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This article presents and describes the LCA4Power tool, developed in this work to assess the potential environmental impacts, as, for example, the contribution to global warming, of electricity generation in continental Portugal, not considering the Madeira and Azores archipelagos. Based on a life cycle perspective, the tool considers the life cycles of various available technologies for producing electricity, on a cradle-to-gate perspective, excluding distribution and final use. It was implemented in MS Excel™ using emission factors obtained from the literature and other sources, instead of raw life cycle inventory data. The current version of the tool includes wind and hydroelectric power as renewable energy sources, and thermal and combined heat and power generation from fossil fuels as non-renewable energy sources. The combination of the aforementioned electricity generation technologies is responsible for more than 90% of the electricity generated in continental Portugal. Results were validated comparing the tool’s predictions with data from other LCA studies of electricity production, showing a good agreement, in particular for the greenhouse gas emissions. As added value, this tool provides a user-friendly way of simulating the potential environmental impacts of different endogenous energy mixes in Portugal, thus support decision making and communication. Future developments of the tool will include other technologies for electricity generation and its application to support decision making through the analysis of future scenarios for electricity generation in Portugal.

Buildings are now complex systems that traditionally have been studied in an isolated mode, seeking to respond to a specific need and dealing with a restricted set of variables. The targets established for energy efficient buildings and energy sustainability imply that these new systems are now more comprehensive and combine various independent systems. This new topology requires a new kind of engineering professionals trained in a more integrative and collaborative way. These new engineering professionals need to have not only expertise in a specific area, but also more comprehensive proficiencies that allow them to understand how to integrate their particular project into a wider functional system, and to communicate with experts from different areas. This paper addresses some challenges and issues posed to Higher Education institutions on the educational paradigms of future engineering professionals and proposes the ZELab teaching / research space as an integrative educational tool.

Strategies to reduce emissions responsible for greenhouse effect, and contributing to economy decarbonisation, should focus on using renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency both at production, distribution and consumption (equipment efficiency), sustainable mobility, urban renewal and rehabilitation and behavioural changes. Considering that man spend a significant part of their lives inside buildings that represent a significant share of energy consumption, buildings turn out to be an attractive area to invest efforts, aiming to improve efficiency, as recommended in the European Commission reports. However, despite the goals outlined in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, there are difficulties in the projection of new buildings that can be classified as nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB). These include legal and financial obstacles, as insufficient formation of professionals (such as architects, engineers and consultants) able to tackle the challenges. This paper aims to point strategies that can contribute to the creation of a nearly zero energy laboratory in a university environment, that works as a tool for raising awareness about nZEB while improving the future engineering professionals’ skills towards team work and knowledge sharing – a living lab.

This work studies the mammalian fat acidity reduction, through enzymatic esterification with ethanol for converting FFA into esters. The fat samples collected in a Portuguese company were characterized for their acid value, iodine value, density, kinematic viscosity and moisture content. Four commercial enzymes were tested as catalyst. Lipozyme CALB L contributed to highest acidity reduction. It was selected for the parametric study of the best operating conditions: 45 oC of temperature, enzyme/fat and ethanol/FFA mass ratios of respectively0.0060 and 3.25wt/wt, which reduced 67 % the acidity in just one reaction step, after 3 h of reaction time.

This study examines the economic potential of reducing animal fats acidity by enzymatic esterification and evaluates the carbon and water footprints. Two enzymes scenarios were considered based on experimental data. Results show that operational costs are larger than income generated. To be economic viable, the maximum enzyme cost to process fish oil and mammalian fat should be respectively 9.75 €/kg and 1.0 €/kg. Alternatively, for the fish oil acidity reduction to be cost-effective, its sales price should be increased about 3 %. This new process carbon footprint is 602 ton CO 2 -eq/year and the water footprint is 261073 m 3 water/year.

The traditional systems have been studied in an isolated mode, seek to respond to a specific need and deal with a restricted set of variables. The targets established for energy efficient systems and energy sustainability imply that new systems are more comprehensive and combine the various individual systems. This new topology requires a new kind of engineering professionals provided with new skills. New engineering professionals need to have not only a set of deep capabilities in a specific area, but also more comprehensive proficiencies that allow them to understand how to integrate their particular system into a wider functional system. This paper addresses some challenges and issues posed to Higher Education institutions and to engineering professionals of the future.

Microalgae are eukaryotic or prokaryotic organisms, with high photosynthetic efficiency for biomass production. The constituent elements of microalgae can be extracted and used as raw material for the production of various products, such as biodiesel, which the main components are fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). This study aimed to analyze the lipids composition of Phaeodactylum tricornutum cultured at outdoor photobiorreactor. The P. tricornutum samples showed 24.39% of C16-C18 fatty acids, 26.52% saturated fatty acids (SFAs), 21.91% monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and 32.02% polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). These findings suggest that P. tricornutum lipids meet to international biodiesel standards and could be an alternative raw material for biodiesel production.

Energy consumption in buildings is responsible for an important share of global consumed energy. The current electric energy paradigm carries important consequences both at economic and environmental levels. The so called Zero Energy Buildings’ strategy provides some guidelines in order to achieve better results in buildings energy demand. This scenario is a highly multidisciplinary engineering issue, and poses several challenges at the higher education level, that is taught in separate areas. This paper presents some higher education teaching limitations to address new technological challenges in new buildings design.