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The Strait of Messina is characterised by a significant ship flow, especially of ferries, between its two shores. The ferry services involve four harbours, located on the Sicilian and Calabrian shores. During the epidemic emergency related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, due to the restrictions adopted to counteract the spread of the infection, a significant reduction in ferry activities and vehicle flow occurred. These circumstances made flow data, related to different actual scenarios, available and allowed the assessment of the environmental impact of the port area. Therefore, the port area became a noteworthy case study, suited to draw conclusions regarding possible future courses of action designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions in these types of settlements. In the study, in order to assess the effect of different levels of human activity on pollutant emissions, the total CO2 emissions from ferry activities in two successive years, 2019 before the spread of the virus and 2020 when the epidemic was at its peak, were evaluated and compared. The EMEP/EEA methodology was used and, as a result, an overall reduction of 13.2% in CO2eq yearly emission rates was observed, with the major reduction of 2784 tCO2eq due to maritime traffic.

Climate change and its ascertained attribution to anthropic activity need to be tackled with extreme urgency and must not be postponed. The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions require a change in the energy paradigm, mainly affecting the construction and mobility sectors. Countries need to move towards climate neutrality with a widespread adoption of innovative models, systems, and technologies, reducing dependence on non-renewable sources and increasing energy efficiency. Measures to be adopted to achieve the prefixed decarbonization targets should involve, in addition to central governments, local communities. In this paper, in order to contribute to the definition of mitigation measures by the local administration, the balance of emissions and removal of greenhouse gases, assessed following the IPCC guidelines, for an Italian city (Reggio Calabria) on the date of 1 January 2020 is presented. Several hypotheses concerning reduction measures to be applied to the building and transport sectors, together with absorption interventions, have been developed and we have analyzed the effectiveness of each of them and their global effects on 1 January 2030. The proposed measures allow a reduction of 17% of total emissions, indicating that to reach carbon neutrality in 2050, more incisive and wide range interventions are required.

PV/T panels are innovative systems increasingly used in the building sector. As a matter of fact, in that context they allow a set of common problems to be addressed and often solved: lack of physical space and economic issues, always existing when PV and thermal panels are to be installed separately. Obviously, the main objective of PV/T panels is to enhance the electrical efficiency by cooling the PV cells, but the side positive effect is also the production of thermal energy, which can be suitably exploited with a proper configuration of the whole system and an appropriate design of its components. Their energy production and overall efficiency depend on several factors and therefore the effect of different system features should be investigated. In this work, a parametric analysis was performed to provide a contribution on this topic. The effects of the characteristics of the thermal storage on electrical and thermal system performances were analysed, also considering the influence of the thermal load magnitude. The conclusive considerations can be exploited by designers and researchers to maximize the efficiency of the systems in relation to the storage tank characteristics and both electrical and thermal loads.

Current policies addressing the energy efficiency of buildings aimed at the control of their overall primary energy demand, require not only that the edifice envelope has to be properly designed to optimize its thermal performances, but also that the eco-friendly properties of the involved building materials have to be properly taken into account, in order of assessing all the associated environmental costs. In fact, the design of envelope structures that are able to realize proper levels of thermal insulation and, in the same time, to employ materials characterized by low environmental impacts, are believed as the most effective strategies to be adopted in the aim of addressing the above-mentioned issues. In this regard natural materials, such as vegetal fibres or materials derived from the recycling of industrial/ agricultural waste, reveal very attractive characteristics. Indeed, recent studies on the use of natural materials in buildings concentrate on raw materials deriving from either agriculture, waste, or recycling processes. Such topics are the focuses of the present analysis. Specifically, this paper intends to provide a contribution in the field by identifying new types of environment-friendly composites, containing vegetal matters and ecological waste resulting from recycling activities. Outcomes of a series of performed laboratory analyses concerning the thermal conductivity of four different samples of assemblies, are quite promising and candidate these new composites – albeit further analyses are certainly recommended – as a practicable alternative to the mostly used traditional insulating materials.

