Testing a GIS-based methodology for optimal location of Pumped Storage power plants in Norway

Europe needs to restructure its energy system. The aim to decrease the reliance on fossil fuels to a higher dependence on renewable energy has now been imposed by The European Commission. In order to achieve this goal there is a great interest in Norway to become "The Green Battery of Europe". In the pursuit of this goal a GIS-tool was created to investigate the pump storage potential in Norway. The tool searches for possible connections between existing reservoirs and dams with the criteria selected by the user. The aim of this thesis was to test the tool and see if the results suggested were plausible, develop a cost calculation method for the PSH lines, and make suggestions for further development of the tool. During the process the tool presented many non-feasible pumped storage hydropower (PSH) connections. The area of Telemark was chosen for the more detailed study. The results were discussed and some improvements were suggested for further development of the tool. Also a sensitivity test was done to see which of the parameters set by the user are the most relevant for the PSH connection suggestion. From a range of the most promising PSH plants suggested by the tool, the one between Songavatn and Totak was chosen for a case study, where there already exists a power plant between both reservoirs. A new Pumped Storage Plant was designed with a power production of 1200 MW. There are still many topics open to discussion, such as how to deal with environmental restrictions, or how to deal with inflows and outflows of the reservoirs from the existing power plants. Consequently the GIS-tool can be a very useful tool to establish the best possible connections between existing reservoirs and dams, but it still needs a deep study and the creation of new parameters for the user.

Modelos predictivos y preventivos para una Administración Pública sostenible

Con la finalidad de ayudar a la creación y desarrollo de modelos de predicción y simulación que permitan al ciudadano/administraciones publicas gestionar el consumo energético de forma más eficiente y respetuosa con el medio ambiente, se ha implementado un sistema de gestión de datos de indicadores energéticos. En 2007 la UE creó una directiva conocida como "20/20/20" en la que la Unión Europea se compromete a ahorrar un 20% del consumo anual de energía primaria desde esa fecha a 2020. En 2009 la Comisión Europea ha llegado a la conclusión de que con las medidas propuestas en dicha directiva no se podría alcanzar el objetivo de reducción del 20% del consumo energético previsto para el 2020, quedándose en menos de la mitad. Para dar un nuevo impulso a la eficiencia energética se redacta una propuesta de directiva: 2011/0172(COD). En esta directiva se obliga a los estados miembros a potenciar y ampliar la información estadística agregada sobre sus clientes finales (los perfiles de carga, la segmentación de los clientes, su ubicación geográfica, etc ). La Unión Europea plantea que incrementar el volumen y la accesibilidad de los datos de consumo energético, ayudará de forma significativa a alcanzar los objetivos. En este marco, parece lógico afirmar que un banco de datos de indicadores energéticos universalmente accesible puede contribuir de un modo efectivo al aumento de la eficiencia energética. Como aplicativo de este PFC se ha desarrollado una aplicación que permite la definición y almacenamiento de indicadores energéticos, en la que los diferentes sistemas, propietarios o abiertos, pueden volcar y extraer datos de una forma poco costosa. Se ha pretendido realizar una aplicación lo más abierta posible, tanto desde el punto de vista de la funcionalidad, permitiendo la definición del propio indicador a través del sistema, como desde el punto de vista de la implementación, usando únicamente código abierto para el desarrollo de la misma. ABSTRACT. In order to assist in the creation and development of forecasting and simulation models that enable citizens / public authorities manage energy consumption more efficient and environmentally friendly, we have implemented a data management system of energy indicators. In 2007 the EU created a policy known as " 20/20/20 " in which the European Union is committed to saving 20 % of the annual primary energy consumption from that date to 2020 . In 2009 the European Commission has concluded that the measures proposed in the directive could not achieve the goal of 20% reduction in energy consumption expected for 2020 , staying in less than half. To give new impetus to energy efficiency is drawn up a draft directive : 2011/0172 ( COD ) . This directive obliges member states to strengthen and expand aggregate statistical information on their final customers ( load profiles , customer segmentation , geographic location, etc. ) . The European Union argues that increasing the volume and accessibility ofenergy data , will significantly help to achieve the objectives . In this context , it seems logical to say that a database of universally accessible energy indicators can contribute in an effective way to increase energy efficiency. As of this PFC application has developed an application that allows the definition and storage of energy indicators , in which different systems, proprietary or open, can tip and extract data from an inexpensive way. We have tried to make an application as open as possible , both from the point of view of functionality , allowing the definition of the indicator itself through the system , and from the point of view of implementation, using only open source development thereof.

