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Development and validation of technical and economic feasibility of a multi MW Wave Dragon offshore wave energy converter (WAVE DRAGON MW)

Objective: The Wave Dragon is a slack-moored wave energy converter of the overtopping type. It is by far the most powerful wave energy converter and at the same time one of the most energy efficient and economic devices under development today. Since March 2003 a 20kW scale 1:4.5 prototype of a 7MW Wave Dragon has been tested as the world's first floating grid connected wave energy converter. The project will develop the Wave Dragon technology further from the tested all steel-built 20kW prototype to a full size composite built 7MW unit and by testing validate the technical and economic feasibility. The RTD-part of the project will: - Develop Wave Dragon's energy absorbing structure, the low head turbine power take-off system and the control systems. An additional reservoir placed above the existing reservoir level will also be developed. The result of these changes to the overall design will be a significant increase in power production and a reduction in O&M cost. The development of the 7MW unit will be based on the knowledge base established through the tests with the 20kW prototype and the design process will comprise several innovative elements utilizing the O&M experience from the 20kW prototype tests. - Develop cost effective construction methods and establish the optimal combination of in situ cast concrete, post- stressed reinforcement and pre-stressed concrete elements - Develop new supplementary environmental friendly water hydraulic power take-off systems - Demonstrate reliable and cost effective installation procedures and O&M schemes - Establish the necessary basis for design codes and recommendations for floating multi MW wave energy converters. The test program will demonstrate the availability, power production predictability, power production capability and medium to long term electricity generation costs at 0.052EUR/kWh in a wave climate of 24kW/m, which could be found relatively close to the cost at the major part of the Atlantic coast.

Optimized Strategies for Risk Assessment of Chemicals based on Intelligent Testing (OSIRIS)

The proposed regulation concerning the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (REACH) requires demonstration of the safe manufacture of chemicals and their safe use throughout the supply chain. There is therefore a strong need to strengthen and advance human and environmental risk assessment knowledge and practices with regard to chemicals, in accord with the precautionary principle. The goal of the project OSIRIS is to develop integrated testing strategies (ITS) fit for REACH that enable to significantly increase the use of non-testing information for regulatory decision making, and thus minimise the need for animal testing. To this end, operational procedures will be developed, tested and disseminated that guide a transparent and scientifically sound evaluation of chemical substances in a risk-driven, context-specific and substance-tailored (RCS) manner. The envisaged decision theory framework includes alternative methods such as chemical and biological read-across, in vitro results, in vivo information on analogues, qualitative and quantitative structure-activity relationships, thresholds of toxicological concern and exposure-based waiving, and takes into account cost-benefit analyses as well as societal risk perception. It is based on the new REACH paradigm to move away from extensive standard testing to a more intelligent, substance-tailored approach. The work will be organised in five interlinked research pillars (chemical domain, biological domain, exposure, integration strategies and tools, case studies), with a particular focus on more complex, long-term and high-cost endpoints. Case studies will demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the new ITS methodologies, and provide guidance in concrete form. To ensure optimal uptake of the results obtained in this project, end-users in industry and regulatory authorities will be closely involved in monitoring and in providing specific technical contributions to this project.

sensOR - Bewertung der Auswirkungen auf Nachhaltigkeit: Instrumente für die Bewertung von Umwelt, sozialen und ökonomischen Effekten multifunktionaler Landnutzung in Europäischen Regionen

Entwicklung, Umsetzung und Evaluierung von Instrumenten für die Analyse von Landschaft und natürlicher Ressourcen im Kontext der Landnutzungspolitik.

Bringing Retrofit Innovation to Application in Public Buildings (BRITA IN PUBS)

Objective: The BRITA proposal on Eco-buildings aims to increase the market penetration of innovative and effective retrofit solutions to improve energy and implement renewables, with moderate additional costs. In the first place, this will be realised by the exemplary retrofit of 9 demonstration public buildings in the four participating European region (North, Central, South, East). By choosing public buildings of different types such as colleges, cultural centres, nursery homes, student houses, churches etc. for implementing the measures it will awareness and sensitise society on energy conservation. Secondly, the research work packages will include the socio-economic research such as the identification of real project-planning needs and financing strategies, the assessment of design guidelines, the development of an internet-based knowledge tool on retrofit measures and case studies and a quality control-tool box to secure a good long-term performance of the building and the systems.