The purpose of Heating, Ventilating and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems in museums is to properly control important microclimate parameters; such systems, in fact, apart from ensuring the visitors’ wellbeing, are requested to guarantee suitable indoor conditions for the proper conservation of the important cultural goods hosted by museums. Hence, in case of disservice, or interruption due to maintenance interventions, it is important to quantify the economic damage induced to exhibited and/or stored works of art (or even to the building museum itself). Accordingly, it is essential to guarantee the shortest possible period of disservice during which probable damages for the works of art could occur. Since curators are the most relevant subjects committed to properly run the museum, also for what concerns the indoor environmental conditions, the aim of this work is to propose two new comprehensive operative damage risk indicators to support curators in negotiating the stipulation of contracts with the external companies in charge of the management of the HVAC system, in order to preserve the works of art. Particularly, these indicators try to integrate, into the contracts, economic considerations related to the system's disservice period and/or planned interruptions. The feasibility of the proposed new indicators has been checked by means of an example application involving the “Museo Regionale” of Palermo (Italy).

The study describes a stand-alone photovoltaic system in which the storage is realized using electrolytic hydrogen, converted into electricity in fuel cells. The aim of the research is the optimization of the sizing of the system elements chain (photovoltaic generator, electrolyzer, tank, fuel cell) with respect to the electric load to fulfil. A positive annual balance between hydrogen production and consumption must be guaranteed; furthermore, energy production surplus that cannot be stored or converted into hydrogen due to batteries or tanks capacity limits must be avoided. The energetic analysis and that of hydrogen production and consumption have been carried out on an hourly basis using the HOMER software. The study shows that, being the load active in the evening and the system disconnected from the grid, excess energy cannot be exploited unless large tanks are used, if high gas pressures are to be avoided. Consequently, the system use in public areas or residential buildings, where visual impact generated by tanks is hardly acceptable and safety rules do not allow high gas pressures, is advisable only in grid-connected configurations. Such problems are by far reduced when a marked self consumption is present.

Actions contemplated in Sustainable Energy (and Climate) Action Plans (SEAPs), which municipalities adhering to the EU initiative called “The Covenant of Mayors” are required to prepare, regard many sectors, among which are buildings. To implement such plans, it is necessary to make use of methods for predicting energy use in buildings. Technicians involved in this tend to adopt easy-touse simulation models because of the common mid-level expertise of the offices involved. However, such simplified methods could result in a less accurate evaluation of the energy demand of buildings. In this paper the suitability of the quasi-steady state and the dynamic approach, in the frame of these new urban energy planning tools, is assessed. Specifically, a comparison between the two methods reported in the EN ISO 52016-1 Standard (namely the quasi-steady state monthly method and the dynamic hourly method), used here as representative of the two cited classes of models, is drawn. Despite some limitations of the quasi-steady state model found in the analysis, the possibility to still use both modelling approaches to implement SEAPs is argued in the paper. Moreover, a tentative procedural scheme is proposed, which technicians working on SEAPs can usefully follow in order to choose the most appropriate modelling approach that can be used depending on the specific situation to address.

The reduction of the environmental impacts related to the building sector is a matter of outmost importance concerning the sustainable utilization of resources related to human activities. Such sector is in fact responsible for about 40% of both release of pollutants in the atmosphere and energy consumption. When trying to reduce buildings’ environmental impacts, as well as to limit their energy consumption, building envelope passive systems can be used. Amongst these, green roofs have been gaining global attention due to their benefits in terms of resilience and sustainability, in order to mitigate the unfavourable urbanization effects. Research on the green roof has been indeed increasingly raising in recent years. Although the subject of green roofs has been dealt with extensively from many different points of view, there are currently some limits on which improvements can be made. In particular, the aim of the present work is to consider a somewhat overlooked aspect regarding green roofs, which is the overall energy- environmental impact of such building component. The present work reports the results of a case study conducted on a Sicilian building sited in the Department of Engineering of the University of Palermo, where the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology has been applied.

Greenhouse gas emission reduction and the control of excessive use of fossil fuels currently represent one of the main challenges of European energy policy and global Agreements, especially in order to limit dangerous climate changes. Particularly in EU such objectives are pursued through a wide range of regulation and incentive measures: strongly recommended are marked reductions in primary energy consumption and increase in the share of renewable energy.