BETs: Propellant less de orbiting of space debris by bare electrodynamic tethers

As a fundamental contribution to limiting the increase of debris in the Space environment, a three-year project started on 1 November 2010 financed by the European Commission under the FP-7 Space Programme. It aims at developing a universal system to be carried on board future satellites launched into low Earth orbit (LEO), to allow de-orbiting at end of life. The operational system involves a conductive tape-tether left bare of insulation to establish anodic contact with the ambient plasma as a giant Langmuir probe. The project will size the three disparate dimensions of a tape for a selected de-orbit mission and determine scaling laws to allow system design for a general mission. It will implement control laws to restrain tether dynamics in/off the orbital plane; and will carry out plasma chamber measurements and numerical simulations of tether-plasma interaction. The project also involves the design and manufacturing of subsystems: electron-ejecting plasma contactors, an electric control and power module, interface elements, tether and deployment mechanisms, tether tape/end-mass as well as current collection plus free-fall, and hypervelocity impact tests.

NGCPV: a new generation of concentrator photovoltaic cells, modules and systems

Starting on June 2011, NGCPV is the first project funded jointly between the European Commission (EC) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan to research on new generation concentration photovoltaics (CPV). The Project, through a collaborative research between seven European and nine Japanese leading research centers in the field of CPV, aims at lowering the cost of the CPVproduced photovoltaic kWh down to 5 ?cents. The main objective of the project is to improve the present concentrator cell, module and system efficiency, as well as developing advanced characterization tools for CPV components and systems. As particular targets, the project aims at achieving a cell efficiency of at least 45% and a CPV module with an efficiency greater than 35%. This paper describes the R&D activities that are being carried out within the NGCPV project and summarizes some of the most relevant results that have already been attained, for instance: the manufacturing of a 44.4% world record efficiency triple junction solar cell (by Sharp Corp.) and the installation of a 50 kWp experimental CPV plant in Spain, which will be used to obtain accurate forecasts of the energy produced at system level.

Outline of Europe-Japan collaborative research on concentrator photovoltaics

The Europe-Japan Collaborative Research Project on Concentrator Photovoltaics (CPV) has been initiated under support by the EC (European Commission) and NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) since June 2011. This is project (NGCPV Project; a New Generation of Concentrator PhotoVoltaic cells, modules and systems) is aiming to accelerate the move to very high efficiency and lower cost CPV technologies and to enhance widespread deployment of CPV systems. 7 organizations such as UPM, FhG-ISE Imperial College, BSQ, CEA-INES, ENEA, and PSE in Europe and 9 organizations such as TTI, Univ. Tokyo, AIST, Sharp Co. Daido Steel Co., Kobe Univ., Miyazaki Univ., Asahi Kasei Co., and Takano Co. participate in this project. The targets of this project are 1) to develop world-record efficiency CPV cells of more than 45%, 2) to develop world-record efficiency CPV modules of 35%, 3) to establish standard measurements of CPV cells and modules, 4) to install 50kW CPV system in Spain, to carry out field test of CPV system and to manage power generation of CPV systems, and 5) to develop high-efficiency and low-cost new materials and structure cells such as III-V-N, III-V-on-Si tandem, quantum dots and wells. This paper presents outline of this project and most recent results such as world record efficiency (37.9% under 1-sun) cell and high-efficiency (43.5% under 240-306 suns) concentrator cell with inverted epitaxial grown InGaP/GaAs/InGaAs 3-junction solar cells.

Good and bad practices in pv plants

The PVCROPS project (PhotoVolta ic Cost r€duction, Reliability, Operational performance, Prediction and Simulation), cofinanced by European Commission in the frame of Seventh Framework Programme, has compiled in the “Good and bad practices: Manual to improve the quality and reduce the cost of PV systems” a collection of good and bad practices in actual PV plants . All the situations it collects represent the state-of-the-art of existing PV installations all around Europe. They show how the different parts of an installation can be implem ented properly or not. The aim of this manual is to represent a reference text which can help any PV actor (installers, electricians, maintenance operators, owners, etc.) not only to check and improve an already existing installation but will also, and mainly, avoid the previously known bad practices for the construction of a new PV installation. Thus, solving a priori the known errors, new PV installations will be more reliable, efficient and cost-effective and can recover the initial investment in a shorter time. The manual is going to be free available in the PVCROPS website in several languages.

