Several environmental rating methodologies are available worldwide to evaluate and compare the environmental performance of vehicles, which can be useful for consumers decisions and for organizations in the promotion of less pollutant technologies and fuels.

The currently developing concept of a Net Zero Energy Building introduces new challenges and research problems. The calculation of a net zero energy balance is heavily influenced by the energy carrier weighting factors that are chosen, which can deeply influence the future energy market towards...

Currently, energy systems are not fully sustainable due to the heavy power demands provoked by high population and increasing level of the living standard and economic growth. Hence, it requires significant efforts to conserve the resources and ensure the sustainability in energy demand and in...

Sensitivity analysis plays an important role in building energy analysis. It can be used to identify the key variables affecting building thermal performance from both energy simulation models and observational study. This paper is focused on the application of sensitivity analysis in the field...

The results of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study can be affected by several uncertainty sources, mainly due to the methodological choices, the initial assumptions, i.e. allocation rules, system boundaries and impact assessment methods, and the quality of the available data. Then, the experts...

This study examines the feasibility of using a theoretical model and empirical analysis methods to value renewable energy (RE) investment from perspective of real option analysis (ROA). Based on use of a ROA approach, the RE value is evaluated with respect to its ability to conform to the main...

The balance between the demand for electricity by consumers and businesses, and environmental protection, is one of the key challenges of our society.

The photovoltaic sector in Italy in recent years has experienced a rapid growth also in the primary sector, thanks to substantial incentives guaranteed by energy policies, simultaneous reduction of investment costs and tax benefits.

In this paper, the authors investigate a robust Integrated Optimal Design (IOD) devoted to a passive wind turbine system with electrochemical storage bank: this stand alone system is dedicated to rural electrification. The aim of the IOD is to find the optimal combination and sizing among a set...

The life-cycle analysis (LCA) of photovoltaic (PV) systems is an important tool to quantify the potential environmental advantage of using solar technologies versus more traditional technologies, especially the ones relying on non-renewable fossil fuel sources.