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Operationalisation of Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services: From Concepts to Real-World Applications (OPENNESS)

Objective: Despite improved understanding of the links between ecosystem health, provision of ecosystem services and human well-being, further conceptual and empirical work is needed to make the ideas of ecosystem services (ESS) and natural capital (NC) operational. OpenNESS will therefore develop innovative and practical ways of applying them in land, water and urban management: it will identify how, where and when the concepts can most effectively be applied to solve problems. To do this, it will work with public and private decision makers and stakeholders to better understand the range of policy and management problems faced in different case study contexts (ranging across locales, sectors, scales and time). OpenNESS will consolidate, refine and develop a range of spatially-explicit methods to identify, quantify and value ecosystem services, and will develop hybrid assessment methods. It will also explore the effectiveness of financial and governance mechanisms, such as payments for ecosystem services, habitat banking, biodiversity offsetting and land and ecosystem accounting. These types of interventions have potential for sustaining ESS and NC, and for the design of new economic and social investment opportunities. Finally, OpenNESS will assess how current regulatory frameworks and other institutional factors at EU and national levels enable or constrain consideration of ESS and NC, and identify the implications for issues related to well-being, governance and competitiveness. OpenNESS will analyse the knowledge that is needed to define ESS and NC in the legal, administrative and political contexts that are relevant to the EU. The work will deliver a menu of multi-scale solutions to be used in real life situations by stakeholders, practitioners, and decision makers in public and business organizations, by providing new frameworks, data-sets, methods and tools that are fit-for-purpose and sensitive to the plurality of decision-making contexts.

An innovative bio-economy solution to valorise livestock manure into a range of stabilised soil improving materials for environmental sustainability and economic benefit for European agriculture (BIOECOSIM)

Objective: BioEcoSIM comprises R&D and demonstration of an integrated approach and business model that has wide EU27 applicability in the agriculture sector. The new European Bio-economy Strategy aims to increase the use of bio-based raw materials. Thus, large quantities of fertilisers will be required. Therefore, this project targets to produce sustainable soil improving products that can be easily handled, transported, and applied. BioEcoSIM will valorise livestock manure as an important example of valuable bio-waste into 1) pathogen-free, P-rich organic soil amendment (P-rich biochar), 2) slow releasing mineral fertilisers and 3) reclaimed water. By doing this, we will i) reduce negative environmental impacts (eutrophication of water bodies, and NH3 and N2O emissions) in intensive livestock regions, ii) help to decrease NH3 produced by the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process, (iii) mitigate EUs dependency on the depleting mineral sources for P-fertilisers, (iv) increase water efficiency use in agriculture and (v) support European Strategies and Directives, while generating economic benefits in the agriculture and bio-economy sector. The project will combine three innovative technologies 1) superheated steam drying and non-catalytic pyrolysis to convert carbon in manure into P-rich biochar and syngas, 2) electrolytic precipitation of struvite and calcium phosphate and 3) selective separation and recovery of NH3 by gas-permeable membrane. Energy required in-process will be generated through combustion of syngas, thus reducing the pressure on finite fossil fuel. Water reclaimed from manure will be utilised for livestock production and/or irrigation. The sustainability of this approach will be validated against standards ISO14040 and ISO14044. Implementation of the R&D results will help fulfil the need for economically viable and environmentally benign practices in European agriculture to move towards a more resource-efficient and circular economy.

Nanotechnological Application in WAter DESalination (NAWADES)

Objective: The main objective of the NAWADES project is to study, design, produce, and test new water desalination filter technology from four points of view: 1. the structure of multi-layer membrane filter, including UV light distributed by glass fibres inside the membrane stack; 2. the materials used to build the filter, including fouling and scaling monitoring; 3. the coating treatments applied to the surface of the filter using plasma and nano-TiO2 fibres; 4. the filtration process with integrated removal of bio-fouling. The new filter technology shall provide long-life and antifouling filters to be used in Reverse Osmosis (RO) water desalinisation processes with a higher efficiency and life-time, less energy consumption (lower pressure), and less maintenance (lower cost).

