The pollution spread in the world has forced all nations to fight for the preservation of the planet, through restricting oil derivatives and emission standards. On the other side, the global automotive sector is a huge market with €1,761G of yearly sales. Solutions available in the market, as an alternative to standard diesel vehicles, can be divided into four categories: 1) NG vehicles, 2) Biofuels, 3) Hybrids, 4) Full electric. These existing technologies fail in providing a cost-effective and transition solution to upgrade current vehicles. Most of all, these solutions do not deal with the existing vehicles and only focus on purchasing new ones. This process of replacing current vehicles will take many years, thus a transition solution is today required to upgrade this vehicles in use, reduce their emissions, reduce maintenance and fuel costs and bring them up to current European Standards. BLUESKY system is a unique kit for conversion of diesel-powered commercial buses and trucks to Liquefied Natural Gas fuel through a computerized and catalyst system. We collect no longer valid diesel engines (Euro IV and V) and extend their technical life meeting Euro VI standard, with the additional benefits of: 1) 20% cost reduction on fuel and maintenance costs, 2) 20% less CO2 emissions, 3) 100% elimination of solid particles emissions, 4) 10 times less of NOx emissions. There are currently 500 NG vehicles (of which 20% of total French NG vehicles) in France, Italy and UK running with our best seller product: CRMT 5+ which is a first version of BLUESKY. CRMT is a R&D SME company founded in 1977, with 22 people and based in Lyon, France. It is specialized in internal engine combustion, alternative fuels and pollutants reduction, with strong expertise in natural gas (NG) engines.

The Effects on Air quality of Semi-VOLatile Engine Emissions (EASVOLEE) project brings together leading European research groups, with state-of the-art observational and modeling facilities to: i) Quantify the contributions of secondary aerosol formation from transport engines to air quality problems in Europe. ii) Develop and identify health-related metrics, mitigation strategies, and policies to improve air quality, limiting the concentrations of aerosol (organic, inorganic, nanoparticles). The project combines state-of-the art measurement of the complete suite of emissions of transport engines under real driving conditions, investigations of the formation of secondary particulate matter (PM) during their atmospheric processing, and studies of the toxicity of both the fresh and aged PM and of the mechanisms that affect health. These results will be used to improve chemical transport models that in turn will allow us to quantify the effects of engine emissions on air quality and health - both now and for a series of future scenarios. EASVOLEE will improve our understanding of organic emissions from vehicle exhaust including low-volatility (LVOCs), semi-volatile (SVOCs), intermediate volatility (IVOCs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It will elucidate the corresponding secondary aerosol formation (both organic and inorganic) and characterize the health effects of these primary and secondary particles. The contribution of engine exhaust emissions to PM2.5 and size-resolved particle number concentrations in Europe will be quantified during all seasons. The above scientific evidence will be used to investigate the effectiveness of policies to reduce secondary organic and inorganic PM levels in urban areas – with a focus on components impacting health. Finally, EASVOLEE will develop new approaches to improve the quantification of transport impacts on air quality and health effects supporting future emissions and climate legislation.

The adaptation of RES technologies and machinery and their demonstration at a large-scale on farm level, require supporting measures with respect to spatial planning, infrastructure, different business models and market organisation, trends that are not all under control from a farmers’ perspective. RES4LIVE project will fill these gaps ensuring a wider adoption of RES and energy efficiency technologies, machinery and techniques in livestock farms towards a zero-fossil fuel consumption. A great part of RES4LIVE technical work deals with the adaptation of specific technologies for both renewable energy and biofuels so that to perfectly fit livestock farming and becoming attractive in terms of cost effectiveness, operational flexibility and with low maintenance. The key technologies include PVT systems, modular heat pumps, biogas upgrading to biomethane, and tractors retrofitting to be fuelled by biomethane. Except these technologies, standard RES and other solutions are included in the integrated energy system, such as the use of PV panels, geothermal energy, and electrification of on-farm machinery. The RES4LIVE project emphasises on the demonstration of the selected technologies in 4 pilot farms in Belgium, Italy, Germany and Greece, for a duration of at least 12 months, to serve as the means of de-fossilising evidence and impact generation. The aim is to totally replace the fossil fuel consumption of certain needs in the pilot farms, proving that fossil-free-energy farming is possible to be achieved with a sustainable way. At the same time, the replicability potential is another key activity so that to prepare the commercialization process of the solutions. The overall objective is to provide advanced and cost-effective technologies to the livestock sector that ensure the sustainability of the farms’ operation, and the superior thermal comfort of the animals for increased productivity with minimum climate change impact.