Energy saving in the building sector is one of the key issues to achieve environmental targets at national and European Union (EU) levels. Although characterised by a large number of different climatic conditions, Italy energy policies were aimed at reducing the energy consumption related to space heating in buildings, neglecting space cooling. The recent EU Directive for the State Members is to assess the energy quality of buildings taking into account all the relevant energy uses. Cool roofs are an old concept merged with new technologies that play a crucial role in the energy balance of buildings especially at Mediterranean latitudes. Reducing the solar gains thanks to a high solar reflectance, cool roofs tend to decrease the cooling demand and increase the thermal comfort. Energy rating and labelling are a quick solution to compare energy-related products. This paper presents the first studies aimed at the definition of an energy-rating scheme for cool roofs, starting from product properties and reaching building performances. Energy simulation results were used to find out simple linear regressions, expressing the energy performance of the building as a function of the roof's radiative properties and measuring the performance of the cool roof product.
This paper offers a substantive contribution to the debate on the role of international trade on the development of emerging countries. The aim is to detect empirically the phenomenon of vulnerability induced by trade openness. The methodology adopts a forward-looking approach and tries to fill a missing link in the theory between trade shocks, volatility, and the wellbeing of countries, distinguishing between 'normal' and 'extreme' volatility.The analysis is focused on Europe, in consideration of the dramatic and unprecedented trade liberalization process experienced by the Central and Eastern European countries at the beginning of the 1990s.The main result of the analysis is that in spite of the apparent association between trade openness and good macroeconomic performance, Eastern European countries have …/
Energy efficiency is a pillar for the energy system transition and for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals. In the light of the “energy efficiency first!” principle, European member states enforce policies to spread energy saving throughout the whole energy chain involving both citizens and industries. In this context, information and training campaigns arise as valuable support tools to disseminate energy efficiency and, therefore, for reducing energy consumption. Although various studies have evaluated the impact of information campaigns targeted to citizens, there is a lack of investigations that assess the impact of campaigns dedicated to industry sectors. This study discusses the results of a survey targeted at energy-intensive Italian companies, with a sample of 300 responses. Starting from the analysis of drivers that trigger the implementation of energy efficiency measures, the paper proposes an approach to evaluate the amount of energy savings linked to the Italian information and training program targeted to industries carried out by the Italian Energy Efficiency Agency. Results show that although information campaigns are not a crucial driver for companies, they are recognized as a factor that contributes to the implementation of energy efficiency practices. Findings show that roughly 1.4% of energy savings noted by interviewed companies to the Italian Energy Efficiency Agency are a direct effect of the information and training program. This outcome has significant implications, especially for decision-makers, giving evidence of the efficacy of information campaigns on industries, which have great potential for the transition to low carbon production systems.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.