Nowadays, the effects of pollution at a global scale are mainly due to the emissions of greenhouse gases (CO2 in particular), especially generated by thermoelectrical plants, as well as the transport, industrial, and civil sectors. Moreover, local pollution effects are generated by several pollutants, such as CO, NOx, SOx, VOC, and PM, produced during combustion in transports or building thermal plants. Because of the increasing demand for mobility at an urban scale, pollution caused by transportation plays a significant role. To reduce its environmental impact, a partial or total replacement of old and polluting vehicles with more ecological ones must be urgently implemented. With this aim, in the paper, a detailed analysis of the vehicle fleet of the city of Reggio Calabria (Italy), with reference to passenger cars has been carried out, elaborating four scenarios to reduce their pollutant emissions from 2017 to 2025, both greenhouse gases and local scale ones, through the replacement of old and polluting vehicles with hybrid or electric ones.

This paper describes the results of experimental tests and computer simulation modelling aimed at evaluating the performance of an electrochromic (EC) window with respect to solar radiation control and the relative impact on the energy consumption of buildings of the residential type for two typical Italian climates. The research is carried out by a test-cell equipped with a small area EC double glazing unit and by a simulation program of buildings’ energy behaviour in transient regime. The experimental results show that EC devices which modulate solar radiation mainly by absorption, like the one investigated in this paper, generate secondary solar heat gains which entails a 20% decrease of the maximum potential energy flux reduction. Also, this effect could rise the temperature of the internal glass pane of the glazing to levels for which risk of thermal discomfort for the occupants may occur. The computer simulation modelling involves a residential building unoccupied during a large fraction of daytime in weekdays. The savings potential of the investigated EC window are calculated relative to a conventional clear float double glazing unit. Results show that the EC glazing may lead to a considerable decrease of the cooling energy demand (and of the total building energy consumption) in cooling dominated climates. The energy saving benefits become less marked in heating dominated climates and, for low values of the window-to-wall ratio, can be overcame by the increase in lighting and heating energy requirements that results in an increase of the total building energy demand.

Building envelope structures play a pivotal role in the energy behavior of edifices. They influence the heat exchanges between indoor and outdoor environment and might allow a proper exploitation of solar energy. Therefore, when properly designed, they can contribute to minimizing the overall energy demand of buildings, allowing achievement of the high energy performance that is the basis of the Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) concept. In this context, window systems are generally considered as the crucial element to be correctly designed for energy efficiency purposes in view of the role they play in heat exchange processes and solar gain management. This paper outlines the methodology and the correspondent results of an analysis which aims to search for the optimal size of the window surface, which is the size allowing minimum overall energy consumption, in an office building whose structure and configuration represent a typical reference case for the Italian building stock. Several configurations were considered, varying the climate, the thermal features of the building envelope and the installed lighting electric power. Furthermore, the influence of a switchable shading device was assessed and the correlated comfort consideration reported. The analyses were performed using Energy Plus simulation code and the window dimensions were evaluated in terms of the ratio between the glazed surface and the gross facade area, which is referred to as window to wall ratio (WWR).

This paper analyzes the influence of solar radiation, considering both its direct and diffuse component, on the local thermal comfort of subjects in indoor environments. More precisely, an original equation for the assessment of the plane radiant temperature in presence of solar radiation is proposed. It can be used to evaluate the correspondent radiant asymmetry and therefore allows detailed analysis of local thermal discomfort conditions. Its reliability and feasibility have been tried out by means of an application to a simple case study and the obtained results proved that, in the studied environment, solar radiation affects the symmetry of the radiant field to a considerable extent, being the main cause of local discomfort due to not acceptable values of the radiant asymmetry. Therefore, the method can be used to verify the presence of zones not suited to human activities inside rooms and, in addition, it can be exploited by the procedures aimed at the classification of the comfort quality of indoor environments.

