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The phenomenon of urban warming, known as urban heat island, negatively influences outdoor comfort conditions and pollutants concentration and as well increases the environmental impact due to the energy demand for air conditioning. Urban warming can be attenuated by reducing the solar heat gain that increases building’s temperature during the hot season. Solar heat can be mainly reduced by increasing the insulation between the exterior and interior of the building, as well as by shading the building surface from direct sun exposure. A sustainable technology for improving the energy efficiency of buildings is the use of green roofs and green walls that: allow the physical shading of the building and promote evapotranspiration in summer; increase the thermal insulation in winter. An experimental test was carried out at the University of Bari (Italy, 41 ° 05 'N, 16 ° 53 'E). Three prototypes of building vertical wall, made with perforated bricks, were designed: two vertical walls were covered with plants (one with Pandorea jasminoides variegated, the second with Rhyncospermum jasminoides) while the third wall was kept uncovered and was used as control. A system composed by a data logger and sensors was used to measure and record the following parameters: temperature of the wall surface under solar radiation and of the surface on the other side of the wall, solar radiation falling on the wall, external air temperature and wind speed. During summer 2014 the diurnal temperatures of the control surface exposed to the solar radiation were higher by about 4 °C compared to the temperatures recorded on both the vertical walls covered with Rhyncospermum jasminoides and Pandorea jasminoides variegated. The thermal wave propagated with a phase shift of about 2 hours and half.

L’efficienza energetica rappresenta la policy europea di maggiore interesse per favorire la riduzione dei consumi energetici nei diversi settori produttivi e la riduzione delle emissioni di CO2. In particolare, questo lavoro e focalizzato sul settore agricoltura e industria alimentare nazionale di cui riporta un quadro generale in termini di consumi energetici delle diverse filiere produttive; inoltre il lavoro brevemente affronta le innovazioni disponibili per migliorare l’efficienza energetica ai fini della diminuzione dei consumi di energia fossile nella produzione di beni alimentari. Vengono descritte le caratteristiche tecniche relative all’impiego della biomassa solida e alla tecnologia solar cooling per la climatizzazione nel comparto dei sistemi serra. Inoltre, viene presa in considerazione la tecnologia dei tetti verdi e delle pareti vegetali per sostenere il miglioramento dell’efficienza energetica degli edifici e la diminuzione delle emissioni di CO2 nelle citta. .

SummaryTwo photoselective and three photoluminescent greenhouse plastic films were studied for their effects on the spectral distribution of solar radiation and their influence on the growth of cherry and peach trees in the field and in laboratory tests.The two photoselective films modified the ratio of the photon fluence rate in the red to that in the far-red (R/FR), while the three photoluminescent films increased both the blue and red solar radiation by moving energy from the ultra-violet range to the blue and red wavelength range.The photoselective film that reduced the R/FR ratio, from 1.14 (open-field) to 0.93, enhanced shoot growth in peach (46.1 cm) and cherry trees (68.7 cm) compared to trees grown in the open-field (13.5 cm and 39.3 cm for peach and cherry trees, respectively). Trees grown under the red-emitting photoluminescent film showed increases in shoot length of 27.2 cm and 55.8 cm for peach and cherry trees, respectively; while plants grown under the blue-emitting photoluminescent film s...

Plastic pollution, largely perceived by the public as a major risk factor that strongly impacts sea life and preservation, has an even higher negative impact on terrestrial ecosystems. Indeed, quantitative data about plastic contamination on agricultural soils are progressively emerging in alarming ways. One of the main contributors to this pollution involves the mismanagement of agricultural plastic waste (APW), i.e., the residues from plastic material used to improve the productivity of agricultural crops, such as greenhouse covers, mulching films, irrigation pipes, etc. Wrong management of agricultural plastics during and after their working lives may pollute the agricultural soil and aquifers by releasing macro-, micro-, and nanoplastics, which could also enter into the human food chain. In this study, we aimed to develop a methodology for the spatial quantification of agricultural plastics to achieve sustainable post-consumer management. Through an inductive approach, based on statistical data from the agricultural census of the administrative areas of the Italian provinces, an agricultural plastic coefficient (APC) was proposed, implemented, and spatialized in a GIS environment, to produce a database of APW for each type of crop. The proposed methodology can be exported to other countries. It represents valuable support that could realize, in integration with other tools, an atlas of agricultural plastics, which may be a starting point to plan strategies and actions targeted to the reduction of the plastic footprint of agriculture.