Technical and Economic Perspective for Repowering of Micro Hydro Power Plants: a Case Study of an Early XX Century Power Plant

AbstractNowadays many countries have dramatically cut the incentives for solar photovoltaic and wind farms; consequently many new investors and entrepreneurs pay more attention to small and mini hydro power plants. Hydropower currently respect to other renewable sources has not negligible benefits as lower cost of installation to equal installed capacity, higher reliability, higher energy production and more intensity and consistency over time. Many aspects as well as the sensibility to environmental issues related to civil works and the introduction of incentives for the production of renewable energy from small plants (< 1 MW) drive the attention to small Hydro Power Plants (HPPs). The thousands of historic mills, water wheels, inoperative hydropower stations or unrealized potential offer an interesting opportunity for small and micro hydropower generation.This article evaluates technical and economic feasibility of the repowering of one of the oldest Sicilian hydro power plant currently abandoned and disused. The reactivation of the Catarrate hydropower plant allows producing energy from renewable source contributing to the energy independence of the local community, with an energy yearly production of about 220 MW. Moreover, this study demonstrates the attractiveness of small hydropower as a local investment vehicle and at same time an occasion to preserve the historical industrial heritage of disused hydro plants

Global monitoring of antimicrobial resistance based on metagenomics analyses of urban sewage

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious threat to global public health, but obtaining representative data on AMR for healthy human populations is difficult. Here, we use metagenomic analysis of untreated sewage to characterize the bacterial resistome from 79 sites in 60 countries. We find systematic differences in abundance and diversity of AMR genes between Europe/North-America/Oceania and Africa/Asia/South-America. Antimicrobial use data and bacterial taxonomy only explains a minor part of the AMR variation that we observe. We find no evidence for cross-selection between antimicrobial classes, or for effect of air travel between sites. However, AMR gene abundance strongly correlates with socio-economic, health and environmental factors, which we use to predict AMR gene abundances in all countries in the world. Our findings suggest that global AMR gene diversity and abundance vary by region, and that improving sanitation and health could potentially limit the global burden of AMR. We propose metagenomic analysis of sewage as an ethically acceptable and economically feasible approach for continuous global surveillance and prediction of AMR.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Global monitoring of antimicrobial resistance based on metagenomics analyses of urban sewage

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious threat to global public health, but obtaining representative data on AMR for healthy human populations is difficult. Here, we use meta-genomic analysis of untreated sewage to characterize the bacterial resistome from 79 sites in 60 countries. We find systematic differences in abundance and diversity of AMR genes between Europe/North-America/Oceania and Africa/Asia/South-America. Antimicrobial use data and bacterial taxonomy only explains a minor part of the AMR variation that we observe. We find no evidence for cross-selection between antimicrobial classes, or for effect of air travel between sites. However, AMR gene abundance strongly correlates with socio-economic, health and environmental factors, which we use to predict AMR gene abundances in all countries in the world. Our findings suggest that global AMR gene diversity and abundance vary by region, and that improving sanitation and health could potentially limit the global burden of AMR. We propose metagenomic analysis of sewage as an ethically acceptable and economically feasible approach for continuous global surveillance and prediction of AMR.Peer reviewe

The western painted turtle genome, a model for the evolution of extreme physiological adaptations in a slowly evolving lineage

