A methodological framework for the economic assessment of ict-tools for occupants’ engagement

The concept of smartness in building dates to the 1970s, but, in face of the breakthrough technological developments, a new notion of smart building is currently recognized. We talk about ambient intelligence, referring to a building which is responsive to the needs of the occupants and of the energy system. An ambient-intelligent building is human-centric; new services and interfaces are provided to the buildings occupants to learn and set their preferences, with a positive impact on their comfort level and satisfaction with the indoor environmental quality. ICT and IoT are part of the enabling technologies to exploit the potentials of smart buildings, by unlocking the capability of buildings to interact with the system they belong to. To bolster the diffusion of new technologies, methodologies to get quantitative results proving their effectiveness should be provided. In this paper the application of a well-established economic evaluation tool, the so-called Cost-Benefit Analysis, to the case of the deployment of new ICT-tools for occupants’ engagement is presented. The methodology is adopted within the H2020 Mobistyle project, where two levels of the evaluation are identified: the whole project level and the single demo case one. The purpose of the methodology is to assess the effectiveness of the adoption of the ICT-tools in producing economic value in terms of benefits for the occupants and the society. Some preliminary results of its application to the Italian case study are also presented, showing a positive socio-economic balance since the beginning of the deployment

Exploitation of dynamic simulation to investigate the effectiveness of the Smart Readiness Indicator: application to the Energy Center building of Turin

To achieve the energy and emissions reduction goals for the building sector, actions are needed to improve energy efficiency and occupants’ wellbeing. To increase the uptake of smart technologies and the awareness upon their benefits, in line with the smart building revolution that is starting, the EPBD recast introduced the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) as a tool to evaluate the capability of buildings to easily adapt to both energy systems and occupants’ needs. However, there is a growing interest in studying the SRI features in terms of performance assessment, and, thus, dynamic simulation models can be exploited to better analyze its points of strength and weakness. The Energy Center building of Turin was chosen as case study. By means of EnergyPlus modeling, the current situation was simulated, as well as different scenarios of energy management and control, evaluating to what extent these actions can influence the overall SRI assessment. The analysis allowed to deepen and comment on the effectiveness of the SRI of being a real tool of building behavior assessment, able to link the indicator itself with the energy needs of the building and to understand if and how the indicator is sensible to energy needs variations

Environmental performances in green labels for hotels – a critical review

The global attention towards climate change has led national governments and the international community to the definition of plans aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in all economic sectors. Recently, attention has focused also on the tourism sector, and especially on the lodging industry, which consumes high amounts of resources and energy to satisfy guests expectations in terms of offered services and comfort conditions. In this sector, eco-certifications or green labels are spreading, perceived as useful marketing tools to communicate the hoteliers’ environmental efforts to consumers, who are becoming more and more sensitive to ecological matters. However, the wide offer of green labels and the lack of appropriate information are contributing to increase costumers’ confusion and perception of real “green”. The present paper focuses its attention on a set of currently available tools to evaluate the environmental performances of hotels, in order to enquire if and to which extent they are able to inform about the sustainability of accommodation structures. Starting from the wide number of certification schemes available on the market, 19 multi-attribute, third-party green labels were compared, aiming to explore the role that energy efficiency measures play in the certification procedure

A review of Nigerian energy access studies: The story told so far

Nigeria has been accorded the largest economy in Africa and one of Africa’s burgeoning economies. However, a high percentage of the population lives in extreme poverty and is largely rural, accounting for about 51% of the total, approximately 96 million people in 2016. This glaring reality is most evident in the undisputed urban and rural divide with a huge mass of the population living in these rural areas characterised by underdevelopment and limited access to electricity and modern energy services. Energy access is an indispensable instrument such that can be used to achieve great strides in human development, better the economy and enable sustainable development. The present work reviews the state of the art on Nigerian energy access studies and provides an overview of the peer-reviewed literature spanning energy planning, electrification planning, rural electrification, renewable resource potential, energy & electricity access impact, and policies & reforms. It delineates the narrative in existing literature and propounds a new trajectory for future work. This study was facilitated by an extensive systematic literature review which has resulted in an analysis of 90 relevant articles out of a total of 104 articles from a period of 1978–2019. The review reveals no consensus on a standardized framework to synergize the already available strategies and methodologies for improving Nigeria’s energy access. An integrated framework that embodies a multi-disciplinary study is introduced and forms the foundation upon which the authors of this paper are conducting further research to conceptualize a unified road map for energy planning, system design, and operation with renewable energy integration geared towards improving localized energy access in Nigeria

Application of Building Typologies for Modelling the Energy Balance of the Residential Building Stock.