Airplane materials compatibility with blends of fossil kerosene JET A1 with biokerosenes from babassu, palm kernel and coconut oils

The aviation companies are facing some problems that argue in favor of biofuels: Rising cost of traditional fuel: from 0.71 USD/gallon in May 2003 to 3.09 USD/gallon in January 2012. Environmental concerns: direct emissions from aviation account for about 3 % of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) forecasts that by 2050 they could grow by a further 300-700 %. On December 20th 2006 the European Commission approved a law proposal to include the civil aviation sector in the European market of carbon dioxide emission rights (European Union Emissions Trading System, EUETS)

Drifting plasma collection by a positive biased tether wire in LEO-like plasma conditions: current measurement and plasma diagnostic

BETs is a three-year project financed by the Space Program of the European Commission, aimed at developing an efficient deorbit system that could be carried on board any future satellite launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The operational system involves a conductive tape-tether left bare to establish anodic contact with the ambient plasma as a giant Langmuir probe. As a part of this project, we are carrying out both numerical and experimental approaches to estimate the collected current by the positive part of the tether. This paper deals with experimental measurements performed in the IONospheric Atmosphere Simulator (JONAS) plasma chamber of the Onera-Space Environment Department. The JONAS facility is a 9- m3 vacuum chamber equipped with a plasma source providing drifting plasma simulating LEO conditions in terms of density and temperature. A thin metallic cylinder, simulating the tether, is set inside the chamber and polarized up to 1000 V. The Earth's magnetic field is neutralized inside the chamber. In a first time, tether collected current versus tether polarization is measured for different plasma source energies and densities. In complement, several types of Langmuir probes are used at the same location to allow the extraction of both ion densities and electron parameters by computer modeling (classical Langmuir probe characteristics are not accurate enough in the present situation). These two measurements permit estimation of the discrepancies between the theoretical collection laws, orbital motion limited law in particular, and the experimental data in LEO-like conditions without magnetic fields. In a second time, the spatial variations and the time evolutions of the plasma properties around the tether are investigated. Spherical and emissive Langmuir probes are also used for a more extensive characterization of the plasma in space and time dependent analysis. Results show the ion depletion because of the wake effect and the accumulation of- ions upstream of the tether. In some regimes (at large positive potential), oscillations are observed on the tether collected current and on Langmuir probe collected current in specific sites.

An universal system to de-orbit satellites at end of life

A 3-year Project financed by the European Commission is aimed at developing a universal system to de-orbit satellites at their end of life, as a fundamental contribution to limit the increase of debris in the Space environment. The operational system involves a conductive tapetether left bare to establish anodic contact with the ambient plasma as a giant Langmuir probe. The Project will size the three disparate dimensions of a tape for a selected de-orbit mission and determine scaling laws to allow system design for a general mission. Starting at the second year, mission selection is carried out while developing numerical codes to implement control laws on tether dynamics in/off the orbital plane; performing numerical simulations and plasma chamber measurements on tether-plasma interaction; and completing design of subsystems: electronejecting plasma contactor, power module, interface elements, deployment mechanism, and tether-tape/end-mass. This will be followed by subsystems manufacturing and by currentcollection, free-fall, and hypervelocity impact tests.

HeartCycle: User interaction and patient education

Cardiovascular Diseases are the most prevalent and serious chronic conditions existing nowadays. They are the primary cause of death in the world and generate enormous expenditures to the health systems. Tele-monitoring and personal health systems have proven to be good options for tackling this situation; however they are still lacking many functionalities. It is necessary to find solutions that allow health professionals to follow up patients more closely and efficiently, while reducing the non-adherence of patients to the treatment regime. HeartCycle research project (partially funded by the European Commission) has developed a personal health system for cardiovascular diseases management with the aim to address this problem. This paper describes the Patient Loop of this solution, including the different components, the adopted user interaction, and the implemented patients education and coaching strategy.