Future INternet for Smart ENergY (FINSENY)

The energy sector has entered a period of major change which will continue for many years to come. The increasing proportion of electricity from renewable sources means that the architecture of the energy grid will have to support the distributed, in addition to the centralised, generation of energy and to adapt to a highly volatile supply e.g. from wind and solar generators. From the consumption perspective, electric vehicles will demand new load management patterns in the grids. At the same time, private and commercial consumers are being encouraged to reduce their energy use and electronics manufacturers are striving to reduce the energy use of their products. The energy supply will need to evolve into a dynamic system to provide the smart energy infrastructure needed to support society in 2020 and beyond. Future Internet technologies will play a critical role in the development of Smart Energy infrastructures, enabling new functionality while reducing costs. In the FINSENY project, key actors from the ICT and energy sectors will team-up to identify the ICT requirements of Smart Energy Systems. This will lead to the definition of new solutions and standards, verified in a large scale pan-European Smart Energy trial. Project results will contribute to the emergence of a sustainable Smart Energy infrastructure, based on new products and services, to the benefit of all European citizens and the environment. As part of the FI-PPP programme, FINSENY will intensively analyse energy-specific requirements together with the other FI-PPP projects, develop solutions to address these requirements, and prepare for a Smart Energy trial in phase two of the programme. The growing FINSENY Smart Grid Stakeholder Group will provide broad visibility of the on-going project work in the energy community, enhancing the acceptability of the project results and facilitating the development of the smart energy market.

Numerical Simulation Tools for Protection of Coasts against Flooding and Erosion (SIM.COAST)

This project aims to provide improved process understanding, new knowledge, methods, new and improved numerical tools, resulting in decision support systems serving decision-making at protection of coasts against flooding and erosion. Project resultys will contribute to improve reliability of coastal protection structures, and introduce an environmentally friendly approach in coastal protection. The activities will focus on work-out/improve/coordinate numerical model tools that are able to manage interactive data and forecast (by numerical simulations) short term (storm surge, tsunami) and long term (erosion, water level change) phenomena with respect to coastal protection. Project objectives will be pursued by exploring the available experience of the partners, creating complementarities /synergies between them, and using basic preconditions, as follows: - Scientific potential of all partners, the available theoretical knowledge, and expected new findings in the field of coastal hydrodynamics and flooding and - Long-term research cooperation with Chinese partners (dated from 1989) in the field of coastal protection (including some joint model developments, and published papers) - Experience in use of advanced numerical models (MIKE FLOOD, MIKE 21HD/CAMS, SWAN, VOF), as well as GIS data handling abilities, providing links to field observations and related monitoring programs - Well proven expertise in the field of coastal protection & risk management (via EU Coastal protection Projects: EU-FLOWS/FLOODsite/DELOS/CLAS and other - Experience in Environmentally Friendly Coastal Protection, advanced & innovative coastal technologies. Project output should finally help decision makers in: - improving co-ordination of coastal erosion and surface water flood risk - strengthening emergency planning arrangements - managing the investment of significant levels of public funding - helping communities adapt to climate change.

Network of DER laboratories and pre-standardisation (DER-LAB)

Objective: The main objective of the proposed Network of Excellence (NoE) DER-Lab is to support the sustainable integration of renewable energy sources (RES) and distributed energy resources (DER) in the electricity supply by developing common requirements, quality criteria, as well as proposing test and certification procedures concerning connection, safety, operation and communication of DER-components and systems. DER-Lab intends to strengthen the EC domestic market and to protect European interests on the international standardisation level. A major objective is to establish a durable European DER-Lab Network that will be a world player in this field. The NoE will bring together a group of organisations for the development of certification procedures for DER- components for electricity grids. The NoE will act as a platform to exchange the current state of knowledge between the different European institutes and other groups. The scattered, but high quality research and test facilities will be combined with great benefit for the European research infrastructure DER-Lab will contribute by developing new concepts for control and supervision of electricity supply and distribution and will bundle at European level specific aspects concerning the integration of RES technologies. The absence of European and international standards for the quality and certification of components and systems for DER is a hindrance to the growth of the European market and for European penetration of the world market. It is within the aims of the proposed NoE to reduce these barriers and to work towards common certification procedures for DER components that will be accepted throughout Europe and the world. Obviously this work cannot be done on a national basis. The results of the project and afterwards the output of the network will be a significant contribution to the European standardisation activities and will contribute to the harmonisation of the different national standards.

