3,664 research outputs found

    Scenarios of Electromobility. Cross ferilisation and Dissemination of Best Practices and Researches within EU Policies Webinar proceedings

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    La pubblicazione riporta gli esiti del webinar incentrato sull'user center design dei veicoli elettrici, delle loro infrastrutture di ricarica e sulle sperimentazioni dei veicoli elettrici leggeri nei sistemi di trasporto urbano di Torino e Venaria Reale (IT), Villach (Austria) e CalviĂ  (Spagna). La pubblicazione e il seminario sono parte del progetto STEVE, finanziato dal programma europeo Horizon2020, e incentrato sulla sperimentazione di modelli di mobilitĂ  elettrica leggera nelle aree urbane. Il progetto ha coinvolto cittĂ , piccole e medie imprese e universitĂ  di sette paesi europei. Urban Lab ha collaborato con la CittĂ  di Torino a delineare le raccomandazioni rivolte ai decision makers in materia di pianificazione della mobilitĂ  urbana, emerse dai risultati dei tre anni di progetto

    Key Environmental Innovations

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    This paper is based on empirical research on a taxonomy of technological environmental innovations. It draws on a databank with over 500 examples of new technologies (materials, products, processes and practices) which come with benign environmental effects. The approaches applied to interpreting the datasets are innovation life cycle analysis, and product chain analysis. Main results include the following: 1. Innovations merely aimed at eco-efficienc y do in most cases not represent significant contributions to improving the properties of the industrial metabolism. This can better be achieved by technologies that fulfill the criteria of eco-consistency (metabolic consistency), also called eco-effectiveness. 2. Ecological pressure of a technology is basically determined by its conceptual make-up and design. Most promising thus are technologies in earlier rather than later stages of their life cycle (i.e. during R&D and customisation in growing numbers), because it is during the stages before reaching the inflection point and maturity in a learning curve where technological environmental innovations can best contribute to improving ecological consistency of the industrial metabolism while at the same time delivering their maximum increase in efficiency as well.3. Moreover, environmental action needs to focus on early steps in the vertical manufacturing chain rather than on those in the end. Most of the ecological pressure of a technology is no rmally not caused end-of-chain in use or consumption, but in the more basic steps of the manufacturing chain (with the exception of products the use of which consumes energy, e.g. vehicles, appliances). There are conclusions to be drawn for refocusing attention from downstream to upstream in life cycles and product chains, and for a shift of emphasis in environmental policy from regulation to innovation. Ambitious environmental standards, though, continue to be an important regulative precondition of ecologically benign technological innovation.Technological innovation, Environmental innovation, Life cycle analysis, Sustainability strategies, Environmental policy

    Economic Instruments and Induced Innovation: The Case of End-of-Life Vehicles European Policies

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    The paper addresses the dynamic-incentive effect of environmental policy instruments when innovation is uncertain and occurs in very complex industrial subsystems. The case of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) is considered focusing predominantly on the effects of the European Directive adopted in 2000 which stipulated economic instruments as free take-back, and on the voluntary agreements in place in many EU countries. The ELV case study is an example of a framework where policy-making faces an intrinsic dynamic and systemic environment. Coherent sequences of single innovations taking place in both upstream (car making) and downstream (car recycling/recovery) of the ELV system can give rise to different “innovation paths”, in accordance with cost-benefit considerations, technological options and capabilities associated to the different industrial actors involved. The impact of economic instruments on innovation paths, in particular free take-back, is considered. Deficiencies or difficulties concerning the transmission of incentives between different industries can prevent the creation of new recycling/recovery/reuse markets, giving rise to other less preferable and unexpected outcomes. The implication for policy is a need for an integrated policy approach, as enforceable VAs, in order to create a shared interindustry interest for innovation and to reduce the possible adverse effects which economic instruments exert on innovation through cost benefit impacts on key industrial and waste-related agents involved in the ELV management system. These advantages should be taken into account vis à vis the emergence of Integrated Product Policy (IPP) as a leading concept of EU environmental policy and the associated shift from "extended producer responsibility" to "extended product responsibility".ELV, Induced innovation, Dynamic efficiency, Economic instruments, Recycling

