Production activities: resource, technologies, the environment and impacts. Water as a natural resource. Lithosphere, fossil fuels and renewable energy. Metals. Waste: the other side of progress. Quality and certification. Environmental management system. Microenterprise and innovation. Bioeconomy and green economy: from theory to practice. Case Study of Tuscan Micro- Enterprise.
Teaching materials (send an email to annalisa.romani@unifi.it e chiara.vita@pin.unifi.it )
Learning Objectives
CONOSCENZE: In terms of knowledge they will be presented topics of production activities: resource, technologies, the environment and impacts; air and water as a natural resources; lithosphere, fossil fuels and renewable energy; metals; waste: the other side of progress; quality and certification, Ecolabel System for touristic enterprise; environmental management system; microenterprise and innovation; Bioeconomy and green economy: from theory to practice. Case Study of Tuscan Micro- Enterprise and touristic Tuscan Micro- Enterprise.
COMPETENZE: Understand and describe the goods and the related production processes using appropriate conceptual tools and technical language. In terms of skills the student will be able to describe the goods in terms of economic sustainability and green production, new technologies, green technologies and quality of products and production, energy and environmental charges associated with its production process.
Skills acquired at the end of the course: Classify goods. Distinguish the uses and weaknesses related to the use of natural resources and the main fossil fuels and renewables. Knowing the properties of metals and the air and water as a resource. Knowing the environmental impacts, environmental management system and the main voluntary certification schemes of products and production.
Teaching Methods
Lectures: 48 hours
Seminar: Expected
Type of Assessment
Oral test
Course program
New technologies. Introduction to the environmental chemistry.
Renewable and non-renewable natural resources. Secondary raw materials and innovative raw materials. Classification of resources and stocks. Production cycles and environmental protection.Value of the environmental resources. Sustainable development principles for resources use. McKelvin diagram and Govett triangle model.
Air as resource. Air liquid and production of nitrogen, oxygen and noble gases. Air and pollution.
The sea water acidification: chemical bases and recent findings. The atmospheric CO2 concentration and temperature: history and trends. Glacers, circumpolar lakes and permafrost melting: recent findings and trends in CH4 atmospheric concentrations. Greenhouse gases emission by livestock production
Phosphorus: a looming crisis. The exploitation of tar sands.
Natural and artificial radionuclides in the environment and in the human body.
How tourist systems could be involved in radiological emergencies and how to manage them.
The life cycle assessment of a nuclear power plant combined with an energy analysis. The Life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions of solar thermal and solar PV. The comparison of greenhouse-gas emissions of different power plants: combined cycle gas-fired, oil-fired, coal-fired, geothermal high-temp., hydroelectric, wind, nuclear, solar, biogas, biomass. Tourist system based on the relationship between energy production and landscape shaping.
Biomass and biofuel production. Environmental temporal technology, transfers in the airline industry. District for rail technologies, high speed, safety and security.
Introduction of the quality assurance. NLP (Neuro-Lingustic-Programming).
Physical and chemical properties of pure water. Water cycle. Industrial uses of the water.
Desalination technologies, multiphases and multiflash plants.
Osmotic pressure and reverse osmosis. Electrodialysis.
Drinking water purification technology. Characteristics of the drinking water (organoleptic, chemical and biological).
Water pollution. Acid rains.
Ozone layer. Ozone hole. Greenhouse effect.
Physical, chemical and technological characteristics of the metals.
Iron cycle production process.
The close relation between innovation and certification: an empirical analysis in the Como’s silk district.
- Bioeconomy and Green Economy: From Theory to Practice. Case Study of a Tuscan Micro-Enterprise.
Hydroelectric power plants. Run-of-the-river hydroelectricity (ROR). Small hydro.
Micro hydro. Pico hydro. Traditional hydro. Wind power plants. The quiet revolution VAWT (vertical axis helical turbine). The World most powerful wind turbine Vestas’ V164-8.0 MW prototype.
Nuclear power plants. Pressuruzed-Water Reactor. Westinghouse AP1000.
The Russian VVER. Small floating plants. The Radon in the environment. Distribution, concentration, exposure, risks. Radon in caves, speleology, tourism management.
Copper: metal characteristics and production cycle.
Aluminium: metal characteristics and production cycle.
Quality: total quality and quality assurance.