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It is generally acknowledged that exceedance of the safe thresholds of air pollutants significantly affect human health. Hence, we can understand the importance of having a synthetic measure for overall air pollution, in a certain geographical area, computable using an index: to the values taken on by this index are then associated different health risks. In order to compute a reliable and comparable air quality index, in this paper we suggest an analytical procedure based on data reduction functions for summarizing three-way arrays, here consisting of the observations on a few major pollutants monitored over time at multiple sites. These functions reduce the dimensions of the array by applying a joint principal component analysis. Symmetrical three-way PCA has been successfully applied in environmental experimental studies, where the three dimensions of the data array are typically of similar length. Instead, a long time dimension usually characterizes environmental pollution data, where an asymmetrical twoway PCA is preferable: the aim of this paper is to indicate an approach that, by reducing two of the three dimensions, leads to the computation of an informative air quality index. Plaia et al. (2013) have applied an analogous approach, but reducing just one dimension of the array., Annali del Dipartimento di metodi e modelli per l'economia, il territorio e la finanza, 2020

Modern ski resorts have been using systems of technical snow for many years: initially they were used to compensate the limits of natural snow but today it is actually the natural snow that is used as an integration to artificial snow and not vice versa. This paper aims to identify and evaluate the environmental impacts associated to the production of artificial snow, comparing two very different winter seasons in terms of snowfalls. The results of LCA analysis shows that the production of artificial snow primarily implies impacts on natural land transformation and fossil depletion, and that more snowfalls cause more onerous skiing resorts management, due to high consumption of diesel fuel for piste machines used for snow grooming.

Gli apprezzabili risultati, in termini di risparmio energetico e abbattimento delle emissioni di CO2eq, conseguiti dal settore della birra italiana sono attribuibili a efficaci strategie ambientali implementate dalle aziende di maggiori dimensioni, mentre permangono margini significativi di miglioramento per i birrifici artigianali, il vero fenomeno imprenditoriale degli ultimi dieci anni. In questo lavoro è stato esaminato il caso di due micro-birrifici della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, al fine di analizzare le relative Carbon Footprint di Organizzazione (OCF). Dai risultati ottenuti in questo studio preliminare appare evidente come, pur in presenza di sostanziali differenze in termini di percentuali di emissioni di GHG attribuibili ai diversi scopes, per entrambe le aziende l’hot-spot principale risieda nei consumi energetici, dove la distanza dalle scelte strategiche effettuate dalla grande industria birraria è ancora rilevante.

Concerns over energy security and environmental impacts related to greenhouse gases emissions stimulate developments towards renewable energy. Over the last few years, there has been an intense debate about the major factors that determine the impacts of biofuels both in production and end use phase. The objective of this study is to review existing life cycle assessment (LCA) and water footprint (WF) studies on liquid biofuels used in transport sector to point out if: (i) LCA studies are adequate to evaluate the environmental impacts of biofuels; (ii) biofuels are environmentally sustainable when the WF is considered; (iii) it is possible to use both LCA and WF studies results to better assess the environmental sustainability of biofuels. Furthermore, different aspects of crops production are considered to assess the efficiency of the biofuels in the greenhouse gas emission reduction. The analysed LCA papers present quite different and at times contradictory results on biofuel environmental impacts. Variability in results is affected by crops used and geographical areas of cultivation and, consequently, the impact assessment of biofuels is consistent only at the local level. In conclusion, it can be stated that territory characteristics, weather conditions and farming methods should be considered to evaluate biofuels production.

In this work, a flexible and extensive digital platform for Smart Homes is presented, exploiting the most advanced technologies of the Internet of Things, such as Radio Frequency Identification, wearable electronics, Wireless Sensor Networks, and Artificial Intelligence. Thus, the main novelty of the paper is the system-level description of the platform flexibility allowing the interoperability of different smart devices. This research was developed within the framework of the operative project HABITAT (Home Assistance Based on the Internet of Things for the Autonomy of Everybody), aiming at developing smart devices to support elderly people both in their own houses and in retirement homes, and embedding them in everyday life objects, thus reducing the expenses for healthcare due to the lower need for personal assistance, and providing a better life quality to the elderly users.

Nell’Unione europea è in atto un processo di transizione basato sui principi dell’economia circolare, volto dunque al raggiungimento di un modello economico che impieghi minori quantità di risorse nei processi produttivi e che minimizzi le emissioni inquinanti e la produzione dei rifiuti. In tale contesto, l’approvazione del Pacchetto sull’Economia Circolare da parte del Parlamento Europeo nel giugno 2018, pone ambiziosi obiettivi in tema di riciclaggio dei rifiuti urbani e degli imballaggi. È proprio sul tema degli imballaggi e del loro riciclaggio che si focalizza lo studio del presente lavoro. L’obiettivo di questa analisi LCA è duplice: (i) valutare l’impatto ambientale del ciclo di vita di una Cassetta del sistema “USA E RECUPERA” e (ii) confrontare tali impatti con quelli di un processo di produzione che utilizzi esclusivamente materiale vergine, per verificare l’effettivo risparmio di risorse e riduzione degli impatti ambientali. I risultati da noi ottenuti sembrano indicare come il progetto “USA E RECUPERA”, sia in grado di apportare vantaggi dal punto di vista ambientale ed energetico in tutte le fasi del ciclo di vita, dalla produzione del granulo di PP alla fase del Fine Vita.

In the last 20 years, the sector of the Italian beer has shown particular attention to environmental issues, reducing by about two-thirds the amount of water used in the production phase, more than a quarter of the energy consumption per hectoliter of product and approximately one fifth the amount of used glass. But the most important results were obtained for the amount of aluminum used in cans and for CO2 emissions (about -40%). These successes are probably attributable to the awareness and the marketing strategies of brewing companies of larger size (mainly for the ever-increasing use of kegs, which accounts for more environmentally friendly distribution system) while significant margins of improvement remain for microbreweries that represent the real entrepreneurial phenomenon in the beer sector, in both numbers of plants in the area and growth rates. Therefore, in this study we analyze the case of a micro-brewery of Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) Region to understand what may be, for a small private organization, the strengths and weaknesses in the management of the greenhouse gasses emissions. A Life Cycle case study was performed to detect and quantify the organization’s carbon footprint deriving from the overall activities of the brewery. Direct and indirect GHGs emissions from 3 high fermentation and 3 low fermentation beers production processes and packaging systems (0.33cL and 0.75cL glass bottles) were considered as well as the emissions related to plant management such as lighting, electric energy, workers mobility and waste treatment. Primary data were collected from a small brewer located in FVG region, secondary data were sourced from literature and databases included in the LCA SimaPro software used to calculate the CF applying the IPCC 2007 GWP 100a method. The organization is the reference unit for the analysis and the basis for defining the system boundaries, within these a carbon footprint of 58.2 t CO2eq was obtained mainly due to direct emissions, i.e. Scope 1, that contribute for 57% to the total GHG emissions of the organization.