To build or not to build? Megaprojects, resources, and environment: an emergy synthesis for a systemic evaluation of a major highway expansion

Systems thinking and emergy synthesis are applied to transport studies in order to assess the socio-ecological convenience of a civil infrastructure: they are presented as comprehensive evaluation tools to go beyond conventional approaches like cost-benefit analyses, while geobiophysically including the overall resource consumption and the release of pollutants. Focusing on road systems, the massive expansion works on the mountainous section of Italian major highway A1 are chosen as a case study: such recently completed project is compared with the no- build option, considering alternative scenarios ranging from dedicated mobility policies using the old infrastructure to a partial modal shift to rail transport. Results are expressed in terms of total invested emergy, emergy per passenger-kilometer, and per ton-kilometer; data can be easily read also in terms of environmental, physical, and financial units. The convenience of the expansion works results highly questionable: the annually required emergy is shown to significantly increase: +24% for passengers and +51% for freight averagely (i.e., with or without services besides energy and material inputs). A key role is played by saved travelling time (computed as driving labor), able to mitigate but not to reverse the situation while representing a controversial accounting item. Instead, alternative uses and policies for the old infrastructure would all have yielded significant savings. In light of the above, some conclusions are drawn on societal priorities, including a critical reappraisal of time saving as an often unsustainable driver within a still mostly unquestioned 'more and faster' mantra. The need to support ecologically and strategically sustainable societal decision-making in the transportation sector is therefore framed in wider thoughts on economic planning and resource allocation, while envisaging a transformation towards a prosperous and sustainable future

Modellistica idrogeologica integrata con sistemi GIS per analisi di vulnerabilità degli acquiferi

Modellistica idrogeologica integrata con sistemi GIS per analisi di vulnerabilità degli acquifer

Geothermal heat flux at the COST B-2 and B-3 Wells, U. S. Atlantic continental margin

Heat flow estimates at two sites on the U.S. Atlantic continental margin are presented. An estimate of the heat flowing from the basement also has been obtained. About 4.8 km of sediments penetrated at the COST B-2 and 4.0 km at the COST B-3 were deposited since the Upper Jurassic. Well logs were used to evaluate thermal gradients and sedimentation rates, whereas thermal conductivities and radiogenic heat productions were measured on drill cuttings samples. A procedure to estimate in-situ thermal conductivity from drill cuttings and well logs is described. A substantial set of samples, in the form of drill cuttings, were sorted in four major lithologies: sandstones, siltstones, shales and limestones. Laboratory measurements of density, porosity, thermal conductivity, quartz (%), potassium (%), uranium (ppm) and thorium (ppm) were performed on 128 reorganized and pulverized samples. A significant correlation of the matrix thermal conductivity to quartz and potassium content was found. In situ porosity and volume fraction of each lithology, determined mainly from well logs, were used to calculate in situ mean thermal conductivity. Finally the mean in situ vertical component of the thermal conductivity, as required for heat flow values, has been estimated from a correction factor for the anisotropy of each lithology. The in-situ temperature and anisotropy effects substantially decrease estimates of thermal conductivity at depth. Below the uppermost 1 km in both wells the best estimate of the thermal gradient is 26.3°C km- 1 at COST B-2 and 26.1°C km- 1 at COST B-3, whereas in situ mean thermal conductivities range between about 1.8 and 1.9 W m- 1 K- 1 (4.3-4.5 T.C.U.). The average heat flow is estimated as about 45 mwm- 2 (1.07 H.F.U.) at COST B-2 and 44 mWm- 2 (1.06 H.F.U.) at COST B-3, with an uncertainty of about 20-25%. The mean radiogenic production in sediments at the two sites has been estimated as 1.83 (COST B-2) and 1.44 (COST B-3) 10- 6Wm- 3 • With a 12-14 km thick sedimentary sequence a radioactive contribution of 20-25 mWm- 2 can be expected. The effects of sediment deposition, compaction, pore water advection and radiogenic heat production have been combined in a numerical model (Hutchison, 1985) to estimate the undisturbed basement heat flux. Although the sedimentation depresses the basement heat flux by 15-20%, this effect is more than compensated by radioactive heat production in the sediments, so that the surface flux is estimated to be higher than that from the basement. The latter is calculated at about 33-39 mwm- 2 (0.8-0.9 H.F.U.), a relatively low value. The overall uncertainity is about ± 20-25%, and other estimates on continental margins with thick sediments (e.g. Reiter and Jessop, 1985) probably have at least a similar uncertainty

Status and perspectives of the district heating and cooling infrastructures in Italy

Space heating by district heating (DH) infrastructures serve more than 100 cities in Italy, since 2010. It has steadily increased on average by about 16 Mm3/a in the last 7 years, with respect to about 8 Mm3/a in the previous 14 years; at the end of 2012 it was about 280 Mm3. The main energy source used to feed the systems is natural gas, though the renewable energy sources (mainly heat recovery from Waste-to-Energy and biomasses) are significantly growing. The geothermal resources are still marginal, but positive news are coming from a few new projects in Grado (Gorizia), Ferrara and Tuscany. Though there is a large potential for district heating and cooling (DHC) in several northern Italy cities and towns, the main reason why it did not take off yet is mainly because of the high investment required to realize the distribution networks and because of the lack of appropriate regulatory schemes and energy policies. The new Italian National Energy Strategy has identified priorities, actions and specific measures to save primary energy, by energy efficiency and sustainable use of energy resources. DHC infrastructures have a significant role in this respect, but it will be crucial to identify and remove the regulatory and non\u2013regulatory barriers

