Alternative Use of Artificial Quarry Lakes as a Source of Thermal Energy for Greenhouses

In northern Italy, most greenhouses rely on gas or oil heaters which are sometimes subject to high operating costs. Several greenhouses are nearby quarry lakes, which are the legacy of the expansion of cities in the last decades, including Turin (NW Italy). About 20 quarry lakes were excavated close to the Po riverbed in the southern part of this urban area, along a belt of more than 30 km in length, with an overall volume exceeding 10 million m3 water. The study addresses these artificial lakes as a low enthalpy thermal energy source, potentially providing heat to surrounding agri-business buildings. Detailed temperature monitoring of a large lake quarry was conducted over two years at different depths, measuring the surrounding groundwater level as well. Two different behaviors of the lake during the winter and summer seasons enabled the definition of a quite low water mixing process between the surrounding aquifers and the lake (in the range of 2–4 °C). An evaluation of the heat extraction potential using the lake as a heat source, depending on water temperature and its volume, and a qualitative comparison with groundwater systems are proposed. This study contributes to increasing knowledge on an overlooked resource for sustainable heating.

Epiphytic lichens of woodland habitats in the lower Ticino river valley and in the “Bosco Siro Negri” Integral Nature State Reserve (NW Italy)

Epiphytic lichens were surveyed in the “Bosco Siro Negri” Integral Nature State Reserve (province of Pavia, Lombardy, NW Italy), which hosts a well-preserved fragment of oak-elm floodplain forest (Natura 2000 Habitat 91F0). The core woodland fragment hosted only four species on the tree boles, i.e. Lepraria finkii plus the forest specialists Coenogonium pineti, Diarthonis spadicea, and Opegrapha vermicellifera. An additional eight nitro- and photophytic species were recorded on the highest twigs of the canopy. The whole Reserve, including the neighbouring degraded woodlands and poplar plantations, hosted 27 epiphytic lichen taxa. The lower Ticino River valley between Vigevano and Pavia, in which the Reserve is located, was surveyed for epiphytic lichens in an additional 45 sites, including 15 wellpreserved oak-elm/hornbeam woodlands (Habitat 91F0), 15 degraded broadleaved woodlands with high occurrence of black locust and 15 poplar plantations. Overall, 32 species were recorded. Well-preserved woodlands had a lower species richness, but they hosted forest specialists not occurring in the other two habitats. Graphis pulverulenta and Lecania cyrtellina are new to Lombardy. Anisomeridium polypori, Diarthonis spadicea, Lecanora expallens and Pseudoschismatomma rufescens are reported from Lombardy for the second time.

Jogging during the Lockdown: Changes in the Regimes of Kinesthetic Morality and Urban Emotional Geography in NW Italy

Jogging is the most practiced physical activity in the west. This form of light running appears a solution to the health problems caused by the sedentary of contemporary dwelling and affirmed the role of the extensive use of urban space as a key to individual well-being and health. The COVID-19 pandemic and the imposition of lockdowns imposed a new form of kinesthetic morality based on domestic confinement; a morality that is in open contrast to that of jogging. The article explores this conflict and its consequences in terms of perception of the urban environment and the society among joggers. Based on case study research conducted in 2020 in Alessandria, NW Italy, this study delves into this abrupt change and explores how the urban spatiality changed for the joggers. In so doing, it asks what this event teaches us about the development of new, more effective, urban policies.

Modes and Forms of Knowledge of Farming Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographic Analysis among Small Farmers in NW Italy

This article investigates the modes and forms of knowledge underpinning farming entrepreneurship through an ethnographic case study of Alessandria province in NW Italy. It shows that farming entrepreneurs base their decisions on explicit and implicit knowledge encompassing forms of knowledge linked to the environment where they live, their trade, the characteristics of their firms, issues concerning their family and private life, and even the emotions linked with their surroundings. All these forms of knowledge inform their vision of their future and guide them in their choices in terms of investments and crop selection. Accordingly, the article argues that farming entrepreneurship is embedded in the locale.

