Overview
In order to promote and implement a prototype of a 'sustainable' settling development, research needed to identify methodologies and technologies which can be integrated into a definition of innovative design criteria for a 'sustainable' development. This implied revising, in a critical and innovative way, thematises such as: sustainable development and energy policy; territorial urban development; territorial energy policy (generation, distribution, utilisation); territorial telecommunication policy; road and railways transport for sustainable development; indicators for describing relationships between energy, transport and land use; innovative technologies for electric energy and transport; methodologies for programming energy and transport.
The objective of the project was to identify innovative methodologies and technologies for electrification and transport systems and integrate them into methodological tools for monitoring and assessing parameters of sustainability.
The project aimed at creating a direct operational link between different scientific areas: generation and distribution of electric energy; transport systems; land use planning; social economy.
In order to pursue the objectives, the project carried out a number of activities to:
- study models of electric systems for energy and transport in relation to their problems concerning environmental impacts;
- select indicators for assessing environmental impacts of electric systems for energy and transport in order to define a comprehensive model of sustainability;
- identify methods for measuring and diagnosing impacts of electric system for energy and transport;
- study electric infrastructure for electric driven urban transport systems in order to assess human exposure to electromagnetic fields in relation to electric power needs, electricity distribution lines and converting equipment ubication, and exposure thresholds suggested or imposed by law;
- develop a diagnostic control in order to monitor in real time the conditions of the system and identify possible corrective actions;
- analyse interaction between systems and energetic services in relation to electric safety and electromagnetic compatibility;
- develop and validate microscopic simulation techniques for modelling real speed and acceleration in order to calculate values of polluting emissions;
- analyse and compare experienced 'NIMBY' (Not In My Back-Yard) effects for ubicating plants and technological layouts for reducing environmental impacts;
- develop a measuring station for the simultaneous measurements of different energy control indexes in different nodes of a power network in order to support the diagnostic analyses of polluting indexes of electric systems;
- identify the institutional frameworks and decision mechanisms on the basis of which territorial urbanistic policies are developed.
Funding
Results
The project carried out a number of studies in the areas of environmental impacts and developed methodologies for assessing social benefits in the short and long-term.
The project also identified methods and techniques for defining city planning, which included homogeneous areas for generating energy and signals as well as corridors for transporting energy and signals.