To reduce the incidence of greenhouse gas emissions, radical measures need to be adopted in the most pollutant sectors, among which the building one, where actions can be undertaken, involving both the passive (envelope) and the active (thermal plants) sections. In this framework, the aim of this paper was to elaborate and test a suitable procedure to measure one of the characteristic parameters of the envelope, the thermal transmittance of the opaque components. A codified procedure has been exploited, using instruments and experimental techniques able to overcome most of the drawbacks (e.g. long period of measurement) which often have to be dealt with, during field measurement of thermal transmittance of opaque building envelope structures. The technique was exploited to measure wall thermal transmittance of different buildings located in the city of Reggio Calabria (Italy)

Human thermal sensation depends heavily on radiative exchanges between the human body and the surrounding environment. Because these exchanges play a crucial role in the thermal balance of the human body, about 35% of the process, human thermal sensation should draw the attention of planners when designing both indoor environments and equipment. The present study aims to contribute to this field by proposing a procedure for delineating the optimal comfort conditions for occupants in most of the articulate and realistic configurations of actual indoor environments. Specifically, this procedure enables accurate assessment of the radiant field surrounding a subject in a given indoor realistic environment and considers its variability with space and time along with the presence of high-intensity radiant sources. The proposed simulation tool contains a set of algorithms in which the degree of complexity depends on the level of accuracy for modelling the radiative heat transfer between the occupants and surrounding environment. The feasibility of these algorithms for designers and researchers has also been checked for a single room characterised by the presence of windows in two different exposures. This configuration implies a complex pattern of the sun entering the room, which in turn determines relevant spatial modifications of the indoor comfort thermal conditions. Such complex situations are effectively interpreted by the proposed model. This analysis provides useful indications for suitable design of layouts of the confined space and the size of an effective heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system to limit the discomfort felt inside the room.

Mean radiant temperature may play a pivotal role in the assessment of the outdoor environmental conditions in urban areas. However, its assessment in urban settings is not a simple task owing to the presence of complex and articulated environment and of solar radiation. The article aims to perform a comparison among the results yielded by different methods: the globe-thermometer method, and the six-directional technique. The scope of such a survey is an analysis of the actual appropriateness of the more practical, albeit less accurate, globe-thermometer method to outdoor environments. Furthermore, an analytical model, previously elaborated by the authors and here modified to make it applicable to outdoor environment, was also considered with a view to verifying its accuracy in predicting the effect of solar radiation. To fulfil all the tasks an experimental investigation was carried out, involving a globe-thermometer with a diameter of 150 mm, usually used in indoor environments.

Marble is acquiring large popularity as building material. Since building materials are now required to be characterized by high energy and environmental performances, marble is entailed to fulfill top-level requirements. About its environmental performances an important European Decision establishes criteria for the award of the Community eco-label to this material. Unfortunately, this Decision is focused on mining and processing activities, seemingly neglecting marble transport. In contrast, this phase affects the whole working chain because it releases (pollutant) emissions and involves the use of primary and, in case, secondary energy sources. Here, the focus is on the role played by transport in the environmental impact exerted by the marble production process. In addition, the sources of energy, needed to move the material through its working chain, are pointed out. On purpose, a field-enquiry referred to a typical Sicilian marble producing site is presented here.

In outdoor as well as indoor environments, human thermal sensation strongly depends on the direct component of solar radiation incident on the body. Nevertheless, even though the direct component exerts the major contribute on this issue, especially in indoor environments and confined spaces, the diffuse and reflected components of the solar radiation also affects the thermal sensations of people. Despite this evidence, simple and reliable methods designed to take into account the effect of solar radiation on the indoor radiant field enveloping the human being in indoor environments are hardly available. This article aims to provide a contribute on this topic, proposing a model for the computation of the mean radiant temperature (MRT) in indoor environments in presence of solar radiation. The most innovative facet of the proposed model regards the computation of the effects of the radiation components reflected by the internal surfaces. Moreover, in order to try a preliminary validation of the model, an experimental campaign was also carried out and MRT values were measured in positions either directly irradiated by the sun or shielded from direct irradiation. The purpose of the measurements was to preliminarily analyze the extent of the accuracy with which the model might predict the rise of MRT due to solar direct irradiation.

