Yolanda González Arechavala

Evaluation of the environmental sustainability of the use of straw for electricity production

The final goal of this paper is to assess the sustainability of electricity production from wheat straw grown in Spain and burned in 25 MWe power plant. For that purpose a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the system was performed. To implement the LCA, inventory data for the agricultural, the transport and the transformation phases were collected considering their most common values and ranges of variability for the Spanish case. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) and the energy balance of the system were obtained as results of the assessment. These results were compared with those of the electricity produced from natural gas in Spanish power plants, as reference from the cleanest fossil system of electricity production available. The production of electricity from wheat straw in Spain accomplished European Union sustainability criteria of 60% Global Heating Gases (GHG) savings for more than 70% of the simulations.

MODUS: integrated behavior-oriented model for rapid prototyping

This paper presents a unified behavior model for digital system (MODUS) that combines both the reactive and the transformational-or procedural-paradigms. The model is the core of an integrated development environment for safety critical applications, designed for rapid prototyping. MODUS includes distinctive features, such as minimum cause-effect delays and uncertain states, seeking accurate modeling and simulation of safety-related real-time systems. The main guidelines and principles of the whole line of research are stated.