Luca Adami

In the context of green energy, the use of lake reeds is becoming an increasingly important factor. Therefore, research into the availability of reeds, determining their area in lakes, predicting the potential biomass volume and calculating the carbon footprint are important. Currently, there have been no significant research results on the availability of reeds and the assessment of the sustainability of reed products in Latvia. However, these aspects are crucial for the development of reed products, as they help to assess their market potential and environmental impact. The main goal of this work is to develop a method for modeling the distribution of lake reeds in order to predict their availability in the future, which would allow assessment of the volume of biomass and its impact on the environment. This research develops an integrated GIS–LCA framework that combines Sentinel-2 satellite data, machine learning-based classification, biomass estimation, and carbon footprint modeling. Using Lake Cirma as a case study, the classification results show that reed stands occupy 2.18–3.51 percent of the lake area in certain years, corresponding to approximately 1158–1861 tons of biomass. The framework enables quantification of harvesting potential while considering ecological constraints that limit annual extraction to approximately 50% of total biomass. The proposed GIS–LCA framework provides a replicable methodology for assessing reed biomass availability and environmental performance across lake ecosystems. It supports evidence-based decision-making for sustainable reed resource management and contributes to the development of low-carbon bioeconomy pathways in line with EU climate and bioeconomy strategies.

Purpose: Concrete, with its huge quantities produced daily, comprises crucial raw materials such as gypsum, limestone, clay and others in small proportions. Given the global challenges we face, finding a solution to mitigate the environmental impact associated with the production of each kilogram of cement is deemed imperative. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to explore the potential integration of a conventional cement factory and a gasification plant capable of generating energy and heat through the partial oxidation of municipal solid waste. Design/methodology/approach: To assess the changes in environmental impacts between conventional cement production and the upgraded process, the adopted approach was based on a life cycle assessment (LCA) conducted employing SimaPro software v. 9.5 with the Ecoinvent 3.9.1 database. To standardize the comparison of the processes to a specific market, the study was contextualized in Latvia (LV), specifically in the city of Riga, as it hosts the only cement plant supplying this country. Findings: The findings reveal a significant reduction in various environmental indicators between the baseline and upgraded cement production methods. A 45% decrease in global warming potential (expressed in kgCO2eq) was assessed. Moreover, the calculations pointed out a 94.96% reduction in ozone formation on human health (expressed in kgNOxeq). Advantages were found also in terms of a decrease in fine particulate matter formation, a decline in ozone formation on the terrestrial ecosystem and a decrease in terrestrial acidification. Research limitations/implications: The context of LV was taken into account according to the present scenario of waste management: municipal solid waste composition is the one official. Trends in its characteristics will be analyzed in future works. Practical implications: Cement factories are responsible for an environmental impact surely not negligible. Conventional waste-to-energy plants (combustion-based) are difficult to be accepted locally even if the sector evolved towards modern technologies. The proposed integration can contribute to a new paradigm allowing a lower environmental impact. Originality/value: Despite the scarcity of literature on LCA applied to cement factories integrated with waste gasification, the obtained results show that this approach can be an interesting alternative to conventional processes. The integration of modular gasification and cement production is original also for another reason: the modularity of the gasification technology taken into account allows a full-scale design calibrated to the requirement of the cement facility.

Lake Garda, the largest in Italy, is a major source of water supply inserted in a trans-regional area, sustaining an ever-increasing variety of water interests since the XX century. We perform a multidecadal (1928-2020) water balance, estimating the long-term evolution of the input and output components under changing anthropogenic and climatic stressors. First, we present our hydrometeorological database, assembled through a consistent effort of collection and digitization of data from different sources. Then, we analyse the annual water balance, assessing the magnitude of the residual term, i.e. the unknown term that embeds uncertainties and potential sources of error, closing the water balance equation. Uncertainties are investigated by applying a multi-method analysis for over-lake evaporation and basin evapotranspiration. Land use evolution, contributions from the Mount Baldo area as well as the potential role of groundwater fluxes are additionally analysed. Eventually, we compute a sensitivity analysis to delineate the role of each component on the lake’s level and outflow variations. The long-term analysis allows for distinguishing some trends in the input and output components of the water balance. Differences emerge in the periods before and after the lake’s impoundment (1951), and some effects of climate modifications appear in the last decades. Precipitation over the basin has a major influence on the water availability within the basin, a result confirmed by the sensitivity analysis. The entity of the residual term, which represents the unaccounted contributions, calls into question the role of the groundwater fluxes and the time scale of the analysis. The multi-method analysis highlights the dependency of the different lake evaporation and basin evapotranspiration methods on the amount of data available.

