Corrado Schenone

Port cities and their hinterlands present particular challenges for sustainable development, including high energy demand, urban heat island (UHI) effects, energy poverty, and environmental impacts from port operations. This work aims at verifying two hypotheses: first, that increasing renewable energy community (REC)/self-consumption scheme (SCS) membership significantly improves self-consumption performance for a fixed photovoltaic (PV) installation; and second, that the spatial distribution of impervious surfaces in port hinterland areas is directly correlated with UHI intensity and therefore highlights priority zones for Nature-based Solution (NbS) intervention. An hourly photovoltaic simulation model is used to evaluate the effect of community size on the self-consumption factor, and a geographic information system analysis combining Copernicus reanalysis temperature data and high-resolution land cover layers is used to characterize UHI dynamics in Genoa. The implementation framework is provided by the EnerCmed project, which is co-funded by the European Union (EU)’s Interreg Euro-MED programme. The simulation results demonstrate that with an increase in REC/SCS membership from 1 to 30 apartments, the self-consumption factor increases from 5% to 50% for a 50 kWp installation. The results of the UHI analysis show nocturnal summer intensification of +3 to +4 °C in the Genoa port hinterland area, with strong correlation with impervious surface density. The results show how renewable energy governance coupled with nature-based climate adaptation strategies can simultaneously improve renewable energy self-consumption and mitigate urban heat stress in port cities’ hinterlands. These findings support the new hybrid approach as an effective replicability strategy for green harbors and sustainable Mediterranean port cities.

Mediterranean cities are increasingly affected by climate change, energy inequality and environmental pollution. Rising temperatures, the effects of the urban heat island (UHI) and growing energy demand exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities and energy poverty. To address these challenges, integrated strategies are needed, that combine effective energy system management with robust urban planning adapted to local climatic conditions. This manuscript aims to present the pilot actions implemented in the EnerCmed Project, an EU-funded project that aims to promote the sustainability in port cities by taking action in urban areas near the port, with the aim of enhancing and supporting their development. The project adopt a combined approach in which a renewable energy community (REC) or a self-consumption scheme (SCS) will be implemented through the installation of renewable energy production using Photovoltaic plant (PV) systems, to collectively generate, manage and share the energy produced from renewable sources. The key paradigm of the project consists in the development of the REC/SCS coupled with a nature-based solution (NBS) tailored to the area concerned, that increase the social acceptability and reduce UHI. This approach is oriented towards the reduction of dependence on fossil fuels, acting as a catalyst for a society in which energy autonomy and socioeconomic well-being become central, thanks to actions that mitigate energy poverty and support social inclusion. This manuscript highlights the preliminary results of the EnerCmed project, demonstrating how the simultaneous implementation of REC/SCS and NBS contributes to improving energy efficiency, climate adaptation, economic and social inclusion in line with the objectives of the EU Green Deal.

For the agricultural sector to develop sustainably in the future, progress toward more environmentally friendly technologies and methods is crucial. It is necessary to increase output while reducing the demand for energy, agrochemicals, and water resources. Although greenhouses can be utilized successfully for this purpose, significant technical advancements are required, especially when it comes to heating, to lower the use of fossil fuels and boost energy efficiency. Microwaves can warm plants without heating the entire greenhouse volume, which takes a significant amount of energy to compensate for heat loss in the outdoor environment. In this paper, through a thorough examination of the state of the art, a general overview of novel greenhouse heating systems based on radiation is reported. First, the strengths and weaknesses of microwave heating are discussed, and finally, the use of microwaves for soil sterilization is examined. All outcomes suggest these irradiation-based technologies can contribute significantly to energetically sustainable agriculture; moreover, they can be used to increase plant comfort.

While the acoustic impact of harbors is becoming an increasingly important issue, to the point of limiting their growth, the measurement of noise from ships and port operations is still rough. Two of the main problems that are commonly encountered are source overlapping and large distance from the emitting sources. Source overlapping prevents from identifying the specific contribution coming from each acoustic source. The large distance from the emitting sources, for instance the funnel of a ship or the engine of a transtainer crane, makes the measurement inaccurate. By using the acoustic camera, it is possible to tackle these two problems at the same time. Noise measurements can be made with equipment far from noise source, while distinguishing the contribution from each single source emitting within the sound field. The paper demonstrates this enhanced measurement technique through a set of surveys performed inside French and Italian ports. The ship emissions are analyzed through the acoustic camera for ship on the way, maneuvering inside the harbor, and berthed at wharf. The effectiveness of beamforming technique is discussed, investigating the measurements accuracy, their qualitative and quantitative significance, and the possibility to introduce specific measurement standards for ships based on this methodology.