    The Allure of Technology: How France and California Promoted Electric Vehicles to Reduce Urban Air Pollution

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    All advanced industrialized societies face the problem of air pollution produced by motor vehicles. In spite of striking improvements in internal combustion engine technology, air pollution in most urban areas is still measured at levels determined to be harmful to human health. Throughout the 1990s and beyond, California and France both chose to improve air quality by means of technological innovation, adopting legislation that promoted clean vehicles, prominently among them, electric vehicles (EVs). In California, policymakers chose a technology-forcing approach, setting ambitious goals (e.g., zero emission vehicles), establishing strict deadlines and issuing penalties for non-compliance. The policy process in California called for substantial participation from the public, the media, the academic community and the interest groups affected by the regulation. The automobile and oil industries bitterly contested the regulation, in public and in the courts. In contrast, in France the policy process was non-adversarial, with minimal public participation and negligible debate in academic circles. We argue that California's stringent regulation spurred the development of innovative hybrid and fuel cell vehicles more effectively than the French approach. However, in spite of the differences, both California and France have been unable to put a substantial number of EVs on the road. Our comparison offers some broad lessons about how policy developments within a culture influence both the development of technology and the impact of humans on the environment.Environmental policy, Electric vehicles, Air pollution, Technology policy, Sustainable transport

    Integrated modelling framework for the analysis of demand side management strategies in urban energy systems

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    Influenced by environmental concerns and rapid urbanisation, cities are changing the way they historically have produced, distributed and consumed energy. In the next decades, cities will have to increasingly adapt their energy infrastructure if new low carbon and smart technologies are to be effectively integrated. In this context, advanced planning tools can become crucial to successfully design these future urban energy systems. However, it is not only important to analyse how urban energy infrastructure will look like in the future, but also how they will be operated. Advanced energy management strategies can increase the operational efficiency, therefore reducing energy consumption, CO2 emissions, operational costs and network investments. However, the design and analysis of these energy management strategies are difficult to perform at an urban scale considering the spatial and temporal resolution and the diversity in users energy requirements. This thesis proposes a novel integrated modelling framework to analyse flexible transport and heating energy demand and assess different demand-side management strategies in urban energy systems. With a combination of agent-based simulation and multi-objective optimisation models, this framework is tested using two case studies. The first one focuses on transport electrification and the integration of electric vehicles through smart charging strategies in an urban area in London, UK. The results of this analysis show that final consumer costs and carbon emissions reductions (compared to a base case) are in the range of 4.3-45.0% and 2.8-3.9% respectively in a daily basis, depending on the type of tariff and electricity generation mix considered. These reductions consider a control strategy where the peak demand is constrained so the capacity of the system is not affected. In the second case study, focused on heat electrification, the coordination of a group of heat pumps is analysed, using different scheduling strategies. In this case, final consumer costs and carbon emissions can be reduced in the range of 4-41% and 0.02-0.7% respectively on a daily basis. In this case, peak demand can be reduced in the range of 51-62% with respect to the baseline. These case studies highlight the importance of the spatial and temporal characterisation of the energy demand, and the level of flexibility users can provide to the system when considering a heterogeneous set of users with different technologies, energy requirements and behaviours. In both studies, trade-offs between the environmental and economic performance of demand-side management strategies are assessed using a multi-objective optimisation approach. Finally, further applications of the integrated modelling framework are described to highlight its potential as a decision-making support tool in sustainable and smart urban energy systems.Open Acces

    An Open Source Based Data Warehouse Architecture to Support Decision Making in the Tourism Sector

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    In this paper an alternative Tourism oriented Data Warehousing architecture is proposed which makes use of the most recent free and open source technologies like Java, Postgresql and XML. Such architecture's aim will be to support the decision making process and giving an integrated view of the whole Tourism reality in an established context (local, regional, national, etc.) without requesting big investments for getting the necessary software.Tourism, Data warehousing architecture

