Leading agritourism facilities along Nearly Zero Energy paths: Proposal of an easy-to-use evaluation method

The tourist sector, despite the present severe constraints imposed by the sanitary emergence, can be considered as an important component of almost all countries' economies. In Italy agriturism, in particular, has been experiences a continuously rising trend in recent years. Clearly, such great interest towards these businesses also calls for a deep attention by an energy point of view, in sight of an energy efficiency improvement, hence a lowering of the pressure that such facilities exert to the natural environment. On the other hand, the European Union has been engaged, for a long time, in awarding the tourist accommodations environmental excellence brands, like the EU Ecolabel. Unfortunately, the achievement of such excellence brands requires the capability of managing complex energy and environmental data, which is often not the prerogative of people running such facilities. In order of contributing to overcome this difficulty, and with the aim of helping the addressing of agritourism towards a Nearly Zero Energy path, we propose here a simple approach that does not require the modelling and simulation of the energy behaviour of an agritourism, being essentially based on the application of easy-to-use ARERA (Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy Networks and Environment) datasheets scheme. On purpose, an application of the method, involving two typical Sicilian agritourism, is presented. The obtained results showed the viability of the proposed methodology, although the need of an update and/or replacement of some technical datasheets arose

Development of sustainable ORC applications in the tertiary sector: a case study in the Mediterranean climate

In recent decades, climate change strong advancement has led many countries, especially the most developed ones, to a greater sense of environmental responsibility. On a global, European and national level, adaptation/mitigation strategies and actions aimed at improving energy-environmental sustainability and resilience in the tertiary sectors have been increasingly intensified. In this sector, therefore, plays a fundamental role the integration/introduction of technologies able to operate an efficient conversion of energy, such as indeed Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) plant, other than renewable energy sources, in order to reduce both energy consumption and pollutant emissions. Within this scenario, the aim of this work is to investigate the potential application of a cogeneration ORC system powered by solar collector and geothermal sources, by evaluating its energy, environmental and economic advantages and limitations. To this purpose a case study involving the coverage of the energy needs of a hotel located in Catania (Southern Italy) has been simulated and analyzed. The outcomes put in evidence the importance of the operative conditions in optimizing the productivity of an ORC plant, especially when associated with renewable energy sources, although at the moment investment and supply costs are still quite high

A Solar Pond for Feeding a Thermoelectric Generator or an Organic Rankine Cycle System

The world energy demand is continuously growing, which means an increase in consumption for all modern fuels or stronger effort on the development and improvement of renewable technologies. Moreover, Developing Countries claims more energy and they have often wide unutilized or unusable lands. The solar energy represents a useful opportunity for these Countries. The Solar Pond is both a solar collector and a thermal storage for long period and is suitable to use in wide sunny areas. Solar pond technology is able to supply heat for several applications requiring low-grade thermal energy or for electrical power production. In order to produce electrical energy from solar ponds it is necessary to use systems fed by low enthalpy sources, such Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). In this paper, a model of a Solar Pond for power generation is analyzed in conjunction with an Organic Rankine Cycle. The model has been validated using climate data of an area near to Palermo city (Italy) and exactly the Test Reference Year developed by the Authors

Regional policies for sustainability in the Mediterranean countries: the role of a proper HVAC system maintenance in museums

Italy, like several Mediterranean countries, holds a very large number of cultural artifacts that are often exhibited and saved inside museums. Museums are usually part of historical buildings that, not rarely, originally had a different intended use and that have been currently transformed in place for conservation and for exhibition of works of art. The use of historical buildings as museums leads to limitations in the management and distribution of exhibition space, in design and managing HVAC systems and in the achievement of targets relating to the continuous monitoring of the microclimate for people comfort and for preservation of works of art. Moreover, the costs of the operation and maintenance of the HVAC system for this particular type of confined environment are often very expensive and the proper optimization of the required operations plays a main role. In this paper, authors propose a new decision support tool for curators regarding the operation and maintenance management of HVAC systems in museums especially in the case of their belonging to cultural heritage buildings

Disposal of green roofs: A contribution to identifying an “Allowed by legislation” end–of–life scenario and facilitating their environmental analysis

The rapid and widespread deployment of green roofs requires the need to address their disposal and to assess the environmental impact of this phase of their life cycle to understand whether their current large-scale application may pose a problem. A review of the literature on green roofs environmental performance (particularly Life Cycle Assessment studies) has highlighted the lack of a standardized, commonly adopted, procedure for determining the treatments, recovery and/or disposal, to be assigned to waste from the removal of green roofs. In this regard, it should be mentioned that there is a lack of ad hoc legislation on the disposal of this technology (to the best of the authors’ knowledge, even at the international level). In this paper, an attempt procedure is introduced to identify the end-of-life scenario of green roofs that does not conflict with the current regulations regarding wastes. Specifically, the procedure relies on an “attempt classification” of the waste from individual green roof elements and the priority criterion for intervention. This procedure might thus be used temporarily by technicians, pending the issuance of guidelines specifically dedicated to green roofs disposal, to model their end-of-life and thus assess the environmental impact of this phase of the life cycle. The feasibility of this proposal was verified through a field application. Besides the methodological proposal, the results of the work indicated the need to review the current waste legislation and update it -at least the Italian one - to also consider new materials used in green transition technologies

