A methodological integrated approach to analyse climate change effects in agri-food sector: The TIMES water-energy-food module

The European Union’s 2030 climate and energy policy and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development underline the commitment to mitigate climate change and reduce its impacts by supporting sustainable use of resources. This commitment has become stricter in light of the ambitious climate neutrality target set by the European Green Deal for 2050. Water, Energy and Food are the key variables of the “Nexus Thinking” which face the sustainability challenge with a multi-sectoral approach. The aim of the paper is to show the methodological path toward the implementation of an integrated modeling platform based on the Nexus approach and consolidated energy system analysis methods to represent the agri-food system in a circular economy perspective (from the use of water, energy, biomass, and land to food production). The final aim is to support decision-making connected to climate change mitigation. The IEA-The Integrated MARKAL-EFOM System (TIMES) model generator was used to build up the Basilicata Water, Energy and Food model (TIMES-WEF model), which allows users a comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of climate change on the Basilicata agri-food system in terms of land use, yields and water availability and a critical comparison of these indicators in different scenarios. The paper focuses on the construction of the model’s Reference Energy and Material System of the TIMES model, which integrates water and agricultural commodities into the energy framework, and on the results obtained through the calibration of the model β version to statistical data on agricultural activities.publishersversionpublishe

How to Prioritize Energy Efficiency Intervention in Municipal Public Buildings to Decrease CO2 Emissions? A Case Study from Italy

The European Union 2050 climate neutrality goal and the climate crisis require coordinated efforts to reduce energy consumption in all sectors, and mainly in buildings greatly affected by the increasing temperature, with relevant CO2 emissions due to inefficient end-use technologies. Moreover, the old building stock of most countries requires suited policies to support renovation programs aimed at improving energy performances and optimize energy uses. A toolbox was developed in the framework of the PrioritEE project to provide policy makers and technicians with a wide set of tools to support energy efficiency in Municipal Public Buildings. The toolbox, available for free, was tested in the partners’ communities, proving its effectiveness. The paper illustrates its application to the Potenza Municipality case study in which the online calculator DSTool (the core instrument of the toolbox) was utilized to select and prioritize the energy efficiency interventions in public buildings implementable in a three-year action plan in terms of costs, energy savings, CO2 emissions’ reduction and return on investments. The results highlight that improvements in the building envelopes (walls and roofs), heating and lighting and photovoltaic systems allow reducing CO2 emission approximately 644 t/year and saving about 2050 MWh/year with a total three-year investment of 1,728,823 EUR

Reply to Comment on Pietrapertosa et al. How to Prioritize Energy Efficiency Intervention in Municipal Public Buildings to Decrease CO2 Emissions? A Case Study from Italy. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 4434

This is a reply to the paper by Miroslav Variny [...

Improving policy making and strategic planning competencies of public authorities in the energy management of municipal public buildings : the PrioritEE toolbox and its application in five mediterranean areas

ABSTRACT: Making public buildings smarter and more energy efficient requires tailored solutions to overcome the barriers in implementing suitable technology options in a large variety of building types. The PrioritEE project aimed to strengthen the policy-making and strategic planning competencies of local and regional public authorities in the energy management of Municipal Public Buildings, gaining experience in five local pilots in the Mediterranean area. This paper focuses on the PrioritEE toolbox, describing both the “soft components” and the technical components. These components are widely applicable and replicable in all European cities for supporting local administrations in improving energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources in municipal public buildings. The Energy Technologies and Building Retrofit Database is a technology repository of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy technologies, providing the main reference data on costs, technical performance and lifetime. With the Decision Support Tool users can assess current building stock energy performance, evaluate different efficiency and renewable interventions, and compare, rank, and prioritize technical options through a set of key performance indicators. A sample of the results to date in the five partner regions are also presented, comparing the main individual characteristics in order to derive replicable solutions for local authorities. This project also highlighted how crucial stakeholder involvement is for tool improvement, capacity building and enabling knowledge transfer.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio