Six projects in the vanguard
of Made in Italy innovation technology in the service of efforts
to combat climate change were presented at the United Nations
headquarters in New York during a conference organised by
Italy's permanent representation to the international
organisation on Wednesday.
The MOSE moving flood barrier system developed by the New
Venice Consortium and robot fish developed by Enea, the Italian
national institute for new technologies, to monitor water depths
and protect the lagoon city from high tides, were among the
projects illustrated.
Other technologies to be presented have been invented or
are being developed by oil giant ENI, Telespazio/Finmeccanica,
environmental monitoring system provider CAE and ENEL Green
Power.
The conference was organized in view of the signing of the
Paris climate agreement at UN headquarters on April 22.
"With 8,300 km of coastline and over 450 islands Italy is
one of the countries that is most exposed to the consequences of
climate change," Italy's permament ambassator to the UN
Sebastiano Cardi said.
"We are relatively small but we have an incredible
geographical heterogeneity," he added.
The aim of the conference was to show in "concrete" terms
what Italy is doing to mitigate the risks.
Francesco Ossola of New Venice Consortium illustrated the
MOSE system of moving barriers that can be raised to protect the
fragile lagoon ecosystem in Venice.
Claudio Moriconi, head of ENEA's robotics laboratory,
instead presented Venus Swarm, submarine drones that act like
fish and are able to 'talk' to each other, monitoring water
temperature and salinity, studing currents and coastal erosion
and raising the alarm in the event of a tsunami.
Francesca Ferrazza of ENI explained how the company is
developing a new generation of photovoltaic panels using organic
instead of silicion semi-conductors, leading to lower costs and
a faster ruturn on investment.
Luigi Pasquali of Telespazio/Finmeccanicahen then presented
the four satellites of the Cosmo-SkyMed network that are to
monitor 1 million square kilometres of Amazonian rainforest and
deforestation in Brazil.
CAE vicepresident Giancarlo Pedrini illustrated the
experience gained in mitigating the effects of climate change
starting from weather stations that protect Vietnam against
flooding.
Last but not least, Riccardo Amoroso of Enel Green Power
talked about the Pantelleria project and the use of waves and
tides to generate energy.
photo: MOSE system in Venice
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