The limitation of fossil fuel uses and GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions reduction are two of the main objectives of the European energy policy and global agreements that aim to contain climate changes. To this end, the building sector, responsible for important energy consumption rates, requires a significant improvement of its energetic performance, an obtainable increase of its energy efficiency and the use of renewable sources. Within this framework, in this study, we analysed the economic feasibility of a stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) plant, dimensioned in two configurations with decreasing autonomy. Their Net Present Value at the end of their life span was compared with that of the same plant in both grid-connected and storage-on-grid configurations, as well as being compared with a grid connection without PV. The analysis confirms that currently, for short distances from the grid, the most suitable PV configuration is the grid-connected one, but also that the additional use of a battery with a limited capacity (storage on grid configuration) would provide interesting savings to the user, guaranteeing a fairly energetic autonomy. Stand-alone PV systems are only convenient for the analysed site from distances of the order of 5 km, and it is worth noting that such a configuration is neither energetically nor economically sustainable due to the necessary over-dimensioning of both its generators and batteries, which generates a surplus of energy production that cannot be used elsewhere and implies a dramatic cost increase and no corresponding benefits. The results have been tested for different latitudes, confirming what we found. A future drop of both batteries’ and PV generators’ prices would let the economic side of PV stand-alone systems be reconsidered, but not their energetic one, so that their use, allowing energy exchanges, results in being more appropriate for district networks. For all PV systems, avoided emissions of both local and GHG gases (CO2) have been estimated.

This work proposes a simple methodology to assess pollution loads discharged by road traffic within a specific temporal and spatial domain, in the case that detailed disaggregated data about vehicle fleet composition are not available at local scale. The adopted methodology starts by defining a useful specific emission function that allows easy calculation of the total amount of pollutant emissions in a year. The function, called yearly average vehicle (YAV), is representative of the annual average emission factor of a homogeneous category of vehicles. The employment of the YAV permits easy assessment of different scenarios and allows the analysis of the influence of different items that could alter the global amount of pollutant emissions released by road traffic, such as improvements of emissive characteristics of vehicles, changes in the transportation demand, and variations of traffic flow path lengths. The procedure has been applied to the urban area of the Italian city of Messina, where public administration has recently adopted a measure aimed at alleviating the load of the traffic pollution inside the urban area.

This paper investigates the influence of solar radiation on thermal comfort inside an indoor environment and its effect on the building energy consumptions. Furthermore, it draws up a procedure which allows the rating of the thermal comfort quality of indoor environments in the presence of solar radiation, to be used in correlation with the energy classification of building in order to refer the energy performance to the indoor environmental conditions. Mean Radiant Temperatures (MRT) for a subject exposed to solar radiation in different positions of the environment were calculated, with an hourly time step and for a whole year. These values were utilized to assess the Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD) and its variation with time and space, so that long term thermal comfort evaluations were able to be carried out and comparisons among irradiated and not irradiated positions were able to be made.

The achievement of high level personalized sets of comfort parameters is contemplated within the more general context of the so-called smart buildings, where people, by means of the new communication technologies, become active actors to the process of the singling out and control of the best indoor conditions. This Dynamic Intelligence approach would usefully contribute to a better energy efficient and environmental friendly management of buildings. Multi-Agent schemes are suitable tools in this aim, since they are able to manage the user-building-plant system where the adaptivity of people to the indoor conditions is suitably achieved. In this paper a contribution to a development of the classical Fanger’s model is presented, embodying into account user’s personal preferences referring to his cognitive-emotive-relational ambit. The proposed algorithm is based on a particular Multi-Agent aimed at the assessment of subjective indoor comfort. Such subjective adaptive model is here meant as a tool for achieving an optimal control of thermal comfort conditions in buildings.

