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Abstract In an increasingly competitive society with an unfavourable economic environment, it is necessary for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to update themselves, thereby increasing their efficiency. Companies increasingly use computational tools to support the development of predictive scenarios in order to facilitate decision-making. However, the tools developed for SMEs are not always expedite and simple to use. The tool presented in this article intends to support the management of energy sources used by agro-industrial companies. It aims to facilitate and promote the implementation of a new culture of business management, in this sector so important at national level. The computational part is directed to support the decision-making on the selection of fossil or renewable energy sources to be used in a particular agroindustry, by presenting the average values of the energy consumption, cost and emissions associated with each selected energy source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Nowadays, all industry, including the agri-food sector, faces the urgent need to increase its competitiveness in order to survive in a global market. In this context, it is vital to ensure a strong, renewed and innovative industrial base throughout all stages of the value chain, capable of competing internationally and differentiating itself by the quality of its products and services. Since wealth generation cannot be dissociated from productivity, which in turn is closely related to the trinomial: processes, technologies and quality, it is concluded that the implementation of this strategy requires a commitment to the qualification of organizational management, operational management, project management and processes and productive systems themselves and associated technologies. This paper presents the characterization of the energy consumption and technologies in bakery and pastry sector, one of the most significant in the Portuguese agri-food sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sector of information and communication technologies, especially telecommunications, has grown in a relentless way, leading to an increase in the number of necessary infrastructure to ensure the geographical coverage of the service, having the outdoor telecommunications cabinets (OTC) been an increasingly preferred choice of this type of infrastructure. These cabinets need cooling systems to maintain interior temperatures between desired values, but an effective cooling depends directly on the air flow inside. This paper includes the experimental results of the internal flow and heat transfer in a model a of real OTC, in order to characterize its thermal behavior. The internal air flow is visualized through experimental methods and compared with numerical predictions. The flow occurs mainly in turbulent regime, possessing greater magnitude on the back area of the OTC, where also exist some recirculation zones that can difficult an effective cooling. The results allow to conclude that forced ventilation is an effective method of OTC cooling, combined with low energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refrigeration takes a very important role in society. Nowadays, a big portion of the refrigeration processes are taken into account in the food and drinks storage, and also in the cooling of closed spaces. The method of heat removal from the surrounding air through the evaporation of a fluid, being a process of continuous improving, has suffered many enhancements in order to obtain better energetic consumption levels. One of the main restrictions of the usual refrigeration mechanisms is the icing verified in the external surface of the evaporators, as a part of the refrigeration cycle. The present work discusses the mitigation process of ice formation through a proposed heat exchangers configuration. The experimental unit built for this purpose allows the ice layer formation over the heat exchangers surface for several values of air flow rate, temperature and relative humidity. The evaluation of the thermal resistance of the heat exchangers surface together with the condensates collected provides an insight of the consequences of the different air conditions and of the proposed configurations on the ice formation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Energy is fundamental for present societies. In particular, transportation systems depend on petroleum-based fuels whose production levels are unsustainable. The inevitability of a peak of oil production (“Peak Oil”) is a now an accepted concept, although its date is still not consensual. In this work we discuss the peak of oil production and analyze the problems it will create. As much as can be inferred at this moment, the impact of the Peak Oil will certainly be significant but can still range from relatively benign to almost catastrophic scenarios. As a direct effect of Peak Oil, the increase in energy prices will be concentrated on the liquid fuels and the transportation sector will be specially affected. We believe that the cheap, wide-scale air transport that our present societies take for granted will revert to a more expensive and restrictive model closer to the selective commercial air transport of the early jet age. In our opinion the present road transportation systems will suffer an important transition that includes a reduced incidence of long distance road cargo movements, partially replaced by increased railway transportation, and, in terms of people commuting, a significant increase of mass transit and electrical vehicles. During this phase of forced adaptation, some countries will face greater challenges than others. However, the future of overall mankind and of particular countries, regions, or any groupings of people, is not yet fixed: it depends on decisions that are being taken at the present moment and on decisions that will still be taken in the future. As such, predicting the impact of the Peak Oil is something that must be done through a continuously refined process of information collection and analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]