A Win-Win Scheme for Improving the Environmental Sustainability of University Commuters’ Mobility and Getting Environmental Credits

European Union Member States are called upon to meet internationally proposed environmental goals. This study is based, in particular, on the recommendation of the European Union (EU), which encourages Member States to pursue effective policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions, including through appropriate changes in the behavioral habits of citizens. In this respect, among the main sectors involved, transport and mobility should certainly be mentioned. National institutions should be adequately involved in order to achieve the objectives set; in this regard, universities must certainly be considered for their educational value. These latter, for instance, could commit to improving the environmental performance of the mobility of their commuter students (to a not insignificant extent), since commuting modes are often the cause of high CO2 emissions; indeed, they still largely involve the use of internal combustion engines based on fossil fuels. In this paper, the effectiveness of a smartphone-app-based method to encourage commuter students to adopt more sustainable transport modes is evaluated. In more detail, starting from a statistical analysis of the status quo of mobility habits of a sample of students at the University of Palermo (Italy), an improvement of current habits toward a more sustainable path is encouraged through a new application (specifically created for this purpose) installed on students’ smartphones. Then, the daily and annual distances traveled by commuters with the new mobility modes are calculated, and the resulting savings in energy and CO2 emissions are estimated. Finally, it is proposed that the reduced emissions could be converted into energy-efficiency credits that the University could use to enter the emission trading system (ETS), here contextualized within the Italian “TEE” (“Energy Efficiency Credits”) scheme, while the benefits for students participating in the program could consist of reduced fees and free access to university services. The results obtained show the feasibility of the proposal. This approach can be considered a useful model that could be adopted by any other public institutions—not only universities—to facilitate their path toward decarbonization

Environmental assessment of a new building envelope material derived from urban agriculture wastes: the case of the tomato plants stems

Purpose: Decarbonizing cities is one of today biggest challenges. In this regard, particular attention has been paid on improving the environmental performance of buildings. In this framework, this work consists in assessing the environmental impact of an innovative building envelope component derived from urban agriculture (UA) wastes. In fact, rooftop UA seems to be a possible solution to the rising food demand due to increasing urban demographic growth. Consequently, rooftop UA wastes need to be treated in sustainable ways. Methods: This study aims to determine the carbon footprint and embodied energy of a new infill wall material, derived from UA wastes produced by a building rooftop greenhouse tomato crop, and evaluate the potential biogenic carbon that such by-product could fix temporally until its end of life. After an initial description of the manufacturing process of the new material, its carbon footprint and embodied energy have been calculated by means of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology according to the ISO 14044 and the ISO 14067 guidelines adapted to the analyzed context. In particular, the inventory analysis is based on data collected from the production of samples of the new material at the laboratory scale. Results and discussion: The results of the LCA indicate that, when the biogenic carbon fixed in the UA wastes is considered, a negative carbon footprint of -0.2 kg CO2 eq. per kg of material can be obtained. Hence, it can be assumed that from a life cycle perspective the material is able to fix carbon emissions instead of emitting them. Specifically, for the considered scenario, approximately 0.42 kg CO2 eq./m2 per year could be sequestered. However, the crop area required to produce enough waste to manufacture a unit of material is quite high. Therefore, future studies should focus on individuate solutions to reduce the density of the new component, and also different urban crops with higher waste production rates. Conclusions: The outcomes of the study put in evidence the potential of the new proposed infill wall component in fixing carbon emissions from UA, allowing to also compensate those relating to the production and transportation stages of the component life cycle. Moreover, producing by-products with UA wastes, hence temporally storing the carbon fixed by crops, may contribute to reduce the carbon cycles speed conversely to traditional waste management solutions, other than lower new raw materials depletion

Upper Endoscopy in Patients with Extra-Oesophageal Reflux Symptoms: A Multicentre Study

