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Objective: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) sponsored the Global Framework on Climate Services (GFCS) where the need for actionable climate information for periods from several months up to several years for economic, industrial and political planning has been expressed. However, progress in seasonal forecasting has been slow and decadal forecasting is still incipient. At the same time, new model components to address the role of sea ice, land surface, stratosphere, ocean and their resolution in global models are now available from the climate change and weather forecasting communities. Methods for sophisticated downscaling and calibration for local, reliable climate predictions are scarce in Europe. In this context, SPECS aims to identify the main problems in climate prediction and investigate a battery of solutions from a seamless perspective. SPECS will undertake research and dissemination activities to deliver a new generation of European climate forecast systems, with improved forecast quality and efficient regionalisation tools to produce reliable, local climate information over land at seasonal-to-decadal time scales, and provide an enhanced communication protocol and services to satisfy the climate information needs of a wide range of public and private stakeholders.
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.
Ohne einen kurzfristigen erheblichen Fortschritt wird die Welt das Hygieneziel der Jahrtausendentwicklungsziele (MDG) um eine halbe Milliarde Menschen verfehlen. Betrachtet man etwa die subsaharischen Länder Afrikas, dann hat fast zweidrittel der Bevölkerung (64 Prozent) keine ausreichende Versorgung mit Sanitärenanlagen. In den afrikanischen Ländern schwankt die Menge der Wohnungen und Häuser mit Sanitäreinrichtungen zwischen 84 Prozent in den städtischen Gebieten und 45 Prozent in den ländlichen Gebieten. Um bis 2015 das Ziel einer flächendeckenden Wasserversorgung zu gewährleisten, müssen in den nächsten 15 Jahren für 210 Millionen (194 in den ländlichen Gebieten) Menschen zusätzliche sanitäre Einrichtungen gebaut werden. Das Ziel dieser Koordinierungsmaßnahme ist der Aufbau einer multilateralen, interdisziplinären Interessengruppe von subsaharischen und europäischen Fachleuten für die nachhaltige Entwicklung von Sanitäranlagen. NETSSAF fördert internationale Zusammenarbeit zwischen Forschungsinstitutionen, Verbänden, Universitäten sowie Gesellschafts- und Regierungsinteressengruppe in einem europäischen und subsaharischen Zusammenhang mit einer speziellen Ausrichtung auf die Westafrikanischen Länder. Eine beständige Plattform für Experten und Forschung im Sanitärsektor und ein Sachverständigennetzwerk werden eingerichtet, um nutzbringende Forschung und strategische Aktivitäten zu koordinieren, zu bestimmen und zu leiten, mit dem Ziel einerseits ein optimales Verfahren, Wissenslücken und Grenzen für das weitere Vorgehen zu bestimmen und andererseits Vorschläge für die Richtung zukünftiger Forschungen zu unterbreiten. Das Ziel des vorgeschlagenen Netzwerkes ist es ein Vielfalt an innovativen, anwendbaren und wiederholbaren Ansätzen für eine nachhaltige Sanitärentwicklung zu liefern, welche preiswerten Technologien mit einem auf der Kommune basierendem Management und den unterschiedlichen in den Regionen Afrikas vorherrschenden Bedingungen verbindet. Das Hauptergebnis wird die Entwicklung eines partizipativen Hygiene-Management-Unterstützungsinstruments für mehrere Benutzer sein, das für die Endbenutzer darauf abgezielt, sie in die Lage zu versetzen groß angelegte Hygienekonzepte und Technologien anzuwenden und sie den unterschiedlichen Bedingungen, die in Afrika vorherrschen, anzupassen.
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.
