Energy Efficiency in the Built Environment

The new paradigm of smart city includes the
topics of land consumption and climate
change adaptation thus bringing to the fore
the role of open spaces system in the
strategic development of urban areas (Gill et
al., 2007; Gargiulo & Zucaro, 2015). In this
context, the study of different
characteristics of urban settlements and the
focus on the relationship between full and
empty urban spaces, could provide an
important set of information for an energy
saving based design of open spaces (Jones et
al., 2001; Papa et al., 2014). In particular,
within the relations between the elements
composing the urban physical space, green
spaces play a major role thanks to the many
positive effects they produce on the urban
environment. Vegetation, in fact, in addition
to being a key component of quality of life,
has an important role to make cities more
sustainable and resilient, through the socalled
"oasis effect", significant for reducing
the energy consumption due to the use of
air conditioning in summer (Coronel &
Alvarez, 2001; Zhang et al., 2014). This
paper intends to propose a methodology for
measuring the impact of the green areas in
different types of urban fabric, in terms of
temperature mitigation and energy
consumption reduction in order to
contribute to the scientific debate on the
definition of new instruments able to
integrate climate and energy aspects in the
design of green space networks.
This work, in particular, represents a
development of a previous research aimed
at effectively localizing, dimensioning and
distributing green spaces, starting from data
related to a heterogeneous urban pattern
for density and presence of green in the
municipality of Naples.
The variable of building aspect ratio, related
to the geometry of the road network, was
inserted in the calculation parameters, thus
achieving, through the use of a thermal
simulation software, the incidence of solar
radiation on the main facades of the
buildings and its rated thermal input for air
conditioning of indoor environment. The
obtained data were integrated, through the
GIS system, with the results of the previous
study creating a useful decision support tool
to test the effectiveness of the green
network system in the analyzed urban
context, and to strategically define the areas
to place new vegetation elements, both
punctual (green spaces) and linear (tree
rows).

The evolution of my career from purely academic research in experimental nuclear physics to science, followed by involvement in public affairs and administration, is described. Highlights in this trajectory are my involvement with the efforts to improve support for science activities and the protection of human rights of scientists in Brazil during the period of military government (1964–1984). The future role of nuclear energy in Brazil marked my transition toward a growing interest in energy alternatives and renewables. Finally, my activities first as the Rector of the University of São Paulo and then as a cabinet member in the federal government are described, as are the role I played in defusing the nuclear race between Argentina and Brazil and my participation in the Climate Conference in Rio in 1992.