Harmful Elements in Estuarine and Coastal Systems

Estuaries and coastal zones are dynamic transitional systems which provide many economic and ecological benefits to humans, but also are an ideal habitat for other organisms as well. These areas are becoming contaminated by various anthropogenic activities due to a quick economic growth and urbanization. This chapter explores the sources, chemical speciation, sediment accumulation and removal mechanisms of the harmful elements in estuarine and coastal seawaters. It also describes the effects of toxic elements on aquatic flora and fauna. Finally, the toxic element pollution of the Venice Lagoon, a transitional water body located in the northeastern part of Italy, is discussed as a case study, by presenting the procedures adopted to measure the extent of the pollution, the impacts on organisms and the restoration activities

The energy conservation supply curve from investments in energy savings in the existing Italian buildings

In the paper we estimate an energy conservation supply curve form the investment in energy savings works in the Italian residential sector. First the average \u201ctype\u201d of building, in terms of heating dispersion, is calculated for each age of construction and climatic zone. Then several possible strategies are considered, that range from substituting old heaters with new ones to installing thermal collectors and refurbishing the buildings, reducing the heating dispersion according to the new transmittance limits that will be compulsory in Italy (for new buildings) from the year 2010. The cost of implementing specific energy-saving works is calculated; a step-wise supply curve is obtained that measures the potential Mtep saved ad the merit order of the various instruments considered

The Role of Ambiguity in the Evaluation of the Net Benefits of the MOSE System in the Venice Lagoon

Several environmental problems are complicated by ambiguity. Sea-level rise following climate change is one relevant example. In this paper, we apply a decision-making approach specifically designed to deal with ambiguity in order to evaluate the net benefits of the mobile barriers system (MOSE), which aims to protect the Venice Lagoon from periodic flooding. We show that the estimated impacts crucially depend on the level of optimism and pessimism of the decision maker and substantially differ from those calculated on the basis of the expected value. We also calculate the implicit ambiguity attitude of the decision maker

Auctioning Wind Power Sites when Environmental Quality Matters

In this work, we propose an index that allows a public authority to order different projects for the construction of onshore wind energy plants and that explicitly takes into account their environmental quality. Wind farm projects are defined as vectors of four attributes: the technical properties of each project, its social impact, its environmental impact, and the share of earnings that proponents offer to the collectivity in compensation for the negative externalities of the wind plant. We define an absolute index that allows the ordering of different proposals and evaluation of the acceptability of each project, providing the monetary value of each point and inducing a truthful revelation of firms' private information. Moreover, we calibrate the index on the basis of data referring to wind plants in Southern Italy and derive the corresponding iso-scoring curves

Evaluation of the remaining hydro potential in Italy

A methodology is described to evaluate the residual hydropower potential in Italy, taking into account the current demand on water resources (irrigation, drinking water, existing hydropower). The model applied uses a numerical technique coupled with a GIS, the hydrological and physiographic characteristics of nearly 1500 interconnected sub-basin, and rainfall maps. Maps of water resources availability and the related maximum hydropower potential have been produced and are fond to be quite helpful tools to support power authorities, decision makers and other stakeholders in creating Energy masterplans, and in implementing small hydro plants