Under the 2003 EU Greek presidency, cooperation with Balkan countries on environmental issues was identified as a priority of the EU/Balkan Action Plan. Large-scale co-operation is essential for effective action in the vulnerable Mediterranean and Black Sea coastal zones. During the last 50 years both areas suffered major changes; as semi-enclosed basins, both Seas are ultra-sensitive to anthropogenic stress and to climate change. An EU Presidency Conference on Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean/Black Sea (May 2003), revealed major gaps in management structures, scientific strategies and identified a diversity of environmental issues to be resolved through priority-focused RTD cooperation. Yet, while pressure on the resources of the two seas increases and the potential impact of climate change on coastal and deep-sea resources remains unknown, the two seas have never been jointly studied as systems of interacting basins and ecosystems. The proposal outlines collaboration and clustering schemes involving environmental, economic and scientific organisations in Mediterranean, Black Sea and other EU nations, in order to create synergies in networking and exchanges at several levels, addressing for the first time the system of interconnected basins as one, based on the integration of, both horizontally and vertically, natural scientists and economists. These will: 1) Create an international, interdisciplinary platform coordinating the region's scientific potential in order to prepare RTD projects, based on a Science Plan for the region, securing sustainable development; 2) Focus on natural and anthropogenic pressures exerted upon the functioning of the ecosystem; 3) Reinforce RTD capacity by setting up an environment/resource monitoring network in the light of existing observation networks of different scopes. Prime Contractor: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography, Anavyssos, GR.
Objective: The ARCH research project Architecture and roadmap to manage multiple pressures on lagoons aims to develop participative methodologies in collaboration with policy makers, local authorities and stakeholders to manage the multiple problems affecting lagoons (estuarine coastal areas). These areas represent ecosystems that are very vulnerable for climate change, increasing urbanisation and industrialisation. A central feature of ARCH is to provide realistic solutions to manage these pressures and establish a better connection (the arch) between science and policy. This is accomplished by facilitating the transition (i) from segregated disciplinary scientific results to well integrated and usable scientific knowledge, (ii) from government and sectoral policies towards governance and sustainable management; and (iii) from an unaware and uninformed lagoon community towards an involved and well-informed community. ARCH will work with 10 case study lagoons and estuaries having a geographical distribution covering all major seas surrounding Europe. A participatory workshop methodology will be used at the lagoon sites to develop a decision framework to choose strategies, interventions and measures to manage the existing and future problems in the lagoon. This is accomplished using an integrated planning approach, considering ecosystem services to assess the social, economic and ecological state of the lagoon and linking this to spatial planning methodology. The final products of ARCH are roadmaps for implementation of realistic solutions at the lagoon scale, a management guide for coastal managers and policy makers in Europe and the European Lagoon Management Handbook. The project will actively disseminate products and experiences via newsletters, multiplier seminars, a website and specific web-tool for discussion, and a final conference. The legacy beyond the lifetime of the project is ensured by the connection to international networks, like the UNESCO HELP-program.
Objective: Air quality in Europe is still facing a continued wide-spread of exceedances, particularly regarding PM, NOx and O3. The 2008 Air Quality Directive requests Member States (MS) to design local and regional plans and assess their impacts on air quality and human health. MS have therefore developed and applied a wide range of modelling methods to cope with these obligations. Today, with the revision of the EU air quality policy pending, there is the need to consolidate and assess the research results in the field and to make them accessible to policy makers. This is the main aim of APPRAISAL project, split in the following objectives: -Undertake on overall review of the methodologies used in different countries, from the simple (scenario analysis) to the more comprehensive (cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness analysis). This would include evaluating top-down and bottom-up approaches to systematically analyse their strengths and weaknesses and to identify key areas to be addressed by further research. The result would be captured in a readily updatable, user friendly relational data base. -Design an integrated assessment (IA) modelling framework where existing components are efficiently inter-connected, produce guidelines describing the key components of best practices. A number of test cases will be explored to confirm the robustness of the guidelines in practice. -Communicate with key stake-holders and in particular to policy-makers the state-of-the-art scientific knowledge on emission abatement assessment. APPRAISAL includes 15 highly experienced groups working on both air quality and health impacts assessment. Partners come from all over Europe to guarantee the review process representativeness. A group of stakeholders will closely be connected to the Consortium to ensure a direct line of communication with key policy makers. APPRAISAL will contribute to improved knowledge on regional and local IA methodologies and will support the revision of EU air quality policies.