COSY (EU-RTN): Complex Solid State Reactions for Energy Efficient Hydrogen Storage

Reactive Hydride Composites reveal great potential as hydrogen storage materials as they overcome the thermodynamic limitations hindering the use of light-weight complex hydrides. However, their sorption kinetics is still slow due to the fact that the hydrogen sorption process takes place within complex solid state reactions. It is aim of this project to explore the fundamental mechanisms involved in these reactions. For this, experimental studies on sorption kinetics, thermodynamics, crystal structure and electronic properties of the nano-structured materials are cross-linked to ab-initio calculations and theoretical modelling. The results will provide a basis to improve material properties and to develop new catalysts for hydrogen sorption. Finally, the optimization of synthesis methods and in particular the up-scaling of hydrogen storage materials preparation will be explored in collaboration with manufacturers.

Fuel Flexible, Air-regulated, Modular, Electrically Integrated SOFC System (FLAME-SOFC)

Objective: The overall objective of the FlameSOFC project is the development of an innovative SOFC-based micro-CHP system capable to operate with different fuels and fulfilling all technological and market requirements at a European level. The main focus concerning t he multi-fuel flexibility lies on different natural gas qualities and LPG, but also on liquid fuels (diesel like heating oil, industrial gas oil IGO and renewables like FAME). The target nominal net electrical output is 2 kWel (stack electrical output ca. 2,5 kW), which is expected to represent the future mainstream high volume mass market for micro-CHPs. An advanced planar, compact SOFC-stack will be developed and combined with an innovative, compact and robust fuel processor, which will be able to process many different fuels without catalytic components, thus enabling the potential for a long lifetime of greater than 30.000 h. A simple, highly integrated and reliable system design will result via the integration of advanced peripheral components like the advanced T hermal Partial Oxidation reformer (T-POX), the multi-purpose off-gas burner, the compact heat exchangers, the cool flame vaporizer and the soot trap. Advanced control strategies will assure an optimal integration in an electrical network environment. The o verall efficiency targets are greater than 35 percent net electrical efficiency and greater than 90 percent total CHP efficiency, which will result in 2 tons of annual CO2 reduction per unit (compared to the combination of a condensing boiler and European electricity mix). The SOFC fuel cell technology will be applied because it is less sensitive to impurities and variations in the fuel composition than other fuel cell systems and has a better cost reduction potential than other fuel cell types. The high temperature level of the SOFC tec hnology gives also a better integration potential in co- or tri-generation applications. The main target application is a micro CHP system for single or two-family residential homes with electrical grid connection.

Integration of Renewable Energy Sources and Distributed Generation into the European Electricity Grid (IRED)

Objective: Background: There are seven projects running which are supported by the European Commission under FP5 dealing with the integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and Distributed Generation (DG). This cluster represents a total budget of about 35 million? More than 100 participating institutions from research, industry and the utility sector are contributing. Proposed Actions: The subject of the proposed CA is to extend the existing cluster activities in such a way that a real European added value by mobilising research will be obtained as a major contribution to the ERA. This extension will be realized by the inclusion of forthcoming projects supported by FP6 by national and regional activities. 1. A systematic exchange of information by improving links to relevant research, to regulatory bodies and to policies and schemes on the European, the national, the regional and the international level. 2. Set-up of strategic actions such as trans-national co-operation, the organization and a co-ordination of common initiatives on standards, testing procedures and the establishment of common education. 3. Identification of the highest priority research topics in the field of integration and formation of appropriate realization schemes. a) The establishment of an expert-group covering important cross-cutting areas such as power-quality, ICT/IST, laboratory experiments est.) The formation of a group of contact persons to national, regional and international policy). Set-up of a full data- and information-exchange system with links to national, regional and international information systems).

FP6-POLICIES, Innovative ländliche Entwicklung (RAPIDO)

Innovation ist gemäß der Lissabon Strategie der EU einer der wichtigsten Schlüssel für die Nachhaltige Entwicklung in Europa und insbesondere in ländlichen Räumen. Doch wie entsteht Innovation? Welche Wirtschaftsbereiche in ländlichen Räumen bieten sich für technologische und gleichzeitig umwelt- und sozialfreundliche Innovationen an? Wie verbreiten sich Informationen über Innovationen? RAPIDO analysiert best-practice-Methoden der innovativen Entwicklung in Land- und Forstwirtschaft und im Dienstleistungssektor in verschiedenen ländlichen Gebieten Europas.

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