    DEVELOPMENT OF A CONTROL ALGORITHM FOR A PARALLEL HYBRID POWERTRAIN

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    The current legislation calls for fast electrification of vehicle powertrains, since it is necessary to fulfil the CO2 requirements for the vehicle fleets. The hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) with parallel powertrain topologies – together with pure battery electric vehicles (BEV) – are the most common ways of electrification. However, the HEV powertrain – opposed to the BEV or conventional powertrain – poses an interesting challenge associated with the control system design to achieve the ideal power split between an internal combustion engine (ICE) and electrical machines (EM) during the whole vehicle operation.The presented paper sums up the specific functions and requirements on a control system, together with the description of general control strategy options for a HEV powertrain. The proposed control strategy then combines heuristic rules with a suboptimal numerical control method, calculating the optimal power split ratio based on the efficiencies of ICE and EMs. This control strategy is built into a modular algorithm in Matlab/Simulink for two different parallel HEV powertrain topologies: P2 and P0P4. It is subsequently coupled with a vehicle models created in GT-Suite environment and tested on a WLTC homologation driving cycles. The following simulation tests show the fuel consumption reduction potential for chosen HEV topologies working in hybrid modes, in comparison to a base operation with conventional mode only. Yet, the heuristic rules can be further optimized to obtain even better overall results.SoučasnĂĄ legislativa tlačí vĂœrobce vozidel k okamĆŸitĂ© elektrifikaci pohonu, protoĆŸe je to v tuto chvĂ­li jedinĂĄ moĆŸnost, jak dostĂĄt poĆŸadavkĆŻm na flotilovĂ© emise CO2. NejbÄ›ĆŸnějĆĄĂ­ formou elektrifikace pohonu jsou v dneĆĄnĂ­ době vozidla s paralelnĂ­m hybridnĂ­m pohonem anebo bateriovĂ© elektromobily. NicmĂ©ně hybridnĂ­ pohon, na rozdĂ­l prĂĄvě od konvenčnĂ­ho nebo čistě elektrickĂ©ho pohonu, pƙedstavuje zajĂ­mavĂ© vĂœzvy spojenĂ© s nĂĄvrhem ƙídicĂ­ho algoritmu, kterĂœÂ musĂ­ v kaĆŸdĂ©m okamĆŸiku zajiĆĄĆ„ovat optimĂĄlnĂ­ rozdělenĂ­ vĂœkonu mezi spalovacĂ­ motor a elektromotor.Tento člĂĄnek v Ășvodu krĂĄtce shrnuje specifickĂ© funkce a poĆŸadavky na takovĂœ ƙídicĂ­ algoritmus, společně s obecnĂœm pƙehledem moĆŸnĂœch ƙídicĂ­ch strategiĂ­ hybridnĂ­ch vozidel. NĂĄsledně je navrĆŸena ƙídicĂ­ strategie kombinujĂ­cĂ­ heuristickĂĄ pravidla se suboptimĂĄlnĂ­ numerickou metodou, kterĂĄ vypočítĂĄvĂĄ parametr optimĂĄlnĂ­ho dělenĂ­ vĂœkonu na zĂĄkladě ĂșčinnostĂ­ spalovacĂ­ho motoru a elektromotoru. Na zĂĄkladě navrhnutĂ© strategie je v programu Matlab/Simulink vytvoƙen modulĂĄrní ƙídicĂ­ algoritmus pro dvě paralelnĂ­ hybridnĂ­ topologie: P2 a P0P4, kterĂœÂ je nĂĄsledně propojen s modely vozidel vytvoƙenĂœmi v simulačnĂ­m prostƙedĂ­ GT-Suite a testovĂĄn v homologačnĂ­m cyklu WLTC. Nakonec je prezentovĂĄno několik testĆŻ ƙídicĂ­ho algoritmu, kterĂ© demonstrujĂ­ Ășsporu paliva vybranĂœch topologiĂ­ hybridnĂ­ho vozidla pracujĂ­cĂ­ch v hybridnĂ­ch reĆŸimech, ve srovnĂĄnĂ­ s provozem pouze v konvenčnĂ­m reĆŸimu pohonu. AvĆĄak heuristickĂĄ pravidla mohou bĂœt dĂĄle optimalizovĂĄna, s cĂ­lem dosĂĄhnout jeĆĄtě pƙíznivějĆĄĂ­ch celkovĂœch vĂœsledkĆŻ

