Refrigerated warehouses as intelligent hubs to integrate renewable energy in industrial food refrigeration and to enhance power grid sustainability

Background Independence from fossil fuels, energy diversification, decarbonisation and energy efficiency are key prerequisites to make a national, regional or continental economy competitive in the global marketplace. As Europe is about to generate 20% of its energy demand from Renewable Energy Sources (RES) by 2020, adequate RES integration and renewable energy storage throughout the entire food cold chain must properly be addressed. Scope and approach Refrigerated warehouses for chilled and frozen foods are large energy consumers and account for a significant portion of the global energy demand. Nevertheless, the opportunity for RES integration in the energy supply of large food storage facilities is often neglected. In situ power generation using RES permits capture of a large portion of virtually free energy, thereby reducing dramatically the running costs and carbon footprint, while enhancing the economic competitiveness. In that context, there exist promising engineering solutions to exploit various renewables in the food preservation sector, in combination with the emerging sustainability-enhancing technology of Cryogenic Energy Storage (CES). Key findings and conclusions Substantial research endeavours are driven by the noble objective to turn the Europe's Energy Union into the world's number one in renewable energies. Integrating RES, in synchrony with CES development and proper control, is capable of both strengthening the food refrigeration sector and improving dramatically the power grid balance and energy system sustainability. Hence, this article aims to familiarise stakeholders of the European and global food preservation industry with state-of-the-art knowledge, know-how, opportunities and professional achievements in the concerned field

THERMAL LOADS AT TRANSPARENT STRUCTURES INTEGRATED IN TROMBE WALLS

This contribution presents thermal load stress analysis of insulating glass units (IGU) integrated in Trombe walls. It is based on modelling and numerical simulation of the heat transfer processes occuring in the construction. The boundary conditions are based on experimental data, obtained from an existing Trombe wall test module, situated at the Technical University of Sofia. The investigations are performed for different cases of IGU fixing in the Trombe wall. The temperature fields and the ensuing thermal stresses in the IGU at winter conditions, obtained from the simulations, are used to analyze the possibility of glass failure due to the internal pressure loads

Militant Extremist Mindset and the Assessment of Radicalization in the General Population

This paper presents new data and reviews the available evidence pointing to the existence of three main ingredients of militant extremist mindset (MEM). Three different methods of item development identified factors that we have labeled Nastiness, Grudge, and Excuse. In other words, there are in our midst nasty people who are more prepared than others to accept, approve, or even advocate the use of violence. When such people feel a grudge, in that they see somebody as threatening to themselves (or to members of the group they belong to) or think that the world is not a hospitable place in which to live, they may resort to violence. This violence is often accompanied by an excuse or justification that refers to a higher authority or a "noble" principle such as religiosity or utopianism. Although all three ingredients may be open to intervention, Grudge might be the most amenable. Social policies related to immigration and procedures for dealing with protest counterculture may be effective in reducing MEM. The most important, however, is the need to espouse principles of diversity and tolerance