and modified criteria, already present in the Decision, is proposed as a candidate to be considered for inclusion in a future release of the Decision.ConclusionsThe changes here introduced can represent a useful indication toward a more suitable scheme of the EU Eco-label for marble, at least. Clearly, further investigations need to better assess the proposed scheme, especially in terms of threshold values of pollutant releases and use of explosive that are actually specific for the marble productive chain. The present modified version of the standard has been proposed to the Sicilian administration in order to be voluntarily adopted by marble productive sites of the region, in the aim of extensively verifying its suitability.

Role of Green Coverings in Mitigating Heat Island Effects: An Analysis of Physical Models

Worldwide, governments are introducing several rules and standards in the aim of limiting the quantity of primary energy for air conditioning of buildings and supporting the use of renewable source of energy for generating thermal and electric energy to be utilized in buildings such as the European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings [1]. Along with these interventions, another important action takes currently place in the building sector, that is the introduction of passive structural components of the envelope, able to reduce the requirements of energy for air conditioning purposes. Among these building components, the so-called green roofs are becoming more and more interesting for designer and buildings owners. This simple technical solution, in fact, apart its effectiveness in lowering particularly the summer cooling loads, could make more attractive the shape of each single building and, when adopted on a large extension, of an entire city district, reducing the risks for urban heat island phenomena that represent a severe problem in urban contexts. In this work, a short review of the literature models for computing the energy balance of roof coverings will be proposed, with particular reference in modelling the heat exchange of a canopy.

Environmentally Assessing Buildings Characterized by Complex Shape and Innovative Materials

This paper addresses the emerging problem consisting in a correct energy and environmental evaluation of buildings belonging to the new architectural tendency. In fact, innovative buildings are often characterized by new materials that, not rarely, are not contemplated in current environmental databases. Moreover, unconventional shapes of these buildings could require further manufacturing processes that involve additional energy consumption not included in the commercial environmental database. Through the work a spotlighting of the problem is presented with reference to a real innovative building.

Characterization of Biodiesel from Vegetable Oil Using Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography

Biodiesel from vegetable oils has been analyzed and its suitability for internal combustion engines has been assessed. The Standard biofuel’s characteristics have been investigated. Gas chromatography (GC) tests were carried out to characterize the fatty acid behavior. It was found that the mass percentage of saturated fatty acids did not change substantially with time, while unsaturated fatty acids increased with time for both B100 and B30. An increase in density for B100 and B30 with time was noted. Biodiesel density was within the standardization. The calorific values of biodiesel and its blend increased with time. Higher heating value for B100 increased from 41 to 43 MJ/kg while B30 increased from 44 to 45 MJ/kg.

Greening MSW management systems by saving footprint: The contribution of the waste transportation

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management constitutes a highly challenging issue to cope with in order of moving towards more sustainable urban policies. Despite new Standards call for recycling and reusing materials contained in the urban waste, several municipalities still use landfilling as a waste disposal method. Other than the environmental pressure exerted by these plants, waste transportation from the collection points to the landfill needs a specific attention to correctly assess the whole burden of the waste management systems. In this paper, the Ecological Footprint (EF) indicator is applied to the actual MSW of the city of Palermo (Sicily). Results show that the effects produced by the involved transportation vehicles are not negligible, compared to those generated by the other segments of the waste management system. This issue is further deepened by analysing the role of transportation in an upgraded waste management system that is represented by the newly designed waste management plan of Palermo. The computed saved ecological footprint is used here for suitably comparing the environmental performances of the MSW system in both scenarios. Finally, the suitability of the EF method to address not only complete waste management plans but also single segments of the waste management system, is also discussed.

Toward a holistic environmental impact assessment of marble quarrying and processing: proposal of a novel easy-to-use IPAT-based method

Marble is a natural dimension stone that is widely used in building due to its resistance and esthetic qualities. Unfortunately, some concerns have arisen regarding its production process because quarrying and processing activities demand significant amounts of energy and greatly affect the environment. Further, performing an environmental analysis of a production process such as that of marble requires the consideration of many environmental aspects (e.g., noise, vibrations, dust and waste production, energy consumption). Unfortunately, the current impact accounting tools do not seem to be capable of considering all of the major aspects of the (marble) production process that may affect the environment and thus cannot provide a comprehensive and concise assessment of all environmental aspects associated with the marble production process. Therefore, innovative, easy, and reliable methods for evaluating its environmental impact are necessary, and they must be accessible for the non-technician. The present study intends to provide a contribution in this sense by proposing a reliable and easy-to-use evaluation method to assess the significance of the environmental impacts associated with the marble production process. In addition, an application of the method to an actual marble-producing company is presented to demonstrate its practicability. Because of its relative ease of use, the method presented here can also be used as a “self-assessment” tool for pursuing a virtuous environmental policy because it enables company owners to easily identify the segments of their production chain that most require environmental enhancement.