Radiative heat exchanges inside buildings remarkably affect the thermal balance of the human body in confined spaces and the related thermal comfort sensations of people. The mean radiant temperature is an important component of this balance. Unfortunately, it is usually computed by means of too simplified relationships, which significantly influence the comfort evaluations. Such simplified approaches are also accountable for a less effective design of HVAC systems which, in turn, could result in high energy consumption in the climatization of buildings. However, an accurate evaluation of the mean radiant temperature, especially when high intensity sources are present in a given internal space, depends on the angle factors between human subjects and surrounding surfaces of the enclosure. Angle factors, in turn, are direct functions of the projected area factors of the human body. Presently, there is still a certain lack in the availability of simple and reliable methods for computing angle factors of people in assigned postures, particularly in case of complex geometry and presence of heat high intensity sources, like sun. A comprehensive method is here introduced for evaluating the thermal comfort conditions of indoor spaces, avoiding the difficult singling out of several algorithms, dispersed in an inorganic way in the literature. A further contribution consists in the possibility of evaluating geometrically complex enclosures also in presence of direct solar radiation entering the room. Moreover, an analytical method for computing the projected area factors, based on experimental results, obtained by means of a photographic apparatus on purpose designed, is included in the methodology. An application of the method to a typical building situation in presence of direct solar radiation is also proposed.

The analysis here presented investigates the influence of electrical load on the operational performances of a plant for hydrogen production from solar energy and its conversion in electricity via a fuel cell. The plant is an actual one, currently under construction, in Reggio Calabria (Italy), at the site of the Mediterranean university campus, it is composed of a Renewable Energy Source (RES) section (photovoltaic panels), a hydrogen production section, and a fuel cell power section feeding the electrical energy demand of the load. Two different load configurations have been analysed and simulations have been carried out through HomerTM simulation code. Results allow interesting conclusions regarding the plant operation to be drawn. The study could have a remarkable role in supporting further research activities aimed at the assessment of the optimal configuration of this type of pioneering plants, designed for feeding electrical loads, possibly, in a self-sufficient way.

In the construction sector, responsible for the greatest amounts of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, nowadays a significant turning point in the current scenario that qualifies building approach is taking place. In recent years, the ambitious nZEB (nearly Zero Energy Building), a building with very high energy performance, in which energy saving, cost-optimal vision and user well-being are assessed in a comprehensive way, has found legislative and operational implementation. Moreover, the adoption of increasingly challenging energy targets today offers important opportunities for the energy requalification and improvement of the overall quality of the building stock, particularly in the field of renewable plants. Within this frame in the paper, as a contribution to the analysis of benefits deriving from the use of RES (Renewable Energy Sources) plants in buildings, in terms of primary energy, cost, and greenhouse gas emissions, an intervention aimed at the satisfaction of the electric demand of a residential building through a photovoltaic plant, in different configurations (grid connected, stand-alone and storage on grid) has been analysed. For each configuration, balances between energy rates (production, load, grid exchange and/or battery store/withdrawal) have been hourly assessed in order to evaluate the Net Present Cost at the end of plant life. Moreover, a yearly primary energy balance has been determined, taking into account also thermal energy required to guarantee thermal needs (provided by a methane boiler), together with produced CO2 emissions.

The control of the use of fossil fuels, major cause of greenhouse gas emissions and climate changes, in present days represents one of Governments' main challenges; particularly, a significant energy consumption is observed in buildings and might be significantly reduced through sustainable design, increased energy efficiency and use of renewable sources. At the moment, the widespread use of renewable energy in buildings is limited by its intrinsic discontinuity: consequently integration of plants with energy storage systems could represent an efficient solution to the problem. Within this frame, hydrogen has shown to be particularly fit in order to be used as an energetic carrier. In this aim, in the paper an energetic, economic and environmental analysis of two different configurations of a self-sufficient system for energy production from renewable sources in buildings is presented. In particular, in the first configuration energy production is carried out by means of photovoltaic systems, whereas in the second one a combination of photovoltaic panels and wind generators is used. In both configurations, hydrogen is used as an energy carrier, in order to store energy, and fuel cells guarantee its energetic reconversion. The analysis carried out shows that, although dimensioned as a stand-alone configuration, the system can today be realized only taking advantage from the incentivizing fares applied to grid-connected systems, that are likely to be suspended in the next future. In such case, it represents an interesting investment, with capital returns in about 15 years. As concerns economic sustainability, in fact, the analysis shows that the cost of the energy unit stored in hydrogen volumes, due to the not very high efficiency of the process, presently results greater than that of directly used one. Moreover, also the starting fund of the system proves to be very high, showing an additional cost with respect to systems lacking of energy storage equal to about 50%. From the above, it can be deduced that, in the aim to obtain a quick, effective penetration of hydrogen into the market, it is at the moment indispensable to enact incentivizing policies, attributing to hydrogen production fares able to cover the additional costs due to its production, storage and reconversion.

