Improving energy efficiency in public buildings is one of the main challenges for a sustainable requalification of energy issues and a consequent reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This paper aims to provide preliminary information about economic costs and energy consumption reductions (benefits) of some considered interventions in existing public buildings. Methods include an analysis of some feasible interventions in four selected public buildings. Energy efficiency improvements have been assessed for each feasible intervention. The difference of the building global energy performance index (EP gl ) has been assessed before and after each intervention. Economic costs of each intervention have been estimated by averaging the amount demanded by different companies for the same intervention. Results obtained show economic costs and the EP gl percentage improvement for each intervention, highlighting and allowing for the comparison of energy consumption reduction and relative economic costs. The research results come from data gathered from four public buildings, and as such they could not be used to generically identify cost-beneficial energy efficiency interventions for every context or building type. However, the data reveals useful cost based considerations for selecting energy efficiency interventions in other public buildings.

This research investigates the role of new hybrid energy system applications for developing a new plant refurbishment strategy to deploy small scale smart energy systems. This work deals with a dynamic simulation of trans-critical carbon dioxide heat pump application for boosting low temperature distribution networks to share heat for dwellings. Heat pumps provide high temperature heat to use the traditional emission systems. The new plant layout consists of an air source heat pump, four trans-critical carbon dioxide heat pumps (CO2-HPs), photovoltaic arrays, and a combined heat and power (CHP) for both domestic hot water production and electricity to partially drive the heat pumps. Furthermore, electric storage devices adoption has been evaluated. That layout has been compared to the traditional one based on separated generation systems using several energy performance indicators. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis on the primary energy saving, primary fossil energy consumptions, renewable energy fraction and renewable heat, with changes in building power to heat ratios, has been carried out. Obtained results highlighted that using the hybrid system with storage device it is possible to get a saving of 50% approximately. Consequently, CO2-HPs and hybrid systems adoption could be a viable option to achieve Near Zero Energy Building (NZEB) qualification.

Oil spills near exploitation areas and oil loading ports are often related to the ambitions of governments to get more oil market share and the negligence at the time of the loading in large tankers or ships. The present study investigates one oil spill event using multi sensor satellite images in the Al Khafji (between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia) zone. Oil slicks have been characterized with multi sensor satellite images over the Persian Gulf and then analyzed in order to detect and classify oil spills in this zone. In particular this paper discusses oil pollution detection in the Persian Gulf by using multi sensor satellite images data. Oil spill images have been selected by using Sentinel 2 images pinpointing oil spill zones. ENVI software for analysing satellite images and ADIOS (Automated Data Inquiry for Oil Spills) for oil weathering modelling have been used. The obtained results in Al Khafji zone show that the oil spill moves towards the coastline firstly increasing its surface and then decreasing it until reaching the coastline.

The present paper concerns an environmentally sustainable neighborhood planning project, as part of the smart community, located in the municipality of Ladispoli, in the Metropolitan area of Rome, along the Tyrrhenian coast. The project was designed as a solution to two current issues, involving all the major urban areas of the Northern Hemisphere: the ageing population and the young New Immigrants Citizens integration; the purpose is, therefore, to create an intergenerational space of mutual support and exchange among the local residents. The latter includes residential buildings NZEB (net zero-energy building) that are eco environment-friendly, designed with new building technologies based on the reuse of the main municipal solid waste, facilities minimization and the integration of renewable energy sources. The complete utilization of the local waste production in order to realize modules with low environmental impact is a key requirement to increase the overall environmental sustainability of buildings. An additional distinctive feature of this proposition is linked to the requirement of the dwelling flexibility, enabling those who live in it to easily adapt the apartments to their changing needs during a lifetime, also facilitating the integration among the different generations. The common thread of sustainability involves not only the housing project but also the dimension of a wider space, where green space plays a key role. Urban greenery is not by itself a boundary line between areas and activities, but attempts to re-establish equilibrium and natural functions that are essential for citizens' quality of life. The residential complexes are inserted in a planimetric urban design with leaflike shape and functions; some of the strong points of this project are the use of local and renewable resources, the use of active systems for energy production and passive technologies to reduce CO2 emissions, and the improvement of air-quality-enhancing green spaces.

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