Enhanced co-operation between EU member states and associated candidate states in maritime research on transport (ENCOMAR - TRANSPORT)

Objective: ENCOMAR-TRANSPORT aims to improve co-operation between the new member states, applicant countries as well as Russia, Ukraine and Turkey in the maritime fields. ENCOMAR-TRANSPORT has two general strategic objectives:- to support the integration of the new member states, applicant countries, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey into the European Maritime Research Area, thus supporting EU policies and the formation of ERA- to support the goals defined in the maritime part of the Sustainable Surface Priority of the 6 th Framework Programme. To support integration, ENCOMAR-TRANSPORT will help to jointly use R&D potentials and resources.ENCOMAR-TRANSPORT will promote a culture of innovation and fertilize participation of SMEs in European research. Technically, enhan ced exchange of information, technology transfer and research cooperation initiated by the project will help to meet demands of European transport policy and to the objectives of the sustainable surface transportpriority. Particular focus will be on:- S hipbuilding and -repair, including ship equipment manufacturers and maritime service providers,- Waterborne (long-haul, short sea and inland waters) transport in Europe.- Maritime Transport safety will especially focus on transport of dangerous goods to a void environmental- hazards in European waters, the Baltic and Mediterranean and Black Sea.- Efficient transport of marine natural resources is in the focus as well. The following activities will be undertaken:- Creation of a Network of Maritime R&D N ational Contact Points.- Inform about potentials and activities of European research in the new member states and neighbours of the EU by workshops in those countries. Inform research community and industry about the potential of countries not yet integra ted in European research.

Development of Best Practices and Identification of Breakthrough Technologies in Automotive Engineering Simulation (AUTOSIM)

Objective: Major organisations in the European automotive industry have seen substantial benefit from the integration of modelling and simulation into their design process. Today, there is a need for more widespread adoption of engineering simulation throughout the supply chain. At the same time, technology is being developed that offers the potential to reach a new generation of advanced applications.A number of key issues are currently holding these developments back, including: A lack of sufficiently skilled personnel and inefficiencies in their use. Smaller organisations not being ready or able to deploy the technology. Limits to the confidence placed on the reliability of analytical results. Suppliers using different procedures when supplying to different companies. Researchers needing a coordinated industrial view on priorities for the development of breakthrough technologies. AUTOSIM will establish an international team of leading experts representing much of the European automotive industry. They will develop a preliminary set of Best Practice Guidelines, standard analytical procedures and research strategies. They will then consult with the wider automotive industry to gain feedback on the preliminary documents and establish credibility of the final documents.Final authoritative versions of these Best Practice Guidelines, standard analytical procedures and research strategies will be delivered and widely disseminated. Their adoption throughout the industry will: Increase the efficiency and improve the quality of simulation. Increase the efficiency of the supply chain. Enable simulation to be practiced more effectively by a broad range of personnel. Coordinate ongoing research by providing a focused set of priorities. Assist industry to plan its future implementation strategy for simulation. With these actions, AUTOSIM will contribute substantially to advancing design techniques in the European automotive industry.

Ash and aerosol related problems in biomass combustion and co-firing (BIOASH)

The project focuses on R&D concerning ash related problems in biomass combustion and co-firing of biomass in coal fired plants. The main objectives of the project will be to investigate the release of ash forming compounds from biomass fuels in fixed-bed and pulverised fuel combustion systems, to determine presently not available thermodynamic data concerning the melting behaviour of Na, Zn and Pb-rich ashes, to further develop simulation tools for aerosol and deposit formation and to develop and test a new technology (an aerosol condenser) for efficient and cost effective aerosol precipitation in small-scale biomass combustion units. The project will also investigate the influence of particulate emissions from biomass combustion and co-firing plants on the regional air quality and parameters influencing health effects caused by these emissions. Comprehensive laboratory, pilot-scale and large-scale test runs at biomass combustion and co-firing plants as well as modelling of relevant mechanisms for aerosol and deposit formation will form the basis of the work performed and will complement each other. By reaching the aims of the project deposit formation in biomass combustion and co-combustion shall be significantly reduced by optimisation of furnace and boiler designs as well as control systems and by a better choice of fuel blends used. Concerning small-scale biomass combustion, aerosol emissions will significantly be reduced by the application of the new precipitation technology. New data concerning the influence of particulate emissions from biomass combustion and co-firing on health risks will be evaluated and form the basis for a recommendation of emission limits. The project results will contribute to a higher energy efficiency and availability of biomass combustion and co-firing plants and to a significant reduction of aerosol emissions from small-scale biomass combustion plants, promoting the increased use of biomass for energy production in Europe.

