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FP6-SUSTDEV, Integration Photovoltaik - Modulintegrierter PV-Wechselrichter (PV-MIPS)

Entwicklung und Test von kostengünstigen AC-Modulen mit integriertem Wechselrichter. Technische Durchführung, Errichtung von Demonstrationsanlagen, Netzqualitätsmessungen, Erfassung und möglichst Abgleich von nationalen Normen und Regelwerken.

Catenary Interface Monitoring Coherent sensing technology for electrical railway infrastructure and rolling stock for interoperable cross boundary transportation (CATIEMON)

Objective: In a deregulated EU rail market monitoring of the vehicle and infrastructure interface is mandatory for enhanced availability of operation reducing costs. Especially when a rolling stock is crossing boundaries between independent infrastructure grids, cond ition monitoring becomes crucial. A monitoring tool on OCLs overhead contact lines - for infrastructure managers is needed for an separate measurement of contact force and surface condition of the vehicle current strip. The rolling stock operator needs a complementary device to measure not only the vertical contact force, but moreover the friction force, in order to analyse the vehicle and OCL interface condition. In SMITS a monitoring system for contact force on the interface current collector lt;- gt; c ontact wire has been developed. A sensor technology has been started to explore showing the potential for an extended range of rail monitoring tools. An innovative coherent sensor technology approach shall be investigated and two independent monitoring too ls for vehicle and infrastructure be developed. These shall be validated at new rail tracks specified for TSI interoperable cross boundary transportation: the Ltschberg Basis Tunnel, CH and the HSL Zuid high speed line, NL, both ready for operation in 2007 . Demonstration tests in operation will be performed along the Korridor X infrastructure passing through different countries rail networks. The outcome of the project will enable managers to specify driving conditions for the usage of their infrastructure to avoid excessive wear improving availability. Complementary rolling stock operators can monitor OCL condition giving them an informative argument in case of damage. Condition-dependent user fees as well as threat of penalty will force vehicle and infrast ructure managers to maintain the vehicle and infrastructure interface on a superior level of availability. The operational costs will be reduced and availability of transportation capacity enhanced.

Demonstration of direct Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) co-combustion in pulverised fuel plants and implementation of a sustainable waste-to-energy technology in large-scale energy production (RECOFUEL)

Objective: The use of Solid Recovered Fuels (SRF) derived from mixed-/mono waste streams is expected to result in a significant contribution to the generation of sustainable energy. The demand for alternative waste treatment is addressed by production and direct co-combustion of SRF in pulverised fuel fired power plants as an environmentally friendly, energy efficient, short-term available and cost effective technical solution. The project assists the implementation of EU policies (energy, environmental, economic and social goals) by sustainable energy production, CO2 emission reduction, preservation of natural resources and abatement of hazardous impacts on the environment due to landfill. The proposed project comprises large-scale demonstration of SRF co-combustion at a 450MWth brown coal/lignite boiler of RWE Rheinbraun AG in a continuous period of at least 12 months with the scope of permanent and reliable operation. A thermal share of 10% is envisaged (25.000 - 50.000 Mg/a SRF) resulting in a direct environmental benefit up to 50.000 Mg/a CO2 by the efficient use of the renewable share of SRF. With successful demonstration the implementation of the SRF co-combustion technology at further comparable and larger units of RWE is envisaged. Operational problems arising during former short-term co-combustion tests with hard coal could be successfully solved by an improved fuel production and a reliable quality control system. The interaction between a reliable quality control, quality management system and the combustion technology makes this technology competitive in the liberalised energy market without any additional subsidy. To achieve the ambitious goals partners of industry and research centres with substantial expertise in the areas covering the whole waste-to-energy chain created a consortium.