One of the primary objectives of the 2002/91/EC European Directive [1] , recently replaced by the 2010/31/EU European Directive [2] , is referred to the need of drawing up a methodology leading to buildings energy certification, which allows evaluation of both energy consumptions and polluting impacts and takes into account both comfort conditions of indoor environments and outdoor climate. Indeed, the connection between comfort quality of indoor environments and energy performance of building is firmly remarked by the Directive, pointing out that the achievement of high levels of comfort quality involves an increase of energy demand. In this context, the need of connecting building energy performances to the comfort quality of living spaces has focused the researchers' attention on the development of procedures aimed at classifying indoor environments under the point of view of comfort conditions. In this paper, in order to try to suggest a simple approach to the indoor environmental quality classification, a proposed methodology will be presented. It could be applicable to either single environments or whole building and is based on the calculation of two indoor quality indexes: the Environment Quality Index, EQI, and the Building Quality Index, BQI. Starting from the values of the EQI and BQI indexes, the proposed methodology allows the classification of the indoor comfort level, referring it to a seven values scale.

This paper addresses an important problem in the evaluation of the thermal comfort of people living or working in the sort of confined spaces typical of current architecture. In the details, a new algorithm is proposed for the evaluation of the angle factors of people within rooms characterized by complex shapes, where the envelope components are not always mutually orthogonal. The algorithm is based on field data obtained by means of an experimental photographic apparatus which allows measurements of projected area factors of seated or standing people in such complex confined environments.

Thermal radiative exchanges of the human body with surrounding surfaces play an essential role in describing the thermal conditions of people in a given environment. Moreover, they could be induced by, among other causes, the presence of high intensity radiant sources, like lighting spots or infrared heating panels. This implies that a suitable set of radiation data related to human body anthropometry is required. This set of data mainly comprises the body surface area, the clothing area factor, the effective radiation area factor, and projected area factors. Several analytical or experimental methods may be utilized in order to compute these parameters. A detailed description of the most common of these will be illustrated in this study, pointing out their main features and their ease of application or otherwise. Thereafter, with reference to a field experiment conducted by means of purpose-built experimental apparatus, a detailed analysis concerning the determination of the values of clothing area factor, effective radiation area factor and projected area factors of a sample of standing and seated, and male and female subjects of the population of southern Italy will be described. In addition, the results of a study to determine differences in anthropometric parameters with regard to different gender and nationalities will be reported. The study will conclude by analyzing a specific case-study.

Thermal comfort of people occupying indoor spaces depends, to a large extent, on the direct component of solar radiation incident on the human body. In turn, even the diffuse component of the solar radiation could affect the thermal sensations of people. Despite this evidence, at the present there is a lack in the availability of simple and reliable methods capable of taking into account the influence of the solar radiation on thermal balance in the human body. In this work a comprehensive method is presented for the computation of the mean radiant temperature of people in thermal moderate indoor environments in the presence of solar radiation. The effects produced on the amount of solar radiation entering rooms in the presence of shadowing devices are also analysed. Finally, an application of the method is provided for a non-parallelepiped room equipped with a south window: results are shown in terms of the mean radiant temperature. A simple evaluation of thermal comfort conditions, referring to the present international standards, is also provided. The model can be easily linked to the computerized methods for analyzing the thermal behaviour of buildings, and is intended as a support for the thermal comfort evaluation methods. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The thermal sensation experienced by a subject in a confined environment is significantly affected by the radiative heat exchange between the human body and the surrounding surfaces: it contributes as far as 30% of the whole thermal exchanges of the subject. Besides, the presence of high-intensity radiation sources like, for example, the sun, may appreciably modify the radiant field to which people are exposed. As a consequence, this could alter notably the comfort conditions. In order of properly taking into account this issue, a simple analytical method is introduced in this work, that allows the easy evaluation of the thermal radiant field induced by the presence of the solar radiation. An application to a typical thermal comfort computation is finally presented.