    Investigation of domestic level EV chargers in the Distribution Network: An Assessment and mitigation solution

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    This research focuses on the electrification of the transport sector. Such electrification could potentially pose challenges to the distribution system operator (DSO) in terms of reliability, power quality and cost-effective implementation. This thesis contributes to both, an Electrical Vehicle (EV) load demand profiling and advanced use of reactive power compensation (D-STATCOM) to facilitate flexible and secure network operation. The main aim of this research is to investigate the planning and operation of low voltage distribution networks (LVDN) with increasing electrical vehicles (EVs) proliferation and the effects of higher demand charging systems. This work is based on two different independent strands of research. Firstly, the thesis illustrates how the flexibility and composition of aggregated EVs demand can be obtained with very limited information available. Once the composition of demand is available, future energy scenarios are analysed in respect to the impact of higher EVs charging rates on single phase connections at LV distribution network level. A novel planning model based on energy scenario simulations suitable for the utilization of existing assets is developed. The proposed framework can provide probabilistic risk assessment of power quality (PQ) variations that may arise due to the proliferation of significant numbers of EVs chargers. Monte Carlo (MC) based simulation is applied in this regard. This probabilistic approach is used to estimate the likely impact of EVs chargers against the extreme-case scenarios. Secondly, in relation to increased EVs penetration, dynamic reactive power reserve management through network voltage control is considered. In this regard, a generic distribution static synchronous compensator (D-STATCOM) model is adapted to achieve network voltage stability. The main emphasis is on a generic D-STATCOM modelling technique, where each individual EV charging is considered through a probability density function that is inclusive of dynamic D-STATCOM support. It demonstrates how optimal techniques can consider the demand flexibility at each bus to meet the requirement of network operator while maintaining the relevant steady state and/or dynamic performance indicators (voltage level) of the network. The results show that reactive power compensation through D-STATCOM, in the context of EVs integration, can provide continuous voltage support and thereby facilitate 90% penetration of network customers with EV connections at a normal EV charging rate (3.68 kW). The results are improved by using optimal power flow. The results suggest, if fast charging (up to 11 kW) is employed, up to 50% of network EV customers can be accommodated by utilising the optimal planning approach. During the case study, it is observed that the transformer loading is increased significantly in the presence of D-STATCOM. The transformer loading reaches approximately up to 300%, in one of the contingencies at 11 kW EV charging, so transformer upgrading is still required. Three-phase connected DSTATCOM is normally used by the DSO to control power quality issues in the network. Although, to maintain voltage level at each individual phase with three-phase connected device is not possible. So, single-phase connected D-STATCOM is used to control the voltage at each individual phase. Single-phase connected D-STATCOM is able maintain the voltage level at each individual phase at 1 p.u. This research will be of interest to the DSO, as it will provide an insight to the issues associated with higher penetration of EV chargers, present in the realization of a sustainable transport electrification agenda

    A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach to the Assessment of Natural Parks’ Economic Efficiency and Sustainability. The Case of Italian National Parks

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    Wilderness protection is a growing necessity for modern societies, and this is particularly true for areas where population density is extremely high, as for example Europe. Conservation, however, implies very high opportunity costs. It is thus crucial to create incentives to efficient management practices, to promote benchmarking and to improve conservation management. In the present paper we propose a methodology based on Data Envelopment Analysis, DEA, a non parametric benchmarking technique specifically developed to assess the relative efficiency of decision-making units. In particular, the objective of the discussed methodology is to assess the relative efficiency of the management units of the protected area and to indicate how it could be improved, by providing a set of guidelines. The main advantage of this methodology is that it allows to assess the efficiency of natural parks’ management not only internally (comparing the performance of the park to itself in time) but also by external benchmarking, thus providing new and different perspectives on potential improvements. Although the proposed methodology is fairly general, we have applied it to the context of Italian National Parks in order to produce a representative case study. Specifically, the choice of adequate cost and benefit indicators is a very important and delicate phase of any benchmark analysis. For this purpose, a questionnaire was used to investigate the opinions of Italian National Parks managers and stakeholders and to define the relevant indicators for the analysis. Finally, relevant policy implications for the case study are given.Data envelopment analysis, Natural park management
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