Fuel poverty as a determinant in energy retrofitting actions

Fuel poverty can be defined as “the inability to afford adequate warmth in the home" and it is the result of the combination of three items: low household income, housing lack of energy efficiency and high energy bills. Although it affects a growing number of households within the European Union only some countries have an official definition for it. In 2013, the European Parliament claimed the Commission and Estate Members to develop different policies in order to fight household energy vulnerability. The importance of tackling fuel poverty is based on the critical consequences it has for human health living below certain temperatures. In Spain some advances have been made in this field but main existing studies remain at the statistical level and do not deepen the understanding of the problem from the perspective of dwelling indoor habitability conditions. What is more, this concept is yet to be officially defined. This paper presents the evaluation of fuel poverty in a building block of social housing located in the centre of Zaragoza and how this issue determined the strategies implemented in the energy retrofitting intervention project. At a first step, fuel poverty was appraised through the exploration of indoor thermal conditions. The adaptive thermal comfort (UNE-EN 15251:2008) method was used to establish the appropriate indoor temperatures and consequently to determine what can be called 'comfort gap'. Results were collated and verified with energy bills collection and a survey work that gathered data from neighbours. All this permitted pointing out those households more in need. Results from the social analysis combined with the evaluation of the building thermal performance determined the intervention. The renovation project was aimed at the implementation of passive strategies that improve households thermal comfort in order to alleviate households fuel poverty situation. This research is part of the project NewSolutions4OldHousing (LIFE10 ENV/ES/439) cofounded by the European Commission under the LIFE+ Programme.

Influencia de un nuevo marco jurídico en la competitividad del sistema portuario español