Background: We describe the genome of the western painted turtle, Chrysemys picta bellii, one of the most widespread, abundant, and well-studied turtles. We place the genome into a comparative evolutionary context, and focus on genomic features associated with tooth loss, immune function, longevity, sex differentiation and determination, and the species' physiological capacities to withstand extreme anoxia and tissue freezing.Results: Our phylogenetic analyses confirm that turtles are the sister group to living archosaurs, and demonstrate an extraordinarily slow rate of sequence evolution in the painted turtle. The ability of the painted turtle to withstand complete anoxia and partial freezing appears to be associated with common vertebrate gene networks, and we identify candidate genes for future functional analyses. Tooth loss shares a common pattern of pseudogenization and degradation of tooth-specific genes with birds, although the rate of accumulation of mutations is much slower in the painted turtle. Genes associated with sex differentiation generally reflect phylogeny rather than convergence in sex determination functionality. Among gene families that demonstrate exceptional expansions or show signatures of strong natural selection, immune function and musculoskeletal patterning genes are consistently over-represented.Conclusions: Our comparative genomic analyses indicate that common vertebrate regulatory networks, some of which have analogs in human diseases, are often involved in the western painted turtle's extraordinary physiological capacities. As these regulatory pathways are analyzed at the functional level, the painted turtle may offer important insights into the management of a number of human health disorders

Setting a baseline for global urban virome surveillance in sewage

The rapid development of megacities, and their growing connectedness across the world is becoming a distinct driver for emerging disease outbreaks. Early detection of unusual disease emergence and spread should therefore include such cities as part of risk-based surveillance. A catch-all metagenomic sequencing approach of urban sewage could potentially provide an unbiased insight into the dynamics of viral pathogens circulating in a community irrespective of access to care, a potential which already has been proven for the surveillance of poliovirus. Here, we present a detailed characterization of sewage viromes from a snapshot of 81 high density urban areas across the globe, including in-depth assessment of potential biases, as a proof of concept for catch-all viral pathogen surveillance. We show the ability to detect a wide range of viruses and geographical and seasonal differences for specific viral groups. Our findings offer a cross-sectional baseline for further research in viral surveillance from urban sewage samples and place previous studies in a global perspective

Comparison of PV Cell Temperature Estimation by Different Thermal Power Exchange Calculation Methods

A steady-state thermal model for calculate the temperature of a photovoltaic (PV) module has been developed for outdoor installation such as ground-mounted systems. The PV temperature is influenced by environmental variables such as: irradiance ambient temperature, intensity and direction of the wind, module design, orientation and mounting structure. As well as it is influenced by electrical parameters. In literature some single layer thermal balance consider only an overall heat transfer coefficient as a function of wind speed, neglecting the radiative thermal flux. In this paper, five thermal balance are compared and it is shown that the radiative term cannot be neglected, otherwise the PV temperature could be overestimated for low solar radiation intensity and it could be underestimated for high solar radiation intensity. For this reason, the percentage contribution of the heat exchanges, normalized as function of normal incoming solar radiation, are evaluated for wind speed within 1 m/s (natural convection)

Web interactive non intrusive load disaggregation system for active demand in smart grids

A Smart Grid combines the use of traditional technology with innovative digital solutions, making the management of the electricity grid more flexible. It allows for monitoring, analysis, control and communication within the supply chain to improve efficiency, reduce the energy consumption and cost, and maximize the transparency and reliability of the energy supply chain. The optimization of energy consumption in Smart Grids is possible by using an innovative system based on Non Intrusive Appliance Load Monitoring (NIALM) algorithms, in which individual appliance power consumption information is disaggregated from single-point measurements, that provide a feedback in such a way to make energy more visible and more amenable to understanding and control. We contribute with an approach for monitoring consumption of electric power in households based on both a NILM algorithm, that uses a simple load signatures, and a web interactive systems that allows an active role played by users

Storage sizing procedure and experimental verification of stand-alone photovoltaic systems

Although Photovoltaic (PV) plants are already economically viable in off grid sites (mountains, islands and rural areas), technical problems are still present. The simulation of battery behavior is a usual topic in PV systems and several mathematical models have been developed with different degrees of complexity. The paper deals with both the simulation and the experimental verification of a stand-alone PV system for supplying an outdoor refrigerator with a suitable reliability index. In particular, after the sizing of PV generator in conventional irradiation and ambient temperature conditions, the proper battery capacity has been estimated with iterative simulations. The PV system has been tested in two different locations with opposite meteorological input

Preface

International audienc