|
|
|
Sort Order |
|
|
|
Items / Page
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Srl | Item |
| 1 |
ID:
125601
|
|
|
|
|
| Publication |
2013.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
The service sector is extraordinarily important for the European economy, as it accounts for 75% of the GDP. Yet it is also a huge consumer of energy, especially in urban environments. Municipalities have the authority to develop and manage municipal services, and as a result the European Commission drew up the Covenant of Mayors in which the signatory municipalities pledge to reduce their CO2 emissions by 20% of their 1990 rates. Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) emerged from this covenant with the goal of analysing the current consumption patterns and compiling the actions that the municipalities should undertake in order to fulfil their pledges.
This article focuses on analysing the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of 978 municipal service facilities in the province of Barcelona in the year 2005. The average consumption per facility by surface area is 118.8 kWh/m2. Regarding greenhouse gas emissions, the average annual emissions in the facilities studied in the province of Barcelona were 40.0 kg CO2 eq/m2.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2 |
ID:
092789
|
|
|
|
|
| Publication |
2009.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
District heating is a technology for distributing centrally produced heat for space heating and sanitary hot-water generation for residential and commercial uses. The objectives are to identify which subsystems and components of a district heating grid are the main contributors to the overall impact of the infrastructure; and provide environmentally oriented design strategies for the future eco-redesign of these kinds of infrastructures. This paper performs a life-cycle assessment (LCA) to determine the environmental impacts of a district heating infrastructure in an urban neighbourhood context. The analysis covers seven subsystems (power plant, main grid, auxiliary components of the main grid, trench works, service pipes, buildings and dwellings) and twelve standard components. The results for the subsystems show that the sources of impact are not particularly located in the main grid (less than 7.1% contribution in all impact categories), which is the focus of attention in the literature, but in the power plants and dwelling components. These two subsystems together contribute from 40% to 92% to the overall impact depending on the impact categories. Concerning the components, only a reduced number are responsible for the majority of the environmental impact. This facilitates identifying effective strategies for the redesign of the infrastructure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3 |
ID:
124603
|
|
|
|
|
| Publication |
2013.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
The current increasing importance of road transport in the overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has led to the adoption of diverse policies for the mitigation of global warming. These policies focus in two directions, depending on whether they involve the reduction of emissions or the mitigation through carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration. In this paper, the Tier 3 methodology from the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme and the Environment Agency (EMEP/EEA) was applied to determine the evolution of Spanish motorway GHG emissions in the period 2005-2010. According to the results, though the average daily traffic (ADT) is the major parameter, the average fleet age and vehicle size also affect the level of emissions. Data analysis also revealed a clear connection between the decrease in European trade volume during the financial crisis and the GHG release, despite its temporary character. Among the three improvement scenarios evaluated, reduced speed limit seems the most direct measure while the consequences of afforestation strongly depend on the traffic density of the stretch of the motorway considered. Finally, technological improvement requires a drastic change in the fleet to obtain substantial decrease. The combination of different policies would allow a more robust strategy with lower GHG emissions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|