El sistema portuario español movió en el año 2013 aproximadamente 458,54 millones de toneladas, 13,8 millones de TEUs, con un total de 131.128 buques que accedieron a puerto para el conjunto de las 28 Autoridades Portuarias. Con el 62% de las exportaciones y el 86% de las importaciones realizadas por vía marítima, una rentabilidad del 2,34 %, muy cerca del objetivo del 2,5 % de rentabilidad media annual establecida legalmente, y una cifra de negocios aproximada de 1.028 millones de euros equivalentes al 1,1 % del PIB que genera un empleo directo e indirecto vinculado de 145.000 personas, concluimos que estamos hablando de un sector estratégico para la economía del país. Desde hace décadas, en muchos puertos del mundo se han venido desarrollando terminales “hub” o de concentración y distribución de cargas. Las navieras concentran entre este tipo de terminales sus líneas transoceánicas con buques de enormes dimensiones y capacidad de carga para producir los tránsitos de contenedores desde estas líneas a otras líneas llamadas “feeder”, con buques de menor tamaño que enlazan el “hub” con los puertos de su área marítima de influencia. La excepcional ubicación geoestratégica de España, con aproximadamente ocho mil kilómetros de costa, ha originado que los puertos españoles de mayor dimensión aspiren a incorporarse a esta red marítima internacional de contenedores y determina que en nuestro sistema portuario los movimientos de contenedores de tránsito tengan gran importancia. Sin embargo, la crisis económica ha tenido un efecto decisivo en el sector marítimo, determinando una lucha feroz entre todos los puertos, nacionales e internacionales, por captar este tipo de tráficos, lo que origina una búsqueda de las compañías navieras de puertos cada vez más eficientes en términos calidad/coste del servicio. La entrada en vigor del Texto Refundido de la Ley de Puertos y la piedra angular de su reforma, la Ley 33/2010, plantea como objetivo principal la mejora de la competitividad del sistema portuario español y liderar su recuperación, ofreciendo unas condiciones de entorno favorables a los puertos españoles que acaben por incentivar la captación de tráficos e inversión privada a través de una oferta de servicios e infraestructura de calidad y a precios competitivos que consoliden su posición dentro del tráfico marítimo mundial. Surge, por tanto, la conveniencia de investigar la influencia de las medidas propuestas por dicha norma legal y las soluciones ofrecidas a las demandas de un sector considerado estratégico para la economía del país, y cuya resolución se considera imprescindible para consolidar su recuperación. Por eso, se han analizado los aspectos más importantes de la reforma mediante la realización de un resumen ejecutivo y se ha estudiado la influencia de las medidas que incorpora desde el punto de vista de tres factores, que previamente se han considerado como fundamentales para la recuperación del sistema portuario español, y que históricamente habían sido demandados por el mismo, como son, en primer lugar, un progresivo sistema de flexibilización tributaria que permitiera a los puertos españoles ganar en términos de competitividad respecto a otros modelos portuarios mucho más flexibles en materia tarifaria, en segundo lugar, una necesaria liberalización del régimen de prestación de los servicios portuarios que posibilite el libre acceso a cualquier interesado en su prestación y, en último lugar, el progresivo abaratamiento de los costes inherentes a dichos servicios, fundamentalmente la manipulación de mercancías. Con posterioridad se ha investigado el trámite parlamentario al que se ha sometido la ley, fruto del enorme consenso alcanzado entre las dos principales fuerzas políticas del país, que determinó que se presentaran más de 700 enmiendas al proyecto original, y en algunos casos, se ha prestado especial atención a determinadas enmiendas que se consideran, en opinión de este investigador, novedosas y aventuradas, razón por la cual quizás no fueron incorporadas definitivamente al texto legal. Y se han analizado las principales demandas y aportaciones extraídas de la Sesión Informativa sobre la tramitación del entonces proyecto de ley ofrecida por la Comisión de Fomento del Congreso de los Diputados a los principales representantes del sector, comunidad portuaria, universidad y sindicatos. Siendo conscientes de la incidencia que tiene el servicio portuario de manipulación de mercancías en el paso de la mercancía por el puerto, se ha hecho una referencia concreta al peculiar régimen jurídico y laboral del personal vinculado al servicio. Avanzamos que las características de la relación laboral especial, y su peculiar régimen jurídico, con una dualidad de relaciones laborales, tiene una influencia decisiva en la nómina del trabajador que se repercute en los usuarios del servicio, fundamentalmente el naviero y el operador de la terminal, que en definitiva, incide en la competitividad del puerto. Y se ha constatado el auge aperturista de numerosas legislaciones portuarias europeas, prestando especial atención al proyecto frustrado de liberalización de los servicios portuarios en la Unión Europea de la conocida como Directiva Loyola de Palacio del año 2003 y al Libro Blanco de Transportes del año 2011. Así como a las deficiencias advertidas por el Dictamen de la Comisión Europea de fecha 27/09/2012 en relación al régimen jurídico del servicio portuario de manipulación de mercancías, que lo considera disconforme y contrario con las normas de libertad de establecimiento en Europa y que amenaza con una previsible reforma unilateral de la legislación portuaria española, a instancias europeas. Bajo este planteamiento, se ha procedido a analizar el marco de prestación de dichos servicios desde el punto de vista de la propia comunidad portuaria. Inicialmente, a través de un estudio de fuerzas de la competitividad del sector de los servicios portuarios en el sistema portuario español que nos permitirá trazar un mapa estratégico del mismo a través del “Modelo de las Cinco Fuerzas de Porter” concluyendo, que el poder de los prestadores de servicios portuarios como proveedores de los mismos, fundamentalmente en la manipulación de mercancías, es máximo, con un único colectivo, los estibadores portuarios, que al amparo de la normativa legal vigente tienen la exclusividad de su prestación. Dichas circunstancias restan competitividad al sistema frente a alternativas portuarias más flexibles y desincentivan la inversión privada. Y, en segundo lugar, mediante un proceso participativo en distintas encuestas sobre el modelo legislativo y sobre el marco formativo del sector con los propios agentes afectados dentro de la comunidad portuaria, desde la triple perspectiva de la vertiente pública que representan las Autoridades Portuarias, como gestores de las infraestructuras, la vertiente privada que representan los usuarios y prestadores de servicios, como principal cliente del puerto y desde el punto de vista de la propia mano de obra portuaria materializada en la representación sindical de dichos trabajadores. Los resultados nos permitirán concluir, respectivamente, la incidencia del servicio portuario mercancía por el puerto, por representar más de la mitad de los costes. Así como la aspiración de los trabajadores adscritos a dicho servicio de consolidar un título formativo que unifique y potencie su capacitación profesional, circunstancia esta última, también demandada por toda comunidad portuaria. Analizadas las conclusiones extraídas en cada una de las líneas de investigación se han detectado una