Fruits are perishable. It's crucial to have an efficient preservation technique that may extend storage duration while maintaining the physical quality and nutritional values to avoid wastage. The majority of long-term storage solutions for fruits use refrigeration. In this study, we evaluate the potential of isochoric freezing as an alternative method of preservation for black grapes (Vitis vinifera L.). We compare the properties of black grapes preserved for 7 days in trehalose solution at −4 °C in isochoric conditions (average pressure 34.2 MPa) with those of fresh black grapes and with grapes preserved isobarically in four conditions (room temperature, in the fridge, in the freezer, and in a plastic bag filled with trehalose solution). The results indicate that grapes preserved by isochoric freezing at temperatures below the freezing point of water do not lose weight; on the contrary, they resulted in a very small (2%) weight gain. Freezing under isochoric conditions did not result in significant changes in terms of macroscopic appearance, colour, firmness, °Brix values, or pH. We consider that isochoric freezing has the potential to be used as a preservation method for grapes while maintaining physicochemical parameters similar to those of fresh fruits.

The envelope (façade) of a building is the first barrier between the exterior and the interior of the building and withstands the highest variation in temperature and solar radiation. Trombe walls are used to take advantage of that and contribute to the heating of interior air, helping the heating system. In this study, a new Trombe wall design is presented to contribute significantly to the indoor ventilation of residential buildings. For this, an exterior wall equipped with a proposed Trombe system was studied in a numerical simulation analysis. The proposed systems consist of two important sections, an exterior one and an interior one. The air cavities on the exterior of the wall, covered with silica glass, are the first heat-transfer layer. The secondary layer used for heat transfer, on the interior, is comprised of a MPCLB wall of 115 mm. The air circulation from the exterior to the interior was established as forced convection with a ventilator. The air circulates through the first heating layer on the exterior air cavities and then passes through the second heating layer on the interior MPCLBs. Two cities in Romania were considered to represent the coldest and hottest climates in Romania. Brașov represents the cold climate and Constanța represents the hot climate. In the investigation, both the presence and absence of solar radiation were taken into account. In total, four cases were established. For all four cases, monthly research was made using monthly mean temperatures, and direct and diffuse solar radiation. The results are promising and illustrate that the system works best during the transitional seasons of spring and autumn. The lower the outdoor temperature, the higher the temperature can be increased. Overall, solar radiation accounted for an average 2 °C increase. The temperature increase varied between 3.4 °C and 15.99 °C for Brașov and between 6.42 °C and 12.07 °C in Constanța. This study presents an alternative way to use the Trombe wall for indoor ventilation purposes throughout the year, compared to traditional uses for the Trombe wall for indoor heating.

Earth’s climate cannot be ignored any longer. Policies are vital in order to mitigate the negative effects of climate change. The energy crisis created by the Russo-Ukrainian war in Europe and COVID-19 pandemic affected the EU and its member states. The focus is more than ever on its energy policies and independence. The EU revised the energy strategy in response to the regional conflict, and it sped up all the processes for energetic independence from other countries outside of the EU. This benefited the climate change policies the most, as all the measures involved reducing energy consumption and increasing renewables, thus contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As a member state of the EU, Romania is committed to complying with EU regulations. With a high degree of energy independence compared with the other EU members, Romania plans to become a regional energy provider and modernize the energy infrastructure internally as a response to the regional conflict. The measures that the EU and Romania implemented after the conflict started in 2022 have come to fruition, and the effects are becoming visible a year later. This study aims to study the energy strategy of Romania in correlation with the EU strategy in the turbulent period of pandemics and conflict between 2019 and 2023, with the latest available data.

The envelope (façade) of a building is the part that forms the primary barrier to its environment. Most of the new and modern office buildings have a glazed envelope and are usually built-in city centers. The concept of a double-skin façade was born as a consequence of urban noise. The principal noise source in urban areas is traffic noise. Using a double-skin façade can be a solution that ensures good sound insulation for a glazed office building. This study presents experimental results obtained both from measurement campaigns carried out over longer periods of time, in connection with heat transfer in the case of this system, and punctual measurements, over shorter periods of time, for sound insulation and interior comfort parameters, from the experimental chamber adjacent to the system. The results from this study indicate that box double-skin façades can contribute to noise reduction, improve the interior thermal comfort and increase the energetic performance compared to normal single-glass façades, but within certain limits.

The envelope (façade) of a building is the first barrier between the exterior and the interior of the building and withstands the highest variation of temperature and solar radiation. Trombe walls are used to take advantage of that and contribute to the heating of interior air, helping the heating system. In this study, a new Trombe wall design is presented with the aim to contribute significantly to the ventilation of residential buildings. For this an exterior wall equipped with a proposed Trombe system was studied in a numerical simulation analysis. The proposed systems consist of two parts, the air cavities on the exterior of the wall, covered with silica glass, and another layer used for heat transfer, on the interior, comprised of a MPCLBs wall of 115mm. Two cities in Romania were considered to represent the coldest and hottest climate in Romania. Brașov representing the cold climate and Constanța representing the hot climate. In the investigation, both the presence and absence of solar radiation were taken into account. In total 4 cases were established. For all four cases monthly research was made using monthly means temperature, direct and diffuse solar radiation. The results are promising and illustrate that the system works the best during the transitional seasons of spring and autumn. The lower the outdoor temperature the higher the temperature can be increased. Overall, solar radiation accounted for an average of 2 °C increase. The temperature increase varied between 3.4 °C to 15.99 °C for Brașov and between 6.42 °C to 12.07 °C in Constanța.

Human interference with the Earth’s climate cannot be ignored any longer. Renewable energy sources need utmost attention in all energy sectors. For buildings, geothermal energy for heating, cooling, and domestic hot water is a sustainable solution. Horizontal ground heat exchangers (HGHE) demonstrate promising results with low installation costs. Research is focused on increasing their thermal performances by structural improvements and ground thermal proprieties improvements, with little research on using auxiliary heat to increase their performances. A numerical model for an HGHE was established to investigate the effects of auxiliary heat sources on the performances of the HGHE. The results demonstrate that heat transfer into the HGHE increases the overall ground temperature at the end of the heating season by 138.50% compared with no heat transfer from auxiliary heat sources. The ground freezing period decreased by approximately 24.74% by having a heated basement, approximately 40.20% by transferring heat with solar thermal panels, and approximately 62.88% by using both auxiliary heat sources. The difference between the undisturbed ground temperature and the ground temperature with no auxiliary heat sources at the end of the season was 3.45 °C. The difference between the undisturbed ground temperature and the ground temperature with all auxiliary heat sources resulted in 0.92 °C.