ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN BUILDINGS AND DISTRICTS
Temperature Responsive Monitoring System for Smarter Energy Consumption in Data Centers (da
Silva Rodrigues, dos Santos, da Silva, Ribeiro).
The need for energy savings in companies, especially in developing countries, encouraged the
execution of this study, which presents an analysis of how the integration of free software and
hardware with sensors can monitor and manage electric energy consumption in a responsive
thermal system in a Data Center. In this way, the developed system can reduce energy input costs
and improve the availability of the services offered by the Data Processing Center. The experiment
was made using a temperature sensor, a non-invasive current sensor, Arduino Uno, Raspberry
PI, and Zabbix. Therefore, using the proposed system, it was possible to save an average
of 20% of energy in a monitored environment when compared to an uncontrolled environment.

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Current affairs are important for a scientific journal too. Last November, 15,372 scientists in all the disciplines, including numerous Nobel prize winners, signed the appeal published on BioScience entitled World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice. The document, probably the longest ever signed by scientists, emphasises the fact that the future of humanity is hanging by a thread.
This is the second version of the document published in 1992 and signed by 1,700 scientists who, even then, were forecasting the impacts of climate change, deforestation, an unfair distribution of access to drinking water and of demographic growth on health and wellbeing, putting “hopes for the future of human society at severe risk”.
According to the figures disclosed by the scientists who have signed the new appeal, since 1992, emissions of CO2 have increased by 62%, while global temperature has risen by 29%; vertebrate life forms have diminished by 29%; the amount of drinking water per capita has fallen by 26%; the “dead areas” of our oceans have increased by 75%; over 121.46 million hectares of forest have been lost.
Plants, animals, insects, fish and other natural species produce oxygen, clean the water and pollinate. It has been calculated, perhaps a little haphazardly, that these “natural services” have a value of between 125 and 145 trillion dollars a year; but they are subject to constant pressure due to the increase in population (two billion people since 1992, equating to 35%).
The way things stand, the only positive trends are those related to the replenishment of the ozone layer, which protects us from ultraviolet rays. This is thanks to the Montreal Protocol signed in 1987, and the growing use of renewable energies.

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This issue is dedicated exclusively to the subject of Planning and Land Safety. The editorial on energy strategies and an article regarding a project for environmental restoration and efficiency are followed by urban case studies, two of which concern Bari and Senigallia wich are small medium Italian towns. A third case, Expo 2015, has been the subject of global attention. The final study examines the UNESCO-designated historic center of Salvador de Bahia in Brazil.
Public/private partnerships are explored in Senigallia, in the Marche Region, in an updated urban regeneration management plan, which takes its cue from the Urban Redevelopment Operational Program funded by the Region but under municipal auspices.
The historical center of Bari, with its typological and spatial/functional invariants, is endowed with certain resources - in this case urban courtyards – that can be used in innovative ways to help the city adapt to global warming and climate change.
The historic center in Salvador de Bahia has long been the subject of a government revitalization program to counter the city’s serious socio-economic and physical decay. Despite having been updated about ten years ago, the program does not take sustainability principles into account.
Like all sites hosting major events, the future use of the site of Expo 2015 is an important urban question. The article provides an analysis of the site’s context and proposes integrated uses including an international nutrition research center.

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The Issue 2/2015 of CSE has been published shortly after the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. With the agreement to be signed in New York starting from April 2016, the approximately 200 signatory countries are going to pledge to limit the rise in average global temperature of 1.5 degrees through the direct commitment of the majority of countries actually responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. However, national emission limits have not been established yet.
According to United Nations experts, the promised cuts are not sufficient. To ensure that the overall goal is met, the agreement stipulates that every five years, starting in 2018, progress in reducing emissions by all countries will be reported. The first of such reports will be undertaken in 2023. 
As the authors of the editorial in this issue assert, the Conference was closed satisfactorily if it is considered in terms of a “one-step-at-a-time” approach. But the urgency to find truly effective solutions to global warming and its related climate change requires that, over time, the steps become increasingly larger and more determined. 
The editorial in this issue concerns environmental sustainability and security in relation to climate change and natural risks. Organized by topic, the articles following the editorial are summarized here.

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The number of visits to the CSE website is witness to the journal’s continuing success, a success
already demonstrated by the February 2014 issue. Submissions have increased despite
rigorous selection process or possible delay in publication of some papers.
The scientific overview in this issue covers a wide range of topics from safety of the territory, land
consumption and water management. On the topic of sustainable mobility, the research concentrates
both on bicycle/pedestrian mobility as an alternative, but extremely important means of transportation
in the traditional city, and on the environmental compatibility of transportation hubs.
Another very current research topic in the field of building technologies concerns advanced techniques
for surveying historic architecture, invaluable today in the restoration of monuments.
The articles on the area of energy efficiency address the topic of renewable energy in terms of reduction
of production and management costs, as well being a guiding principle in urban regeneration
processes.
The articles are summarized by topic in the following abstracts.

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