serie de ineficiencias dentro del mismo que dicho marco regulador no ha sabido resolver, por lo que se ha considerado la conveniencia de formular, como herramienta de ayuda a gestores del sistema portuario español, una relación de medidas que, en opinión de este investigador, se consideran necesarias para mejorar el régimen de prestación de los servicios portuarios y se ha propuesto un borrador de modificación del actual Texto Refundido que pueda servir de base para materializar una futura reforma legal. Las conclusiones obtenidas en la investigación deben sentar las bases de una profunda reflexión sobre la necesidad de encaminar, como alternativa a una previsible modificación a instancias europeas, una reforma legal que decididamente apueste por la competitividad del sistema portuario español desde el punto de vista de la liberalización de servicios, el abaratamiento de los costes de la estiba y la necesaria profesionalización de los trabajadores adscritos al servicio portuario de manipulación de mercancías. During 2013 the Spanish Port System moved nearly 458,54 million tons of freight, 13,8 million TEUs, involving a total of 131.128 ships for the 28 existing Port Authorities. With 62% of exports and 86% of imports made through sea transportation, a 2,34% profit, close to the 2,5% average annual profit goal legally established, revenues of 1.028 million € equivalent to a 1.1% of Spain’s GDP and a figure of 145.000 people a directly or indirectly employed we can conclude that maritime industry is undoubtedly one of the strategic and key sectors for the country’s economy. Since several decades many ports in the world have been increasingly developing “Hub” terminals, those which concentrate and distribute freight. Shipping companies place among these type of terminals their transoceanic sea liners along with huge dimension & capacity ships to make the container transit from these liners to other called “feeder” which are smaller freight ships that connect the “hub” with the ports within its maritime area of influence. Spain’s exceptional geostrategic location with over 8.000 km of coastline has originated that those big dimension Spanish ports aspire to become a part of a container international maritime network which also determines that transit container move is key within our port system. Nevertheless the economic crisis has had a decisive impact on the maritime sector originating a fierce battle between all ports, national and international ones, all of them fight against each other to catch this type of maritime traffic which triggers an ongoing shipping companies search in cost/service quality efficient ports. The cornerstone of the Restated Text of Port Law is Law 33/2010, which lays out as main goal the Spanish Port System competitiveness improvement and lead its recovery offering favorable environment conditions to Spanish ports which help encourage maritime traffic attraction and private investment through a wide offer of services, quality of infrastructure and competitive prices which can consolidate its positioning within the world’s maritime traffic. It is therefore key to investigate the influence of the measures proposed by the above mentioned law and also the solutions offered to the demands of a sector which is considered strategic for the country’s economy and which solution is essential to consolidate the recovery. It is because of this that the most important aspects of the reform have been analyzed through the making of an executive summary and it has also been studied the influence of the measures it includes from the point of view of three factors which have previously been considered as key for the Spanish port system recovery. The system has historically demanded a progressive tax flexibility, which would permit Spanish ports be more competitive compared to other port models much more flexible in rates, a necessary liberalization of the port service provision regime and last but not least, to cut the price of costs related to those services, mainly freight handling. Following this, the parliamentary process of the law has also been studied as a consequence of the vast consensus reached by the main political forces in the country which clearly determined that more than 700 amendments to the original project were presented. In some cases the focus has been on amendments which are adventurous and new, reason why they were finally not included to the final legal text. Being well aware of the importance that freight handling procedure has, I have made a specific reference to the legal and working framework of those employees related to this service. We conclude that the special working relationship, its different legal regime, along with the working relationship dualism has a big impact and decisive influence over the worker’s salary which also affects service users, mainly shipowners and terminal operators, having a bad effect on the port’s competitiveness. The above confirms the new opening trend of main European port laws with special attention to the frustrated European Union port services liberalization project, also known as Directive Loyola de Palacio (2003) and the White Paper on Transports (2011). It is important to highlight that the European Commission has also observed several deficiencies with regard to the freight handling port service Law Regime being in disagreement with it, considering it is against the free establishment rules in Europe. The Commission is likely to present a unilateral reform to the Spanish Port Law. Under this approach the service provision framework is being analyzed from the Port Community point of view. Initially the analysis will focus on the study of the competition forces within the port services industry in Spain, this will allow us to draw up an strategic map through “Porter’s Five Forces Model” concluding that the power of port services providers as freight handlers is maximum, with an only collective, stevedores, which has the exclusivity for their services. All these circumstances not only decrease the system’s competitiveness versus other more flexible but also restrain private investments. Secondly, through a participating procedure in different surveys about the legislative model and about the training framework with the affected agents within the port community, there is a triple perspective: Public point of view represented by Port Authorities as infrastructure managers, Private point of view represented by users and service suppliers as main Port’s customer and finally, port workforce, represented by union leaders. Results will let us conclude that freight handling service is the most critical port service and represents more than half of the costs. This service related workers aspire to obtain a training certificate that unifies and boosts their professional role which is also chased by the entire port community. Once conclusions have been analyzed for all research lines, several deficiencies have been found and the regulatory framework hasn’t yet been able to solve them, it has therefore been a series of necessary measures that help improve the port services provision regime. A new proposal to the Restated Law Text has been drafted as the first step to embrace a future legal reform. Conclusions obtained on the research should set the new basis of a deep reflection about the need to bent on a new legal reform which firmly bets on Spanish port system competitiveness from three key points of view, service liberalization, ship load cost reduction and professionalization of freight handling related workers.