Building typologies can serve as a basis for analysing the national housing sector. During the TABULA project which was introducing or further developing building typologies in thirteen EU countries, six of the European partners have carried out model calculations which aim at imaging the energy consumption and estimating the energy saving potentials of their national residential building stocks (IWU / Germany, NOA / Greece, POLITO / Italy, VITO / Belgium, STU-K / Czech Republic, SBi / Denmark). The results show that the model calculations can provide plausible projections of the energy consumption of the national residential buildings stock. The fit of model calculations and national energy statistics is satisfactory, deviations can often be explained and corrected by adapting standard boundary conditions of the applied calculation models to more realistic values. In general, the analysis shows that building typologies can be a helpful tool for modelling the energy consumption of national building stocks and for carrying out scenario analysis beyond the TABULA project. The consideration of a set of representative buildings makes it possible to have a detailed view on various packages of measures for the complete buildings stock or for its sub-categories. The effects of different insulation measures at the respective construction elements as well as different heat supply measures including renewable energies can be considered in detail. The quality of future model calculations will depend very much on the availability of statistical data. For reliable scenario analysis information is necessary about the current state of the building stock (How many buildings and heating systems have been refurbished until now?) and about the current trends (How many buildings and heating systems are being refurbished every year?). The availability and regular update of the relevant statistical data will be an important basis for the development and evaluation of national climate protection strategies in the building sector

Electrify Italy

This study explores a possible pathway to implement a new energy paradigm in Italy based on electrification. The objectives are: • To build a forward-looking vision of possible scenarios at 2022, 2030 and 2050 by integrating a multi-focus perspective on the penetration of renewables and the electrification potential of the residential, industrial and transport sectors. • To estimate the potential benefits of further electrification through the calculation of Key Performance Indicators in four different areas: energy, economy, environment and society. The study shows how the electricity triangle, a paradigm based on clean generation by renewable sources, electrification of final uses, and electricity exchange through efficient smart grids, closes the loop of clean energy and efficient consumption. This leads to improvements in energy, environment, economy and social performances, and boosts the share of renewables in final consumption

Coastal high-frequency radars in the Mediterranean - Part 1: Status of operations and a framework for future development

Due to the semi-enclosed nature of the Mediterranean Sea, natural disasters and anthropogenic activities impose stronger pressures on its coastal ecosystems than in any other sea of the world. With the aim of responding adequately to science priorities and societal challenges, littoral waters must be effectively monitored with high-frequency radar (HFR) systems. This land-based remote sensing technology can provide, in near-real time, fine-resolution maps of the surface circulation over broad coastal areas, along with reliable directional wave and wind information. The main goal of this work is to showcase the current status of the Mediterranean HFR network and the future roadmap for orchestrated actions. Ongoing collaborative efforts and recent progress of this regional alliance are not only described but also connected with other European initiatives and global frameworks, highlighting the advantages of this cost-effective instrument for the multi-parameter monitoring of the sea state. Coordinated endeavors between HFR operators from different multi-disciplinary institutions are mandatory to reach a mature stage at both national and regional levels, striving to do the following: (i) harmonize deployment and maintenance practices; (ii) standardize data, metadata, and quality control procedures; (iii) centralize data management, visualization, and access platforms; and (iv) develop practical applications of societal benefit that can be used for strategic planning and informed decision-making in the Mediterranean marine environment. Such fit-for-purpose applications can serve for search and rescue operations, safe vessel navigation, tracking of marine pollutants, the monitoring of extreme events, the investigation of transport processes, and the connectivity between offshore waters and coastal ecosystems. Finally, future prospects within the Mediterranean framework are discussed along with a wealth of socioeconomic, technical, and scientific challenges to be faced during the implementation of this integrated HFR regional network

Coastal high-frequency radars in the Mediterranean - Part 2: Applications in support of science priorities and societal needs

The Mediterranean Sea is a prominent climate-change hot spot, with many socioeconomically vital coastal areas being the most vulnerable targets for maritime safety, diverse met-ocean hazards and marine pollution. Providing an unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution at wide coastal areas, high-frequency radars (HFRs) have been steadily gaining recognition as an effective land-based remote sensing technology for continuous monitoring of the surface circulation, increasingly waves and occasionally winds. HFR measurements have boosted the thorough scientific knowledge of coastal processes, also fostering a broad range of applications, which has promoted their integration in coastal ocean observing systems worldwide, with more than half of the European sites located in the Mediterranean coastal areas. In this work, we present a review of existing HFR data multidisciplinary science-based applications in the Mediterranean Sea, primarily focused on meeting end-user and science-driven requirements, addressing regional challenges in three main topics: (i) maritime safety, (ii) extreme hazards and (iii) environmental transport process. Additionally, the HFR observing and monitoring regional capabilities in the Mediterranean coastal areas required to underpin the underlying science and the further development of applications are also analyzed. The outcome of this assessment has allowed us to provide a set of recommendations for future improvement prospects to maximize the contribution to extending science-based HFR products into societally relevant downstream services to support blue growth in the Mediterranean coastal areas, helping to meet the UN's Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the EU's Green Deal goals