GREEN LOANS EXPERIENCES AS INVESTMENT MULTIPLIER SCHEMES

In recent years Italian national and regional governments have been active in promoting energy efficiency and renewable energies. The most effective measures are focused on the residential sector: feed-in tariffs for photovoltaic systems (higher tariffs for building integrated small plants), 55% tax credits for energy efficiency investments (windows or boilers substitutions, walls and roof insulations or even complete building refurbishments). Recent surveys show that in some cases the customers are informed but cannot afford to pay for the needed investments and they prefer not to ask for loans, paying interests. In this situation the final customer may decide to opt for low quality refurbishments, not necessarily affecting the building energy consumption. For these reasons there can still be some room left for some local supporting initiatives. In the Province of Milan the Mutuo A-profitto provided green loans with no interest to the consumers to all those who want to perform an energy efficient refurbishment of their house: local banks provided the third party financing interest were paid half by the bank itself and half by the province administration the project designer or the installer had to declare the expected energy savings In this way the customer obtained an interest-free loan up to 7 years: since the amount of the instalment could not exceed the amount of the expected economic savings, even the annual cash flow will be positive. Eligible measures include: glaze substitutions, walls and roof insulation, heating systems, solar water heater, heat pumps. Since 2007, the Milanese Province administration has provided 1,35 million Euro funding, which mobilized 16\ua0million Euro of total investments. The Piedmont Region has recently introduced a similar scheme addressed to households and companies. The paper provides an in depth description of the schemes adopted in Milan, an evaluation of the results and a comparison with the Piedmonts\u2019 experience and the "\ue9co-pr\ueat \ue0 taux z\ue9ro" (zero interest green loans) recently introduced in France by the Minist\ue8re du D\ue9veloppement Durable

Is Parkinson's disease an unique clinical entity? Rigid or tremor dominant PD: Two faces of the same coin

Parkinson's disease is one of the most described neurodegenerative pathologies; though it is one of the most complex pathologies, is not fully understood, correctly identified, with its different types of presentation, its clinical course and the neural networks involved. We report on a series consisting of 432 de novo PD diagnosed patients, and 457 control cases. We identify a possible independent relationship between two clinical PD presentation, akinetic-rigid and tremor-dominant, and cognitive and behavioral changes. A 24-months follow-up allows to identify new information still not fully explored

Le emissioni in atmosfera dalle combustioni in Lombardia

Il lavoro presenta le stime delle emissioni in atmosfera di polveri fini, precursori di polveri fini e gas serra in Lombardia provenienti dalle attività di combustione di combustibili e carburanti, come stimate dall’inventario regionale INEMAR per l’anno 2003. I dati dei consumi elaborati nell’inventario derivano da informazioni raccolte sia mediante questionari relativi alle principali sorgenti puntuali della regione, sia consultando le diverse fonti statistiche. Le emissioni in atmosfera sono stimate sia attraverso dati derivanti da misure effettuate presso gli impianti che tramite fattori di emissione proposti in letteratura e utilizzati in ambito EMEP-Corinair e IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). La combustione nel settore del trasporto stradale risulta essere la principale sorgente per numerosi inquinanti, fra cui PM10, NOx, SO2 e CO. L’olio combustibile utilizzato per la produzione di energia è la maggiore fonte di SO2 (56% delle emissioni totali regionali), mentre il gasolio per autotrazione fornisce il principale contributo alle emissioni di NOx (44% del totale). Per le emissioni di polveri (sia PM10 che PM2,5), oltre ai determinanti contributi della combustione del gasolio per autotrazione e della legna in ambito domestico, sono rilevanti anche i processi di usura nel traffico stradale (pneumatici, freni, abrasione dell’asfalto) e le attività relative al settore agro-zootecnico. La benzina è la principale fonte di CO (50%), mentre il metano costituisce una sorgente di grande importanza (45%) per la CO2 e di interesse anche per gli ossidi di azoto (21% del totale regionale). Il lavoro fornisce altresì una valutazione dei fattori di emissione medi dalle attività di combustione in Lombardia a diverse scale di dettaglio

An In Vitro Study Of Resistance To Corrosion In Brazed And Laser-Welded Orthodontic Appliances

Many orthodontic appliances comprise a number of elements soldered together. This technique is known as brazing and has now been in use for over thirty years, although today laser welding is increasingly widespread. Biocompatibility of alloys contained in orthodontic appliances has become a hotly-debated issue and previous studies have shown that it depends on the products of alloy corrosion and their effects on the oral cavity. The present study is intended to compare the corrosion resistance of stainless steel when traditionally soldered - i.e. brazed - and when laser-welded. Samples comprising stainless steel band strips and Remanium wire were soldered together traditionally (i.e. brazed) and laser-welded and were then left in artificial saliva for 7 days at 37±1 degrees. Corrosion was studied by: A- SEM observation of sample surface morphology before (T0) and after standardized immersion test (T1); B- x-ray microanalysis (EDAX). SEM observation of the brazed samples showed surface corrosion, which was not visible in the laser-welded samples. Our study shows that laser-welded samples have superior resistance to corrosion