Publisher Summary A method for the automatic calculation of local comfort conditions in moderate indoor environment is been described in this chapter. It provides, among its output features, graphical maps of the PMV patterns. The program has been implemented on the commonly used operating system, and is characterized by a friendly usability, even by noncomputer expert users. The output of the code can be obtained not only in a graphical way but also in numerical formats. By using the program in conjunction with computer codes that provide the energy demand for climatization of buildings, it would be possible to evaluate the energy savings achieved in correspondence with the various adopted design choices. A computer code that is presented in this chapter allows a quick evaluation of local thermal conditions of thermal moderate confined environments. Starting from the knowledge of the indoor temperatures of the envelope surfaces, the program releases the local predicted mean vote. Depending on the user preferences, the percentage of dissatisfied, the mean radiant temperature, and the radiant asymmetry can also be obtained.

Nowadays a redesign of cities, amid the others from an energetic point of view, is taking place. It increasingly addresses the smart city model, an organic system in which infrastructures, services and technology are organized in order to achieve friendly and livable cities, combining in a single urban model environment protection, energy efficiency and economic sustainability. In smart cities buildings are nZEB and equipped with domotics applications, energy grids are smart, transports are electric, lighting is high-efficiency, hydrogen is used for energy storage, ecc. As concerns this latter, in the last periods hydrogen has increasingly shown to be particularly fit as an energetic carrier, being not pollutant, versatile, allowing production at all scales and, compared to electric battery, not requiring time consuming recharging. Anyway, due to the present relevant starting funds of its technology, its quick, effective penetration into the market still requires the necessary economic breakthroughs. Within this frame, in the paper a system aimed at hydrogen production through electrolysis from renewable source (provided by both PV and wind generators), its storage and reconversion in fuel cells is presented. The system is installed at the Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria. Particularly, in the paper the global process taking place in the system is described, evaluating the hourly hydrogen stored amount, the power autonomy provided and the global efficiency of the process.

Cities are currently engaged through their urban policies in pushing people towards less environmentally impacting mobility modalities: therefore, cycling and walking are strongly promoted, especially by means of new and wider limited traffic and no-cars zones. In this paper, the effectiveness of the new smartphones and apps-based technologies in modifying the mobility behaviors of citizens towards more sustainable choices has been investigated. Specifically, the potential of a smartphone app, directly involving citizens by means of a game rewarding the most sustainable trips, has been tested on a university commuters' group. These latter, starting from their current mobility situation, were challenged by an enhanced scenario characterized by more restrictive and sustainable targets. Promising results have been obtained suggesting that game–based tools could be effectively used as urban policy interventions intended to obtain a more sustainable mobility., Sweet mobility; Commuters; Smartphone; Game-based app; Air quality; Climate change; Climate policy; Environmental analysis; Environmental pollution; Urban energy consumption; Environmental science; Information science

The Ecological Footprint (EF) method is applied here to assess alternative policies regarding the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management. This approach arises from two considerations. First, the MSW management certainly requires a great attention by politicians and technicians, due to its importance for effectively administrating and environmentally controlling urban contexts. On the other hand, the EF method, thanks to its holistic structure of analysis, supposedly provides a synthetic and effective measure of the sustainability of waste management systems, so allowing public administrations to prioritizing policies aimed at implementing environmental actions. Here the EF method is used for ranking different policies about the MSW management. The case study concerns the MSW management of Palermo and Ustica island. The suitability of this method for this purpose is assessed through the comparative environmental evaluation of the main segments composing the waste handling chain.

PV/T panels are innovative systems increasingly used in the building sector. Their energy production and overall efficiency depend on several factors related to the shares of electrical and thermal loads and to the working temperature of the operating fluid. Therefore, an optimal configuration should be found. In this work, a parametric analysis was performed to provide a contribute on this issue. The conclusive indications can be exploited by designers and researchers, to maximize the efficiency of the systems in relation to configurations and to both electrical and thermal loads. To this purpose a simulation model was designed and implemented in a spreadsheet, using Visual BasicTM functions.