MODELKEY comprises a mulitdisciplinary approach aiming at developing interlinked and verified predictive modelling tools as well as state-of-the-art effect-assessment and analytical methods generally applicable to European freshwater and marine ecosystems: 1) to assess, forecast, and mitigate the risks of traditional and recently evolving pollutants on fresh water and marine ecosystems and their biodiversity at a river basin and adjacent marine environment scale, 2) to provide early warning strategies on the basis of sub-lethal effects in vitro and in vivo, 3) to provide a better understanding of cause-effect-relationships between changes in biodiversity and the ecological status, as addressed by the Water Framework Directive, and the impact of environmental pollution as causative factor, 4) to provide methods for state-of-the-art risk assessment and decision support systems for the selection of the most efficient management options to prevent effects on biodiversity and to prioritise contamination sources and contaminated sites, 5) to strengthen the scientific knowledge on an European level in the field of impact assessment of environmental pollution on aquatic eco-systems and their biodiversity by extensive training activities and knowledge dissemination to stakeholders and the scientific community. This goal shall be achieved by combining innovative predictive tools for modelling exposure on a river basin scale including the estuary and the coastal zone, for modelling effects on higher levels of biological organisation with powerful assessment tools for the identification of key modes of action, key toxicants and key parameters determining exposure. The developed tools will be verified in case studies representing European key areas including Mediterranean, Western and Central European river basins. An end-user-directed decision support system will be provided for cost-effective tool selection and appropriate risk and site prioritisation.
Objective: This project aims to develop, assess and train on various production chains for motor vehicle fuels ligno-cellulosic biomass sources will be used as feedstock to produce synthesis gas from which various vehicle fuels can be derived: CH4, methanol/DME, ethanol (thermo-chemical and enzymatic pathway) and a novel biomass-to-liquid (BTL) fuel. The project will develop and evaluate the respective processing technologies with a view to producing cost effective premium fuels for current and future combustion engines from a wide bandwidth of feedstock. Within 4 vertical subprojects, alternative thermo-chemical gasification, enzymatic fuel production and fuel synthesis processes will be considered, while 2 horizontal subprojects are directed towards technology assessment and training. Two pilot-produced fuels (DME and BTL) will be submitted to extensive motor-tests by 4 leading European car manufacturers within this project. Other fuels will be made available for tests in various other European R&D projects. It is envisaged that this project will lead to the introduction of favourably priced biomass-derived fuels for motor vehicles, from 2010 onwards. Apart from achieving scientific and technological results, RENEW has the vision to develop commonly agreed strategic recommendations, based on an understanding among relevant players in industry, agriculture and research concerning the technological and market potential of different bio-fuels and their production technologies. RENEW is novel and hugely important to Europe. It offers major Kyoto Protocol benefits, enhances the sustainability and security of vehicle fuel supply, and has positive Regional socio-economic impacts. RENEW involves 31 partners, including 7 SME, from 9 EU MS and AS countries. The consortium has the necessary 'critical mass' to achieve its goals and develop the technology to commercial stage beyond the end of the project.
Objective: The strategic objectives of the European Rail Research Network of Excellence (EUR2EX) are: 1.To integrate the fragmented European Rail Research landscape by networking together the critical mass of resources and expertise to provide European leadership and be a world class player, 2.To promote the railway contribution to sustainable transport policy, 3.To improve the competitiveness and economic stability of the railway sector and industry by:creating a durable integrated network of excellence in rail resea rch, technology innovation and knowledge management from the research capacities of universities and institutions, implementing knowledge from rail operators, rail industry incl. SME, with priority given to engineering interfaces and methods for product qu alification in line with ERRAC's SRRA.EUR2EX will have as its foundation six regional/supra regional networks with 67 members and some 670 researchers. Each region has nominated a representative who will be a formal participant for the purpose of the EC co ntract and lean management structure. EUR2EX will encourage new networks to be formed where justified incl. a CEEC network.The members of the regional networks will provide the researchers and research projects that will be integrated and form the research base for new joint projects. UIC, UNIFE and UITP will be EUR2EX participants. They will not provide researchers for integration but their involvement and support are crucial to the success of EUR2EX.EUR2EX will have close links with selected companies tha t have specific knowledge but who may not be able to commit themselves to formal integration. These companies have been identified as associate members.The process of integration of excellence takes place on the basis of a JPA with integrating activities, jointly executed research while sharing research platforms, facilities and activities for spreading excellence to be transferred into a durable integration based on a profound business case.'
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