'A Balance of Power that Favors Freedom'. The Historical and Ideological Roots of the Neo-Conservative Persuasion

The paper offers a genealogy of neoconservatism, concentrating on its ideological and historical foundations in the early 1970s. In the first part, it shows how neoconservatism represented a reaction to the crisis-real and perceived-the United States was undergoing, and an answer Cold War liberalism gave to Kissinger's realism, to the radicalism of the New Left and to the emerging theories of interdependence. In the second part, the paper examines the influence neoconservatives were able to exert on the foreign policy of George W. Bush, particularly after the terrorist attacks of September the 11th, 2001. It argues that neoconservatism, as a visionary and utopian form of 'crisis internationalism', was ideally fit to dominate post 9/11 U.S. foreign policy discourse. But it underlines also the intrinsic limits and contradictions of the neoconservative project.power analysis

Toward a New International History

International history as a discipline has a solid and lasting background. This article identifies two aspects of a methodological discussion that has lasted over the years: the first is connected to the broadening of its objects of study; the second concerns the never-ending discussion on how historians' evolving views and perspectives have affected their approach and therefore the nature of the discipline itself. A further challenge, and disciplinary revision, seems to be under way today, as the field grapples with the demand to adopt a more «trans-national» and/or «global» approach. By identifying the opportunities and limits of these changes, the article calls for a «new and mestized international history», founded on some of the most solid elements of its tradition (beginning with the centrality of the State in the structure of international power), but capable of incorporating new approaches that connect the «micro» and «macro» dimensions

Building-Integrated Photovoltaics in Existing Buildings: A Novel PV Roofing System

Among renewable energy generation technologies, photovoltaics has a pivotal role in reaching the EU's decarbonization goals. In particular, building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems are attracting increasing interest since they are a fundamental element that allows buildings to abate their CO2 emissions while also performing functions typical of traditional building components, such as sealing against water. In such a context, since one of the main challenges to decarbonizing the building sector lies in the retrofitting of existing buildings, the current paper is focused on the design, development, and testing of a novel roofing BIPV system. The entire research was carried out as part of the Horizon 2020 HEART project. In more detail, the research analyzed the requirements of typical pitched tile roofs, which are currently the most common type in Europe, and developed a universal photovoltaic tile that can be easily and quickly integrated into such a type of roof. The research was also aimed at minimizing the embodied energy of the component and promoting disassembly and recycling at the end of life, fully in line with a circular economy perspective. The adopted design and development processes are described in detail in the present paper, along with the results of several tests performed in the field. In addition, further development prospects of the component, aimed at meeting the integration requirements in historic buildings, are finally presented

design of a device for stress corrosion testing in pressurized chambers

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Sustainability qualification tool for Italian multi-family buildings

There is a growing interest in the real estate sector in tools for assessing the sustainability and quality of the building stock. Often such tools, regardless of their content but by their nature as an assurance tool, serve as a support and stimulus to the sustainable building market. This paper reports the steps and methodology followed in the development of a sustainability qualification system for condominium buildings. The structure of the system and its technical characteristics are described. The objective of the tool is to evaluate not only aspects related to the building’s construction and technical systems quality but also to highlight the ability to optimize condominium services and management practices

Optimization of Solar Thermal Fraction in PVT Systems

AbstractOver the last years there has been a growing interest in hybrid Photovoltaic-Thermal (PVT) collectors for their applications in building integration. The hybrid systems integrate the features of the photovoltaic and the solar thermal (water or air) systems in one combined product/system. The PV electricity production in a hybrid system could be significantly different from the one of a standard PV module because, mainly, cells temperatures change according to the amount of heat removed by the absorber of the PVT system and, moreover, to the insulation level of the PVT system. This last factor is related to many parameters, among which it is possible to identify water flow rate and temperature, which are directly related to PVT plant configuration and size as a function of users heat demand. Starting from these considerations, the aim of this paper is to calculate the optimal value of solar fraction f for hybrid PVT systems, under energetic end economic point of views, and to find a correlation between the percentage of heat demand covered by the PVT system and photovoltaic cells temperature. In fact, changes in solar fraction imply different average cells operating temperatures and consequently, variation in total energy efficiency. For this purpose, simulations of liquid-based PVT systems for domestic application have been performed through TRNSYS energy simulation tools, carrying out subsequently a detailed energetic and economic analysis

Life Cycle Assessment in the automotive sector: a comparative case study of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and electric car

Abstract Transportation represents one of the major contributors to several environmental burdens such as Green-House-Gas (GHG) emissions and resource depletion. Considering the European Union, light duty vehicles are responsible for roughly 10% of total energy use and air emissions. As a consequence, the need for higher fuel/energy efficiency in both conventional and electric cars has become urgent and the efforts across industrial and research players have proposed a range of innovative solutions with great potential. This study presents a comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and electric vehicles. The analysis follows a "from cradle-to-grave" approach and it captures the whole Life-Cycle (LC) of the car subdivided into production, use and End-of-Life stages. The inventory is mainly based on primary data and the assessment takes into account a wide range of impact categories to both human and eco-system health. The eco-profile of the different vehicle configurations is assessed and the main environmental hotspots affecting conventional and electric cars are identified and critically discussed. The dependence of impacts on LC mileage is investigated for both propulsion technologies and the break-even point for the effective environmental convenience of electric car is determined considering several use phase electricity sources. The analysis is completed with a comparison of GHG emissions with the results of previous LCA studies