Renewable hydrogen potential for low-carbon retrofit of the building stocks

Energy-related GHG emissions, mainly from fossil fuels combustion, account for around 70% of total emissions. Those emissions are the target of the recent sustainability policies. Indeed, renewables exploitation is considered widely the weapon to deal with this challenge thanks to their carbon neutrality. But, the biggest drawback is represented by the mismatching between their production and users consumption. The storage would be a possible solution, but its viability consists of economic sustainability and energy process efficiency as well. The cutting edge technologies of batteries have not still solved these issues at the same time. So, a paradigm shift towards the identification of an energy carrier as storage option, the so called Power-to-Gas, could be the viable solution. From viability to feasibility, a mandatory step is required: the opportunity to integrate the new solution in the proven infrastructures system. Thus, the recent studies on Hydrogen (H2) enrichment in Natural Gas, demonstrating a lower environmental impact and an increase in energy performance, are the base to build the hydrogen transition in the urban environment. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the environmental benefits at building and district scale

Microscopic and qPCR comparison of fungal growth in residential carpets with different carpet fiber materials, at varying relative humidity levels, and presence of household dust

People spend 90% of their time indoors exposed to the microbiome of the built environment. Fungal species are part of this indoor microbiome that have been found to grow on various components of residential homes including house dust, wallpaper, gypsum, insulations, and carpet. Fungal fragments resuspended from carpets are a significant source of human exposure and emissions from metabolic processes can have adverse health effects, such as allergies and exacerbation of asthmatic symptoms. Understanding the process and resulting morphology of fungal growth on residential carpet can provide valuable insights for creating indoor environmental conditions that can improve quality of life for sensitive groups. The goal of this study was to compare fungal growth morphology in residential carpet in varying environmental conditions including relative humidity (RH), carpet fiber material, and the presence/absence of house dust. RH conditions were simulated using three carpet and dust samples extracted from homes in Ohio. Wool, olefin, and nylon carpet fibers were also tested using no dust, sterilized dust, and non-sterile house dust spiked with Aspergillus versicolor and Alternaria alternata spores obtained from ATCC. Morphology was observed using scanning electron microscopy and confocal microscopy. Fungi were resolved utilizing Uvitex 2B fluorescent stain. qPCR was used to quantify fungal growth in the conditions tested. The presence of house dust was determined to be the most important variable that increased fungal growth. Elevated RH (>90%) and natural carpet fibers compared to synthetic were also factors that increased fungal growth in carpets. The results of this study can provide valuable insights for care providers to look for in patient’s homes, motivating improved cleaning practices to remove dust, and guide future building designs to mitigate human exposure to fungi in the built environment. In addition, these results show that synthetic carpet fibers can minimize the growth and proliferation of fungi.Undergraduate Research Scholarship, The College of Engineering Research Office, The Ohio State UniversityAdvanced Undergraduate Research Award, The Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry, The Ohio State UniversityStartup Grant, The Institute for Materials Research, The Ohio State UniversityAlfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant #G-2016-7262A one-year embargo was granted for this item.Academic Major: Environmental Engineerin

Innovative Use of Hydrogen in Energy Retrofitting of Listed Buildings

Existing buildings represent the major challenge in energy efficiency strategies applied to the building stock. Moreover, architectural and landscaping constraints related to listed buildings are further limitations to possible interventions. When listed buildings are used as museum, achieving the same effectiveness level of typical energy efficiency measures is very difficult and, if possible, very expensive. In order to couple preservation of cultural heritage and CO2 emission reduction, the approach would move to energy supply rather than modifications in building envelope or installation of new HVAC components. So, this study focuses on the opportunity to green NG supply of existing heating systems by means of Power to Gas option at district level. Thus, the recent advancements in Hydrogen enriched Natural Gas produced by RES electricity excess offer a zero-impact strategy to decarbonize the listed buildings using existing energy infrastructures. At the same time, the absence of changes in building features and the introduction of a renewable share in the supply address the sustainability issues of cultural heritage. In conclusion, a first original attempt was made towards the future crucial task of museum's deep energy refurbishment

Solar energy technologies in sustainable energy action plans of italian big cities