Engineering education on geosciences in a changing world

Engineering aims to work with what knowledge is available to achieve society's goals (Coyle, Murphy, and Grimson 2007). The current environmental challenges and the characteristics of the labour market mean that the effectiveness of Engineering activities in Geosciences must be increased through the development of technical knowledge and the inclusion of suitable training aimed at solving real cases (European Commission 2010). Human capital – understood as the talents, skills and capabilities of higher education graduates – is perceived as an essential element for sustainable economic growth and development in the globalised economy (Sianesi and Van Reenan 2003). We need, therefore, to rethink our approaches to curriculum, instruction and assessment in science education, particularly because of the rapid growth of the scientific knowledge, tools/technologies and theories that have originated over the last 50 years (Duschl and Grandy 2013).

Reducing the impact of EV charging on the electric grid

One of the main objectives of European Commission related to climate and energy is the well-known 20-20-20 targets to be achieved in 2020: Europe has to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of at least 20% below 1990 levels, 20% of EU energy consumption has to come from renewable resources and, finally, a 20% reduction in primary energy use compared with projected levels, has to be achieved by improving energy efficiency. In order to reach these objectives, it is necessary to reduce the overall emissions, mainly in transport (reducing CO2, NOx and other pollutants), and to increase the penetration of the intermittent renewable energy. A high deployment of battery electric (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), with a low-cost source of energy storage, could help to achieve both targets. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) use a combination of a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) with one (or more) electric motor. There are different grades of hybridation from micro-hybrids with start-stop capability, mild hybrids (with kinetic energy recovery), medium hybrids (mild hybrids plus energy assist) and full hybrids (medium hybrids plus electric launch capability). These last types of vehicles use a typical battery capacity around 1-2 kWh. Plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) use larger battery capacities to achieve limited electric-only driving range. These vehicles are charged by on-board electricity generation or either plugging into electric outlets. Typical battery capacity is around 10 kWh. Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) are only driven by electric power and their typical battery capacity is around 15-20 kWh. One type of PHEV, the Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV), operates as a BEV until its plug-in battery capacity is depleted; at which point its gasoline engine powers an electric generator to extend the vehicle's range. The charging of PHEVs (including EREVs) and BEVs will have different impacts to the electric grid, depending on the number of vehicles and the start time for charging. Initially, the lecture will start analyzing the electrical power requirements for charging PHEVs-BEVs in Flanders region (Belgium) under different charging scenarios. Secondly and based on an activity-based microsimulation mobility model, an efficient method to reduce this impact will be presented.

Energy rehabilitation of social housing for rent, as demonstrator in the LIFE 'New4Old' Project

The main goal of the cofounded by the European Commission LIFE Project, New4Old (LIFE10 ENV/ES/439), is to define the most appropriate method and the best available practice in social housing rehabilitation with energy and environmental sustainability criteria, as well as to apply innovative technologies in the fight against climate change through an efficient use of resources and energy. The institutions involved in the Project are the Technological Centre AITEMIN, Madrid Polytechnic University (UPM), Portugal Technological Centre for Ceramics and Glass (CTCV) and the Zaragoza City Housing Society (SMZV). The demonstrator project consists in the energy rehabilitation of a rental social housing building located in Zaragoza?s historic quarter, according to the conclusions and strategies developed for the LIFE project. In actions taken in households of this nature passive design strategies are essential due to the limited income of owners, who often cannot afford energy bills. Therefore, the proposed actions will help improve the building?s passive performance and reach a higher thermal comfort, without increasing the economic cost linked to energy consumption.