While the acoustic impact of harbours is becoming an increasingly important issue, to the point of limiting their growth, the measurement of noise from ships and port operations is still rough. Two of the main problems that are commonly encountered are source overlapping and large distance from the emitting sources. Source overlapping prevents from identifying the specific contribution coming from each acoustic source. The large distance from the emitting sources, for instance the funnel of a ship or the engine of a transtainer crane, makes the measurement inaccurate. By using the acoustic camera it is possible to tackle these two problems at the same time. Noise measurements can be made with equipment far from noise source, while distinguishing the contribution from each single source emitting within the sound field. The paper demonstrates this enhanced measurement technique through a set of surveys performed inside French and Italian ports. The ship emissions are analyzed through the acoustic camera for ship on the way, maneuvering inside the harbour, and berthed at wharf. The effectiveness of beamforming technique is discussed, investigating the measurements accuracy, their qualitative and quantitative significance, and the possibility tointroduce specific measurement standards for ships based on this methodology.

Airborne port noise has historically suffered from a lack of regulatory assessment compared to other transport infrastructures. This has led to several complaints from citizens living in the urban areas surrounding ports, which is a very common situation, especially in countries facing the Mediterranean sea. Only in relatively recent years has an effort been made to improve this situation, which has resulted in a call for and financing of numerous international cooperation research projects, within the framework of programs such as EU FP7, H2020, ENPI-CBC MED, LIFE, and INTERREG. These projects dealt with issues and aspects of port noise, which is an intrinsically tangled problem, since several authorities and companies operate within the borders of ports, and several different noise sources are present at the same time. In addition, ship classification societies have recently recognized the problem and nowadays are developing procedures and voluntary notations to assess the airborne noise emission from marine vessels. The present work summarizes the recent results of research regarding port noise sources in order to provide a comprehensive database of sources that can be easily used, for example, as an input to the noise mapping phase, and can subsequently prevent citizens’ exposure to noise.

The use of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is crucial for reaching the pollution reduction objectives that have been set by the new European laws. The widespread use of LNG allows for the reduction of air-polluting emissions in many fields, from residential to industrial and transport sectors. The European Project SIGNAL is aimed towards supporting and bolstering the diffusion of LNG usage, especially in port areas and in regions that are not connected to the main continental NG network (e.g. islands or border regions) where LNG is still a convenient alternative to the construction of distribution infrastructures. Considering that the impact of primary LNG consumption is strongly affected by the efficiency of technologies employed in energy conversion, it differs from sector to sector and from country to country. For this reason, it is useful to evaluate the environmental benefits deriving from the conversion to LNG fed technologies, to assess the effective emission reductions. In the present paper, a simple yet fast and reliable methodology to assess the environmental benefits is presented. The methodology is relying on the application of the Emission Factors available on the Emission Factor Database developed by the European Union, integrated with other national databases or literature studies, in case of lacking data. Moreover, in the present paper, the case study of Regione Sardegna is presented. Starting from the regional energy needs, it is possible to evaluate the current emissions levels amount for five selected pollutants (PM 2.5, PM10, CO, CO2, NOx, SOx). Then, two different scenarios are forecasted, with a 10-year timespan: a low LNG widespread and a high penetration one. Then, the emission levels for the two cases are evaluated and compared to the base case. Overall, the use of LNG is helpful towards the reduction of air emissions, especially for PM2.5, PM10, and SOx. The emissions for CO and NOx can anyway increase up to 5.5% when a single sector is analyzed, depending on the level of technology development of the considered sector.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is a crucial resource to reduce the environmental impact of fossil-fueled vehicles, especially with regards to maritime transport, where LNG is increasingly used for ship bunkering. The present paper gives insights on how the installation of LNG tanks inside harbors can be capitalized to increase the energy efficiency of port cities and reduce GHG emissions. To this purpose, a novel integrated energy system is introduced. The Boil Off Gas (BOG) from LNG tanks is exploited in a combined plant, where heat and power are produced by a regenerated gas turbine cycle; at the same time, cold exergy from LNG regasification contributes to an increase in the efficiency of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle. In the paper, the integrated energy system is simulated by means of dynamic modeling under daily variable working conditions. Results confirm that the model is stable and able to determine the time behavior of the integrated plant. Energy saving is evaluated, and daily trends of key thermophysical parameters are reported and discussed. The analysis of thermal recovering from the flue gases shows that it is possible to recover a large energy share from the turbine exhausts. Hence, the system can generate electricity for port cold ironing and, through a secondary brine loop, cold exergy for a refrigeration plant. Overall, the proposed solution allows primary energy savings up to 22% when compared with equivalent standard technologies with the same final user needs. The exploitation of an LNG regasification process through smart integration of energy systems and implementation of efficient energy grids can contribute to greener energy management in harbors.