Reconciling Adaptation, Mitigation and Sustainable Development for Cities (RAMSES)

Objective: The RAMSES project will develop a rigorous, analytical framework for the implementation of adaptation strategies and measures in EU and international cities. It will develop a set of innovative methods and tools that will quantify the impacts of climate change and the costs and benefits of adaptation to climate change and thus provide the evidence to enable policy makers to design adaptation strategies. It integrates the assessment of impacts and costs to provide a much more coherent approach than currently exists. As major centres of population, economic importance, greenhouse gas emissions and infrastructure, RAMSES focuses on adaptation issues in cities. RAMSES will deliver: 1. A strategic frame for evidence-based adaptation decision-making. A pragmatic and standardised framework for decision making using comparable climate change impact assumptions, impact and adaptation costs while taking account of uncertainty. This will apply and combine smart and unconventional scientific methodologies. 2. Multi-level analysis as local administrative units, cities will be used to develop adaptation (and more generally sustainable development) strategies from the bottom-up/top-down, that can be aggregated to consider costs at the national, EU and international levels. 3. Quantification of adaptation costs a framework for assessment of full economic costs and benefits of adaptation (to date a woefully under-researched area). 4. Policy relevance and acceptance of adaptation measures city case studies and stakeholder engagement will ensure the relevance of the framework for policy makers and ensure adaptation measures become better accepted by other stakeholders. The frameworks will be converted into a user-friendly guide for stakeholders who need to prioritize adaptation and mitigation decisions. This reduces costs and enhances understanding and acceptance of adaptation. The data will be fed into the European Clearinghouse Mechanism to increase transparency/stakeholder access.

Operational Potential of Ecosystem Research Applications (OPERAS)

Objective: Human use and exploitation of the biosphere is increasing at such a pace and scale that the sustainability of major ecosystems is threatened, and may not be able to continue to function in ways that are vital to the existence of humanity. Re-framing environmental resource use has led to the emergence of the concepts of ecosystem services (ES) and natural capital (NC). This discourse indicates not only a change in our understanding of planetary functions at the ecosystem scale, but also a fundamental shift in how we perceive the relationship between people and the ecosystems on which they depend. OPERAs (OPERATIONAL POTENTIAL OF ECOSYSTEMS RESEARCH APPLICATIONS) aims to improve understanding of how ES/NC contribute to human well-being in different social-ecological systems in inland and coastal zones, in rural and urban areas, related to different ecosystems including forests and fresh water resources. The OPERAs research will establish whether, how and under what conditions the ES/NC concepts can move beyond the academic domain towards practical implementation in support of sustainable ecosystem management. OPERAs will use a meta-analysis (systematic review) of existing ES/NC practice to identify knowledge gaps and requirements for new policy options and instruments. New insights, and improved or novel tools and instruments, will be tested in practice in exemplar case studies in a range of socio-ecological systems across locales, sectors, scales and time. Throughout this iterative process, available resources and tools will be brought together in a Resource Hub, a web-based portal that will be co-developed by scientists and practitioners representing different interests and perspectives on the development, communication and implementation of the ES/NC concepts. The Resource Hub will provide the main interface between OPERAs and a Community of Excellence (CoE) for continued practice that will benefit from OPERAs outcomes.

Building the European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON)

Sustainable governance of our biological resources demands reliable scientific knowledge to be accessible and applicable to the needs of society. The fact that current biodiversity observation systems and environmental datasets are unbalanced in coverage and not well integrated brings the need of a new system which will facilitate access to this knowledge and will effectively improve the work in the field of biodiversity observation in general. In light of the new Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), such a network and approach are imperative for attaining efficient processes of data collation, analysis and provisioning to stakeholders. A system that facilitates open access to taxonomic data is essential because it will allow a sustainable provision of high quality data to partners and users, including e-science infrastructure projects as well as global initiatives on biodiversity informatics. EU BON proposes an innovative approach in terms of integration of biodiversity information system from on-ground to remote sensing data, for addressing policy and information needs in a timely and customized way. The project will reassure integration between social networks of science and policy and technological networks of interoperating IT infrastructures. This will enable a stable new open-access platform for sharing biodiversity data and tools to be created. EU BONs 30 partners from 18 countries are members of networks of biodiversity data-holders, monitoring organisations, and leading scientific institutions. EU BON will build on existing components, in particular GBIF, LifeWatch infrastructures, and national biodiversity data centres.