Ballastwasser Behandlung: Nachhaltige Ballastwasseraufbereitung (BAWAPLA)

Maritimer Transport ist von enormer Bedeutung für Europa und den Rest der Welt. Über 90% des Außenhandels der Europäischen Union wird per Seetransport abgewickelt. Mehr als eine Milliarde Tonnen an Fracht werden pro Jahr in den Häfen der Mitgliedstaaten auf- und abgeladen. Der Schiffstransport ist gemessen am Volumen die wichtigste Beförderungsart. Mit dem Seetransportgeschäft begann auch der Transport von Organismen im Ballastwasser von Schiffen. Der internationale Transport von drei bis zu zwölf Milliarden Tonnen Ballastwasser jährlich führt zur Ansammlung von ca. 100 Millionen Tonnen von Ablagerungen in den Schiffen. Die Beseitigung des entstandenen Schlamms verursacht enorme Kosten (ca. 30.000 € für ein kleines Frachtschiff). Neben den wirtschaftlichen Aspekten wird das Ballastwasser als hauptsächlicher Verursacher für die Umsiedlung von Aquaspezies über biologisch-geografische Grenzen hinaus verstanden. Schätzungsweise werden täglich 10.000 Pflanzen- sowie Tierarten per Schiff in die ganze Welt transportiert. Aufgrund des wachsenden Welthandels wächst auch die Bedrohung der Ökosysteme durch invasive Lebewesen. Die immer kürzeren Fahrtzeiten erhöhen die Überlebenswahrscheinlichkeit der Bioinvasoren. Die automatische und zuverlässige Reinigung des Ballastwassers im Tank mithilfe einer neuen Hybrid-Technologie (UV, Filter, Elektrolyse), die einen seewasserbetriebenen Generator nutzt, ist das gemeinsame Ziel der Projektpartner. Durch die Produktion von aktiven Substanzen mit der Elektrolyse aus dem Meerwasser wird vermieden, gefährliche und ätzende Chemikalien an Bord mitzuführen.

High volume manufacturing of photovoltaic products (HIGHSOL)

Objective: The project highSol aims at the transformation of innovative manufacturing concepts on a laboratory scale into the full industrial scale. The result will be the demonstration of technologies which will enable the mass manufacturing of Photovoltaic products with a serious reduction of manufacturing costs. The objectives are: - Demonstrating the automated manufacturing of Photovoltaic products based on thin wafers with a thickness of 150 micro m. - Increasing and maintaining the overall yield with the implementation of in-process quality control and feedback systems. - Demonstrating the manufacturing integration with the implementation of interfaces which will serve for future standards. The objectives will be reached by the following approach: Saving feedstock, by enabling manufacturing of 150Mikro m wafer with a wafer size of 210*210mm, will enable a direct cost reduction of 25%. As the envisaged cost reduction in Photovoltaic industry is 5% per year, this action alone will provide European Photovoltaic industry.

Twinning European and South Asian river basins to enhance capacity and implement adaptive integrated water ressources management approaches (BRAHMATWINN)

BRAHMATWINN will enhance capacity to carry out a harmonised integrated water resources management (IWRM) approach as addressed by the European Water Initiative (EWI) in headwater river systems of alpine mountain massifs already impacted from climate change, and to establish transfer of professional IWRM expertise, approaches and tools based on case studies carried out in twinning European and Asian river basins. With altogether eleven work packages (WP) the project addresses all important IWRM issues in a balanced way, including conflict resolution in the trans- boundary twinning Upper Danube River Basin (UDRB) and the Upper Brahmaputra River Basins (UBRB) in Europe and South Asia respectively. In altogether seventy work tasks of the jointly identified WP social and natural scientists in cooperation with water law experts and local stakeholders will realize the project outcomes: (i) an integrated holistic approach and assessment of the transboundary UDRB and UBRB for sustainable IWRM; (ii) integrated indicators to quantify the natural environment and human dimension, selected to assess IWRM vulnerabilities; (iii) an integrated water resources management system (IWRMS) comprising the DANUBIA hydrological model, the river basin information system (RBIS) and the network analysis, creative modelling decision support system NetSyMod; (iv) a set of what-if scenarios, evaluated using the DPSIR approach, and associated adaptive IWRM options tested by means of the IWRMS to mitigate impacts of likely climate change; and (v) IWRM action plans based on the stakeholder negotiation and the governance assessment. The project consortium of altogether fifteen partners from Europe (10 partner) and Asia (5 partner) shares the financial grant requested proportionally and will guarantee the generation of the necessary synergism required to represent the complex system component interaction and to carry out the required knowledge transfer between Europe and Asia.

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