The strategies that will shape the fate of our planet in the years to come will necessarily have to deal with the ever-increasing demands for energy. In view of the world\u2019s population growth prospects and related improved living conditions, the\u00a0best criteria<\/b>\u00a0for converting energy with maximum efficiency and minimum impact on the environment will have to be identified. Failing to do so would mean\u00a0jeopardising hoped-for economic development<\/b>\u00a0or, even worse, irreversibly affecting the natural balance<\/b>\u00a0of our planet.<\/p>\n
In 2009, John Beddington placed the \u201cperfect storm\u201d caused by food and water shortages and high energy costs at 2030. Beddington claims that \u201cUnless we manage to address this chain of causes, major destabilisations <\/b>are to be expected, with increased unrest and potentially significant waves of migration worldwide in an attempt to ward off food and water shortages.\u201d This scenario stems from the observation of food price increases due to\u00a0production not aligned with demand<\/b>, coupled with a general trend of declining food reserves and the prospect of extraordinary droughts or floods. \u201cFood and water, but also energy.\u00a0They are all closely connected<\/b>\u201d explains Beddington. \u201cYou can\u2019t think about dealing with one factor without considering the others.\u201d<\/p>\n
As things stand now, the average global temperature increase over the pre-industrial era is 1.2\u00b0C, while estimates point to an increase of 1.5\u00b0 by 2030, which could rise to 4-5\u00b0 by the end of the century if we do not take urgent action. Unfortunately, since our region<\/b> lies between two \u201chot spots\u201d \u2013 the Alps and the Mediterranean \u2013 it will experience an even greater temperature increase than the global average,\u00a0with an estimated 50% increase.<\/b> Science warns that this temperature rise is not sustainable and can lead to\u00a0social upheaval<\/b>\u00a0of great intensity. The uninformed claim that it will be the end of the planet, but it will not: the planet will adjust, as it has always done over millions of years. It will be humankind that will have to succumb, and this is \u201can inconvenient truth\u201d indeed!<\/p>\n
What to do then? Given the link between today\u2019s recession and the \u201cperfect storm\u201d that looms ahead in 2030, there is an urgent need\u00a0to invest today in infrastructure and technology that will help prevent incalculable damage tomorrow.<\/b> In other words, a major focus on energy production and consumption by investing in sustainable technologies and conduct, with major emp emphasis having to be placed on energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, smart energy grids, new sustainable mobility solutions, non-polluting <\/b>energy carriers.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0industrial system of our region<\/b>\u00a0is aware of this issue, and there are several positive signs of an awareness that, fortunately, extends beyond simple and necessary economic considerations. The system is shifting towards\u00a0\u201csustainable\u201d management<\/b>\u00a0of the regional industrial sectors, focusing on a sustainability that strikes a balance between economic, social and environmental aspects, as already envisaged in the 1987 Brundtland Report.<\/p>\n
In our region, there is a strong focus on identifying major sources of CO<\/b>2<\/sub><\/b><\/span>\u00a0in order to act with methods of capturing and utilising CO2<\/sub><\/span>\u00a0for its reuse, an interest in using hydrogen<\/b>\u00a0as a\u00a0reducing agent<\/b>\u00a0in the \u201chard to abate\u201d sectors of secondary steel, glass, cement, and ceramics, in the use of hydrogen as an\u00a0energy carrier for heavy-duty logistics<\/b>\u00a0(trains, tugs, lorries, buses), and in testing the feasibility of\u00a0green ammonia production<\/b>\u00a0as an energy carrier for ships. \u00a0Positive signs also emerge with respect to businesses\u2019 interest in participating in\u00a0renewable energy communities<\/b>\u00a0(RECs) both as producers and consumers of energy. Several regional entities are installing photovoltaic systems and are beginning to adjust, where possible, power absorption<\/b>\u00a0based on the availability of power from photovoltaic modules, thereby maximising\u00a0self-consumption<\/b>.<\/p>\n The\u00a0regional research system<\/b>\u00a0has a strong focus on this change in mindset, and closely supports industry by providing\u00a0data, indicators, simulations and modelling<\/b>\u00a0that help make decisions in a short time. In the energy field for example, several studies have been presented on the topic of\u00a0return on energy investment<\/b>, which manages to determine the energy benefit of a given process by evaluating the ratio of the energy delivered by the process to the energy used to deliver it over its entire life cycle. Another significant indicator in the energy field is the\u00a0levelised cost of energy<\/b>, which can be used to gain insights \u2013 based on CAPEX and OPEX data \u2013 into the possible cost of a given energy system. However, the most important indicator in respect of which companies large and small companies are showing growing interest is the\u00a0Life Cycle Assessment<\/b>\u00a0(LCA) and criteria and standards for environmental certification of processes and products. A powerful tool that not only directly assesses a global warming indicator, but also takes into account all environmental indicators, basing calculations on ISO 14040 standards.<\/p>\n All of this can lead to economic, social and environmental benefit soon, hopefully even before 2030.<\/p>\n There is much more to be done to avoid the perfect storm in 2030, but fortunately technologies are available<\/b>\u00a0and the regional industrial system also seems to have grown aware of these issues. Time is not on our side though, urging us to\u00a0 <\/span>keep a sharp focus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Maurizio Fermeglia, Professor of chemical engineering, University of Trieste The strategies that will shape the fate of our planet in the years to come will necessarily have to deal with the ever-increasing demands for energy. In view of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[307],"tags":[373,374,375],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ip4fvg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5048"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ip4fvg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ip4fvg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ip4fvg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ip4fvg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ip4fvg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5051,"href":"https:\/\/www.ip4fvg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5048\/revisions\/5051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ip4fvg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ip4fvg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ip4fvg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ip4fvg.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}