In mountainous regions, the atmospheric dispersion of air pollutants is limited by complex terrain morphology. Trentino (a province located in the Italian Alps) is characterized by a high population density, highly developed agriculture and farming, and the presence of civil and industrial activities, whose emissions tend to be trapped inside the valleys. These conditions translate into exposure levels that are potentially higher than other geographical contexts (e.g., flat or coastal regions). The academic research carried out in Trentino since 2005 has produced a series of publications on topics related to the risk for health derived from waste management and other activities. These publications has focused on: 1) the evaluation of the emissions of organic pollutants from the waste sector; 2) the monitoring of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in various environmental matrices; 3) a methodology to carry out a comprehensive health risk assessment considering all the relevant exposure routes in an area; 4) the role of the local diet in the exposure of a population to POPs; 5) methodologies to define new regulatory limit values for dioxin and hexavalent chromium; and 6) the role of dispersion modeling in assessing the exposure to air pollutants. The present paper will review these publications and provide a reference document to evaluate new project proposals that require a health risk assessment and facilitate the work of proponents, clarifying the requirements of a health risk assessment. The paper will refer to waste gasification, but the considerations expressed in this paper may apply to other activities.

The Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMP) and the Monitoring and Control Plan (MCP) are key documents required respectively in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures and in the Integrated Environmental Authorization (IEA) for activities subjected to this procedure. Both documents aim at preventing impacts on the environment and human health and/or quickly taking actions if anomalous levels of pollutants are found in the environment. Trentino is an Italian region located in the Alps characterized by high population density in its valleys, complex terrain and, thus, a low level of dispersion of the atmospheric pollutants. The research carried out in Trentino in the last two decades has allowed identifying innovative monitoring approaches to point out issues that conventional methodologies could not detect. The present paper provides the key elements of an EMP that must be included in the EIA of a waste gasification plant. The paper proposes unconventional monitoring campaigns to guarantee a more efficient control of the areas influenced by the plant before, during and after its construction. The paper also discusses key aspects of an MCP for plants that are subjected to IEA. The final aim is to make this paper a reference document to 1) evaluate new projects of waste

Despite the improvements made in recent decades on the emission control of waste combustion plants, the chronically low public acceptance still influences the strategical choices of local authorities, who may decide to export waste to other regions instead of treating waste locally in a waste-to-energy (WtE) plant. The present paper proposes a method to identify a more sustainable solution between local waste treatment and the export of waste. To do this, two waste-management scenarios were compared: (1) an in situ WtE scenario, considering a WtE plant in a region of about 500,000 inhabitants; and (2) an ex situ WtE scenario, considering the road transportation of waste to a WtE plant located in another region. This method yields an estimation of the maximum distance that trucks may cover to balance the emissions of the air pollutants released in the in situ WtE scenario. The methodology is based on the COPERT emission model and on emission factors of WtE processes. The results show that the maximum distance is limited by the emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by road trucks. Finally, the paper discusses the results considering the energy efficiency of WtE processes and proposes alternative WtE strategies to increase the level of public acceptance.

(1) Background: The application of concepts linked to the circular economy (CE) has led to a sudden development of studies in numerous fields. However, the level of environmental sustainability of CE strategies could be improved and this topic deserves more attention by the scientific community. This research addresses this gap and aims at presenting a new concept, named circular ecology (CE_L), and its application to the field of waste management. (2) Methods: The paper presents a literature review on the criticalities of CE and on examples of studies that implement the CE_L principles. (3) Results: The review highlights that CE_L principles are widely applied to several fields of waste management, showing promising opportunities to export the results to other geographical contexts. (4) Conclusions: If supported by governments, CE_L approaches may allow solving multiple environmental problems at once, with clear economic, time, resources, and emission savings.