Suchergebnisse

Summarization: Inappropriate disposal of Used Cooking Oils (UCOs) can generate major problems, such as the operational problems occurring in wastewater treatment plants when discharged into sewerage systems. In this paper the best methods to process the UCO-to-biodiesel chain are reviewed putting emphasis on the most critical technical and practical guidelines including best practices, quality characteristics of the collected UCO, potential implications, environmental performance and risks, and at the same time highlighting the strong and weak points of each analyzed route. The most common transesterification processes (homogeneous-catalyzed, heterogeneous-catalyzed, enzymatic, supercritical methanol, non-catalyzed) are evaluated according to environmental, technical, health and safety, market and EU policy criteria. ; Presented on: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

Summarization: European policies actively force towards a shift to low-emission mobility and have set the reduction of energy consumption in transport as a priority pillar in national/regional and European environmental policies. CIVITAS DESTINATIONS, funded by the European Commission within the framework of the Horizon 2020 programme, implements a set of reinforcing innovative mobility solutions to improve accessibility and cost-effectiveness of urban transport services and to reduce congestion, emissions and energy consumption in six EU island tourist destinations: Rethymno (Greece), Limassol (Cyprus), Valletta (Malta), Funchal (Portugal), Las Palmas (Spain) and Elba (Italy). Building on previous CIVITAS experience, 14 environmental indicators are proposed to provide a spherical overview of the energy and environment impacts. This work outlines a refined environmental assessment framework applied at the municipality of Rethymno. Common strategic goals, predefined performance indicators and common measurement/monitoring methods amongst all six destinations allow a consistent and comparable analysis at the project level. ; Appearing in: The Role of Exergy in Energy and the Environment

Summarization: The European Union targets for 27% renewable energy share by 2030. At the same time, all new buildings should be nearly zero energy buildings from 2020 onwards. A major obstacle to these objectives is a combination of current economic stagnation and limited investors' confidence, which leads to low investment proportion. Despite many renewable energy technologies are already at a competitive level, the implementation rate in buildings is still low. In this paper, we focus on advances in efficient mechanisms to overcome non-technical barriers to the increase of renewable energy applications in buildings, such as Energy Performance Contracting (EPC). Tertiary sector holds a huge untapped potential for such applications, especially in Southern Europe. The Trust-EPC-South European initiative, implemented in six southern EU countries with a mix of beginner and intermediate energy service markets, aims at encouraging the financing of sustainable energy solutions in the tertiary sector, by creating a framework for standardization, assessment and benchmarking, thus improving trust and confidence in the financing parties. This paper presents three case studies in Greece, a Mediterranean family resort hotel, a resort and spa hotel and an office building. The installation of renewable energy measures, including photovoltaic systems, solar thermal systems and heat pumps, was examined and their EPC potential was rated, by using the described standardization and benchmarking methodology. Their economic savings range from 3 to 23% on yearly energy costs, at a discounted payback of 3–6 years, depending on the measure. A sensitivity analysis shows the impact of the variation of technical and economic parameters on the EPC projects feasibility. The standardization practice applied is expected to support the project actors in securing appropriate financing and eventually proceed with the renewable energy installations through the EPC. ; Presented on: Renewable Energy

Summarization: In Mediterranean areas, during summertime, the demand for electricity greatly increases due to the extensive use of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, increasing the peak electric load, causing major problems in the electric supply. The seasonal temperatures have a direct impact on the pattern of the power demand in the area, so most buildings are cooled by electrically powered, conventional, vapour compression systems. The European Policy (EPBD recast, Energy Efficiency Directive) motivates the Member States to establish a long-term strategy for mobilizing investment in the renovation of the national stock of residential and commercial buildings, both public and private. This paper presents the first results of the actual performance of Mediterranean hotels in Greece, Croatia, Italy and Spain analyzed in the framework of the nearly Zero Energy Hotels (neZEH) project putting emphasis on the cooling demand due to their seasonal summertime operation. The applied methodology consists of providing technical advice, demonstrating the feasibility and sustainability of investments towards zero energy, undertaking training and capacity building activities, as well as promoting front runners at national, regional and EU level. Amongst the measures which will improve the HVAC consumption, simple interventions are also included offering the most attractive payback (i.e installation of thermostatic valves or stop leaks improvements). The most common economically appealing are Building Energy Management System (BEMS), the replacement of current heat pumps by more efficient ones, but also the outdoor redesign for improved microclimate. ; Παρουσιάστηκε στο: 4th IIR International Conference on Sustainability and the Cold Chain

Summarization: The European strategy for the coming decades sets specific targets for a sustainable growth, including reaching a 20% share of renewables in final energy consumption till 2020. To achieve this target, a number of initiatives and measures have been in force. Europe, is currently the largest market for PV systems with more than 75% of the annual worldwide installations in 2011. The favourable European policies as well as the Member States' supporting legislations have resulted in high market growth for photovoltaics. Applying PV technologies however, requires high qualified technicians to install, repair and maintain them. Until today, national markets have been growing faster than the skilled PV installers force can satisfy. The PVTRIN, an Intelligent Energy Europe action, addresses these issues by developing a training and certification scheme for technicians active in the installation and maintenance of small scale PV systems. During the implementation of the action, a market research was conducted in the six participating countries in order to record the stakeholders' attitudes, perceptions and considerations and to adapt the training methods, tools and materials to the national PV industry requirements and markets' needs. Indicative results of this analysis as well as the current situation regarding relevant training and certification schemes are presented in this paper. ; Παρουσιάστηκε στο: Energy Policy