Locating the Italian Radioactive Waste Repository: Issues and Perplexities Arisen from Open Data-Based Analyses about the TO-10 Site (NW Italy)

Recently, Italy has started the procedure for the selection of suitable sites for hosting the National Repository for Low-Medium Activity Radioactive Wastes. Sogin spa, a public company, taking into account the criteria of the ISPRA Technical Guide no. 29, solicited by the EU Directive 2011/70/Euratom, has presented the CNAPI (National Map of the Potentially Suitable Areas) which has become operative since 5 January 2021. Sixty-seven sites were identified in Italy as potentially suitable for hosting the repository. Some criticalities immediately appeared concerning the properness of the selection. An analysis was, therefore, achieved to explore part of the rationales underlying the adopted procedure. A paradigmatic site, namely the TO-10 one (NW Italy), was chosen for the analysis, which highlighted significant anomalies affecting both the procedure rationales and its results. Since the selection process majorly relies on geographical data, attention was particularly paid on the role of official data from open archives. With reference to the most updated and detailed ones, we demonstrated that the Sogin procedure suffers from several critical points. In particular, with reference to the TO-10 site, we found that it cannot be absolutely considered to be suitable for hosting the National Deposit. In fact, it proved to match several exclusion criteria included in the ISPRA Technical Guide n. 29. These include: the potentially high “seismic risk” due to a “seismic gap” and complex tectonics associated with uplift (up to 1–1.5 mm/y); a highly vulnerable and extremely superficial groundwater table; a high permeability (10−2–10−3 m/s) of the cover sedimentary units; not proper buffer zones around local settlements. In spite of the local specificity of the analysis, results concerning procedure weaknesses are general. Consequently, we expect that they can be a stimulus for Sogin to more properly face the next steps of the selection procedure.

User-centred design to promote the effective use of rear-mounted foldable roll-over protective structures (FROPSs): prototype evaluation among novice and expert farmers

Aim of study: We tested the perceived quality in use of a prototype of a handling supporting device, developed through a user-centred design process intended for rear-mounted foldable rollover protective-structures (FROPSs). Area of study: The study was performed in the Province of Cuneo, which has the largest number of farms and the highest share of utilized agricultural area (UAA) in Piedmont Region, NW Italy Material and methods: Three groups of users, novice-novice (NN), novice-expert (NE) and expert-expert (EE) were asked to raise two rear-mounted FROPSs: a traditional one and a second one equipped with a supporting device which consisted of a gas spring and a rod. A questionnaire has been used to record the perceived quality in use of both FROPSs (effort, physical discomfort, temporal demand and ease of use) and perceived usefulness and attitudes toward the adoption of the supporting device. Main results: All groups reported less physical effort, more stable postures, higher ease of use in handling the FROPS equipped with the supporting device; NN users, in particular, declared to be willing to adopt the supporting device in the future on their tractors when commercially available. Research highlights: Previous studies reported discomfort in operating the FROPS as the main cause of its improper use. A solution to improve FROPS reachability was developed and tested with users. Benefits were perceived by both novice users and expert users.

Persistent Scatterer Interferometry and Statistical Analysis of Time-Series for Landslide Monitoring: Application to Santo Stefano d’Aveto (Liguria, NW Italy)

Landslides are a major threat for population and urban areas. Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) is a powerful tool for identifying landslides and monitoring their evolution over long periods and has proven to be very useful especially in urban areas, where a sufficient number of PS can be generated. In this study, we applied PS interferometry to investigate the landslide affecting Santo Stefano d’Aveto (Liguria, NW Italy) by integrating classic interferometric techniques with cross-correlation analysis of PS time-series and with geological and geotechnical field information. We used open-source software and packages to process Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1A satellite for both ascending and descending orbits over the period 2015–2021 and calculate both the vertical motion and the E-W horizontal displacement. By computing the cross-correlation of the PS time-series, we identified three families of PS with a similarity greater than 0.70. The cross-correlation analysis allowed subdividing the landslide in different sectors, each of which is characterized by a specific type of movement. The geological meaning of this subdivision is still a matter of discussion but it is presumably driven by the geomorphological setting of the area and by the regional tectonics.