Background: There are no evidence-based recommendations for performing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (UGIE) in patients with extra-oesophageal symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD). However, UGIEs are often performed in clinical practice in these patients. We aimed to assess the prevalence of gastro-oesophageal lesions in patients with atypical GORD symptoms. Methods: Patients complaining of at least one extra-oesophageal GORD symptom and undergoing UGIE in seven centres were prospectively enrolled. Clinically relevant lesions (Barrett's oesophagus, erosive oesophagitis, gastric precancerous conditions, peptic ulcer, cancer, and H. pylori infection) were statistically compared between groups regarding GORD symptoms (atypical vs. both typical and atypical), type of atypical symptoms, age, and presence of hiatal hernia. Results: Two hundred eleven patients were enrolled (male/female: 74/137; mean age: 55.5 ± 14.7 years). Barrett's oesophagus was detected in 4 (1.9%), erosive oesophagitis in 12 (5.7%), gastric precancerous conditions in 22 (10.4%), and H. pylori infection in 38 (18%) patients. Prevalence of clinically relevant lesions was lower in patients with only atypical GORD symptoms (28.6 vs. 42.5%; p = 0.046; χ2 test), in patients ≤50 years (20 vs. 44.8%; p = 0.004; χ2 test), and in those in ongoing proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy (21.1 vs. 40.2%; p = 0.01; χ2 test). No clinically relevant lesions were detected in patients ≤50 years, without alarm symptoms, and receiving PPI therapy. Hiatal hernia was diagnosed in only 6 patients with cardiologic and in 41 patients with ear-nose-throat symptoms (11.3 vs. 35.1%; p = 0.03; χ2 test). Conclusions: Clinically relevant lesions are uncommon among young (≤50 years) patients with extra-oesophageal GORD symptoms. Hiatal hernia is not more prevalent in patients with cardiologic symptoms and suspicion of GORD. The usefulness of UGIE in these patients is questionable

Evidence for a wide extra-astrocytic distribution of S100B in human brain

BACKGROUND: S100B is considered an astrocytic in-situ marker and protein levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or serum are often used as biomarker for astrocytic damage or dysfunction. However, studies on S100B in the human brain are rare. Thus, the distribution of S100B was studied by immunohistochemistry in adult human brains to evaluate its cell-type specificity. RESULTS: Contrary to glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), which selectively labels astrocytes and shows only faint ependymal immunopositivity, a less uniform staining pattern was seen in the case of S100B. Cells with astrocytic morphology were primarily stained by S100B in the human cortex, while only 20% (14–30%) or 14% (7–35%) of all immunopositive cells showed oligodendrocytic morphology in the dorsolateral prefrontal and temporal cortices, respectively. In the white matter, however, most immunostained cells resembled oligodendrocytes [frontal: 75% (57–85%); temporal: 73% (59–87%); parietal: 79% (62–89%); corpus callosum: 93% (86–97%)]. S100B was also found in ependymal cells, the choroid plexus epithelium, vascular endothelial cells, lymphocytes, and several neurones. Anti-myelin basic protein (MBP) immunolabelling showed an association of S100B with myelinated fibres, whereas GFAP double staining revealed a distinct subpopulation of cells with astrocytic morphology, which solely expressed S100B but not GFAP. Some of these cells showed co-localization of S100B and A2B5 and may be characterized as O2A glial progenitor cells. However, S100B was not detected in microglial cells, as revealed by double-immunolabelling with HLA-DR. CONCLUSION: S100B is localized in many neural cell-types and is less astrocyte-specific than GFAP. These are important results in order to avoid misinterpretation in the identification of normal and pathological cell types in situ and in clinical studies since S100B is continuously used as an astrocytic marker in animal models and various human diseases

Why Are Outcomes Different for Registry Patients Enrolled Prospectively and Retrospectively? Insights from the Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF).

Background: Retrospective and prospective observational studies are designed to reflect real-world evidence on clinical practice, but can yield conflicting results. The GARFIELD-AF Registry includes both methods of enrolment and allows analysis of differences in patient characteristics and outcomes that may result. Methods and Results: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and ≥1 risk factor for stroke at diagnosis of AF were recruited either retrospectively (n = 5069) or prospectively (n = 5501) from 19 countries and then followed prospectively. The retrospectively enrolled cohort comprised patients with established AF (for a least 6, and up to 24 months before enrolment), who were identified retrospectively (and baseline and partial follow-up data were collected from the emedical records) and then followed prospectively between 0-18 months (such that the total time of follow-up was 24 months; data collection Dec-2009 and Oct-2010). In the prospectively enrolled cohort, patients with newly diagnosed AF (≤6 weeks after diagnosis) were recruited between Mar-2010 and Oct-2011 and were followed for 24 months after enrolment. Differences between the cohorts were observed in clinical characteristics, including type of AF, stroke prevention strategies, and event rates. More patients in the retrospectively identified cohort received vitamin K antagonists (62.1% vs. 53.2%) and fewer received non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (1.8% vs . 4.2%). All-cause mortality rates per 100 person-years during the prospective follow-up (starting the first study visit up to 1 year) were significantly lower in the retrospective than prospectively identified cohort (3.04 [95% CI 2.51 to 3.67] vs . 4.05 [95% CI 3.53 to 4.63]; p = 0.016). Conclusions: Interpretations of data from registries that aim to evaluate the characteristics and outcomes of patients with AF must take account of differences in registry design and the impact of recall bias and survivorship bias that is incurred with retrospective enrolment. Clinical Trial Registration: - URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier for GARFIELD-AF (NCT01090362)