New methodologies and technologies for the intelligent use of energy in industrial and civil applications

After a historical survey of the diffusion of methodologies and techniques of systems analysis in engineering applications, a series of specific examples is reported, concerning the activities of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA). In the field of knowledge-based computer aids for plant operators, two applications are described, concerning, respectively, a primary aluminium production plant (aluminium smelter) and a plant which recovers energy from civil waste. About dynamic modelling of buildings, a method is described, which has been tested both in inhabited buildings and in an empty experimental house. Finally, a peculiar ENEA's experience is illustrated, which regards the development of distributed information systems for networks of small- and mediumdashsized enterprises (SME) in industrial districts, with the aim of improving logistic and manufacturing processes and of protecting the environment.