North Atlantic Climate: Predictability of the climate in the North Atlantic/European sector related to North Atlantic/Arctic sea surface temperature and sea ice variability and change (NACLIM)

Objective: NACLIM aims at investigating and quantifying the predictability of the climate in the North Atlantic/European sector related to North Atlantic/Arctic sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice variability and change on seasonal to decadal time scales. SST and sea-ice forcing have a crucial impact on weather and climate in Europe. Rather than running climate forecasts ourselves, we will analyse the multi-model decadal prediction experiments currently performed as part of the fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) and critically assess the quality of predictions of the near-future state of key oceanic and atmospheric quantities relevant to the SST and sea-ice distribution and the related climate. Long-term observations of relevant ocean parameters will be carried out, necessary to assess the forecast skill of the model-based prediction results. We will identify those observations that are key to the quality of the prediction and in turn optimize the present observing system. We will quantify the impact of North Atlantic/European climate change on high trophic levels of the oceanic ecosystem as well as on urban societies.

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.

Innovative Hydrometallurgical Processes to recover Metals from WEEE including lamps and batteries - Demonstration (HYDROWEEE DEMO)

Objective: The recycling business is traditionally dominated by SMEs. In the last 5 years a general trend in the electronics recycling sector to bigger companies is very visible. Multinational, multi-sector companies are buying several smaller recyclers every year. Hence the previous project HydroWEEE (03/200902/2012) dealt with the recovery of rare and precious metals from WEEE. The idea has been to develop a mobile plant using hydrometallurgical processes to extract metals like yttrium, indium, lithium, cobalt, zinc, copper, gold, silver, nickel, lead, tin in a high purity. By making this plant mobile several SMEs can benefit from the same plant. By making the processes universal several fractions (lamps, CRTs, LCDs, printed circuit boards and Li-batteries) can be treated in the same mobile plant in batches. This reduces the minimum quantities and necessary investments. In addition these innovative HydroWEEE processes produce pure enough materials that can be directly used for electroplating and other applications. The objective of HydroWEEE Demo is to build 2 industrial, real-life demonstration plants (1 stationary and 1 mobile) in order to test the performance and prove the viability of the processes from an integrated point of view (technical, economical, operational, social) including the assessment of its risks (incl. health) and benefits to the society and the environment as well as remove the barriers for a wide market uptake. Finally the previously developed processes of extracting yttrium, indium, lithium, cobalt, zinc, copper, gold, silver, nickel, lead, tin will be improved and new processes to recover additional metals which are still in this fractions (Cerium, Platinum, Palladium, Europium, Lanthanum, Terbium, ) as well as the integrated treatment of solid and liquid wastes will be developed. Summarized HydroWEEE Demo will boost European competitiveness by applying novel processes for improved resource efficiency by extracting rare and precious metals.

Supporting consolidation, replication and up-scaling of sustainable wastewater treatment and reuse technologies for India (SARASWATI)

Objective: The poor condition of sanitation and wastewater management in India (as in many Asian countries) is well documented and has recently led the Asian Development Bank to call for a revolution in wastewater management across Asia. Conventional, centralized approaches have failed in many areas and will hardly be able to solve potential problems in rural, hilly and rapidly developing urban areas in India. Instead, innovative, decentralised systems aiming at various benefits are needed. A main benefit in the context of SARASWATI is the reuse of treated wastewater for different purposes. Other benefits include reuse of energy and nutrients, which are also important. Despite the overall poor condition of wastewater treatment across South Asia, India has already considerable experience with such decentralised approaches. Over the last decade, hundreds of decentralised wastewater treatment plants of different technology types have been installed all over India. However, not all are functioning well and several also failed, due to various reasons. Also, there is no consolidated evaluation and review of all those existing plants available. As a result there is only very limited knowledge on the performance of those existing technologies available and a review and evaluation of those plants is very timely in order to derive sound conclusions and recommendations for future wastewater management strategies in India. SARASWATI will perform such a comprehensive and independent evaluation and hence provide key suggestions for the improvement of existing technologies. In addition, SARASWATI aims at deploying selected proven EU technologies with a potential for solving grave water challenges in India (water pollution due to discharge of untreated wastewater and storm-water, water scarcity and groundwater depletion, unhygienic sludge handling practices due to lack of suitable technologies). Water challenged sites have been identified in 5 Indian States comprising almost all regions.

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