David Chiaramonti, President of RE-CORD
Climate Change today heavily impacts on our everyday life
, with huge consequences on health, economy, infrastructures and agriculture.
What until today was known as safe, certain, and reliable, is becoming more and more questionable, uncertain,
risky and unreliable for us and for future generations.
Deploying more sustainable agronomic practices,
exploiting the full potential of renewable energies, decarbonizing transports, optimizing energy demand and
promoting energy efficiency, have also become urgent actions that cannot be delayed further if we really aim
at keeping global warning within acceptable limits, as also stated by major international organisations such
as the IPCC, IEA, EC etc.
Our economies need to deploy all possible sustainable options towards a low/zero carbon system. Biomass, Bioenergy and Bioproducts are key players in this game, in a Bioeconomy and Circular Economy context: this is the focus area for RE-CORD, the Renewable Energy Consortium for R&D.
Following a
long development path, started at the University of Florence at the end of ’80s-early ’90s by the Department
of Energy Engineering “S. Stecco” and CSGI, then continued at C.R.E.A.R. (Center for Renewable and Alternative
Energies) and DIEF (Industrial Engineering Department), RE-CORD represents a well-established R&D center, with
its specialized human resources and competences, a chemical laboratory, pilot plants and experimental area.
Since 2010 RE-CORD not only mainstreams knowledge in the field, but also acts as a catalyzer of
cross-sectorial multi-actor competences, from engineering to chemistry, form economy to physics,
favouring integration and a more effective use of human resources and infrastructures.
During 2018 RE-CORD significantly grew in terms of new activities and relations/networking,
coordinating and participating in of the most relevant EU R&D initiatives on alternative Energy
in support to the European Commission.
This booklet summarizes the effort made by RE-CORD over the year,
listing the main areas of work, the major achievements, ongoing projects and new ideas, in a long term
vision towards sustainable development and growth.
Our world needs to make use of all possible sustainable options towards a low/zero carbon system.