Status and perspectives of the district heating and cooling infrastructures in Italy

The space heating by district heating infrastructures in Italy has steadily increased on average by about 16 Mm3/y over the last 7 years, with respect to about 8 Mm3/y in the previous 14 years, reaching more than 260 Mm3 by the end of 2011. The main energy source used to feed the systems is the natural gas, though the renewable energy sources (mainly heat recovery from Waste-to-Energy and biomasses) are significantly growing. The geothermal resources are still marginal, but positive news is expected from a few new projects in Grado, Ferrara and Pomarance. Though there is a large potential for DHC in several northern Italy cities and towns, the main reason why it did not take off yet is mainly related to the high investment required to realize the distribution networks and to the lack of appropriate regulatory schemes and energy policies. The new Italian National Energy Strategy has identified priorities, actions and specific measures to save primary energy by energy efficiency and sustainable use of energy resources. DHC infrastructures have a significant role in this respect, but it will be crucial to identify and remove the regulatory and non\u2013regulatory barriers

Geothermal Heating and Cooling in the FVG Region: the Grado District heating and the Pontebba Ice Rink Plants

We present two running applications of direct use of low temperature geothermal resources for heating and cooling of public buildings, recently realized in the Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) Region - Northeastern Italy - with public fundings. The Grado Geothermal Pilot Project was an ambitious challenge, initiated in 2002 and completed in early 2015, aimed to demonstrate the feasibility and sustainability of a geothermal doublet on the Grado Island (GO), in the northern Adriatic coastal area, by: i) characterizing the geothermal carbonate reservoir of the Grado area, ii) estimating its heat potential, iii) drilling a geothermal doublet, with one production and one re - injection well. The project had a total cost of 5 million \u20ac and included two phases. The 1st phase, completed in 2008, confirmed the existence of a low temperature geothermal reservoir within the buried carbonate platform, assessed its geothermal potential and verified the feasibility of the district heating plant in Grado. Seismic and gravity surveys were completed to locate the first exploratory well. Grado - 1 borehole was drilled down to 1110 m, into a terrigenous cover and a Paleogene - Mesozoic carbonate basement high. The 2nd phase (2012 - 2015) included further geophysical prospecting to extend reservoir investigations and to locate the second borehole. Grado - 2 was drilled in 2014, at about one km distance to the East of Grado - 1, down to 1200 m. By December 2014, two km of district heating distribution network was deployed and the first two public buildings were connected. We focus here mainly on the geophysical and well data and on the pumping tests that were acquired before, during and after the drilling of the two wells. The data set allowed the characterization of the reservoir and the assessment of its geothermal potential. Some of the main results are: the identification of major fault systems and production areas, the comprehension of the hydraulic circulation systems, the assessment of the geochemical facies of waters and of their sustainable utilization. The Grado reservoir is a confined fractured aquifer hosting anoxic fossil seawaters with temperatures up to 49 \ub0C in Grado - 2 (7 \ub0C higher than Grado - 1), pressure of 250 kPa at wellhead and spontaneous artesian outflow of about 100 t/h. Pumping test results indicate a sustainable water production up to 140 t/h. The circulating system is a complex network of permeable vugs and highly trasmissive karst-fractured discontinuities, interested by several fault systems driven by Alpine and Dinaric deformation phases. Interference pumping tests proved the hydraulic connectivity between wells, but, due to the poor system recharge, the hydraulic sustainability of the geothermal doublet must be guaranteed by re - injection. The initial functioning of the district heating plant, envisaging a geothermal heating of several connected public buildings during cold seasons (up to about 3 MW(th) heating load), will allow a significant economical saving of the order of 80 000\u2013100 000 \u20ac/yr. Nevertheless, the geothermal reserve affords to foster other relevant uses besides the district heating. Several future perspectives of development are suggested for Grado geothermal potential; 3D thermo - fluid dynamic numerical modelling will optimize the system production and manage the sustainability of the geothermal plant. The existing cooling system of the ice rink of Pontebba town (UD), located close to the Austrian border, was totally renovated in late summer 2012: a open loop heat pump system using groundwater thermal energy was realized and functions both for the ice production and maintenance, and for the heating and hot water needs of the ice stadium. Two ammonia heat pumps (350 kW each) were installed, supported by two production water wells (32 m deep) and one re - injection water well (30 m deep), drilled into the alluvial deposits of the Fella River. A total production rate of up to 200 t/h could be achieved from the shallow unconfined aquifer, with an average temperature of about 8.5 - 9.0 \ub0C. Numerical modelling of groundwater flow supported the assessment of the production and re - injection rates, as well as the evaluation and the minimization of the impacts on the groundwater resource during the plant management in various hydraulic regimes. Over the first two years of operation, cost reductions of the order of 45% have been achieved