Cities, accounting for more than 3/4 of global final energy consumption, are equipping themselves with governance tools to improve energy efficiency. In Europe, urban energy policy has adopted, only recently and voluntarily, the Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAP), following the European Strategy 20-20-20. Italy, country most sensitive among European ones, accounts for 53% of SEAPs signatories. In order to evaluate how urban energy system in Italy can match sustainability European goals, it is necessary to analyse the technological options promoted by the energy policies for the urban environment. The paper presents the state-of-art of Urban Energy Planning in Italy, focusing on the implementation of Solar Energy technologies, and their role in new urban energy strategy instruments, i.e. SEAP, to promote renewables deployment. Carbon emission avoidance interventions planned by Italian big cities were analysed, highlighting the chosen Solar Energy technology. The aim of this paper is to discuss and evaluate the differences of solar energy harvesting in Italian urban scenarios, taking into account geographical and morphological constraints, and to compare the forecasts for 2020 and 2030scenarios, in accordance with European and National laws in force

AGN triggering in the infall regions of distant X-ray luminous galaxy clusters at 0.9 < z <~ 1.6

Observational constraints on the average radial distribution profile of AGN in distant galaxy clusters can provide important clues on the triggering mechanisms of AGN activity in dense environments and are essential for a completeness evaluation of cluster selection techniques in the X-ray and mm-wavebands. The aim of this work is a statistical study with XMM-Newton of the presence and distribution of X-ray AGN in the large-scale structure environments of 22 X-ray luminous galaxy clusters in the redshift range 0.9 < z \lesssim 1.6 compiled by the XMM-Newton Distant Cluster Project (XDCP). To this end, the X-ray point source lists from detections in the soft-band (0.35-2.4 keV) and full-band (0.3-7.5 keV) were stacked in cluster-centric coordinates and compared to average background number counts extracted from three independent control fields in the same observations. A significant full-band (soft-band) excess of \sim78 (67) X-ray point sources is found in the cluster fields within an angular distance of 8' (4Mpc) at a statistical confidence level of 4.0 sigma (4.2 sigma), corresponding to an average number of detected excess AGN per cluster environment of 3.5\pm0.9 (3.0\pm0.7). The data point towards a rising radial profile in the cluster region (r<1Mpc) of predominantly low-luminosity AGN with an average detected excess of about one point source per system, with a tentative preferred occurrence along the main cluster elongation axis. A second statistically significant overdensity of brighter soft-band detected AGN is found at cluster-centric distances of 4'-6' (2-3Mpc), corresponding to about three times the average cluster radius R200 of the systems. If confirmed, these results would support the idea of two different physical triggering mechanisms of X-ray AGN activity in dependence of the radially changing large-scale structure environment of the distant clusters.Comment: 18 pages, 7 color figures, accepted for publication in Advances in Astronomy for the special issue 'Seeking for the Leading Actor on the Cosmic Stage: Galaxies versus Supermassive Black Holes

METHOD OF TRANSFERRING STRAINED SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE

The transfer of strained semiconductor layers from one substrate to another substrate involves depositing a multilayer structure on a substrate having surface contaminants. An interface that includes the contaminants if formed in between the deposited layer and the substrate. Hydrogen atoms are introduced into the structure and allowed to diffuse to the interface. Afterward, the deposited multilayer structure is bonded to a second substrate and is separated away at the interface, which results in transferring a multilayer structure from one substrate at least one strained semiconductor layer and at least one strain-induced seed layer. The strain-induced seed layer can be optionally etched away after the layer transfe

Allelopathic Observations in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) to Ducksalad (Heteranthera limosa)

More than 50 weed species infest drill-seeded rice in the U.S. and one of the most prevalent aquatic weeks is ducksalad (Heteranthera limosa). During the summer of 1988, a field experiment was conducted to identify rice accessions from the USDA/ARS rice germplasm collection for allelopathic effects to ducksalad. In this field experiment, 5,000 accessions were evaluated for allelopathic activity. Five to seven seeds of each rice accession were planted in hills about 75cm apart in two replications. Allelopathic activity was recorded as 1) radius of the area affected by allelochemical from the base of the rice plant and 2) percentage of weed control within the affected area. Ducksalad was rated at the panicle initiation stage of rice development. Of the 5,000 accessions that were evaluated, approximately 191 were identified as having evident allelopathic activity. The accessions that demonstrated allelopathic activity originated in 26 countries (Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Columbia, Dominican Republic, France, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Korea, People Republic of China, Soviet Union, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and United States)