Case Study on Economic Return on Investments for Safety and Emergency Lighting in Road Tunnels

Sustainability

Ferdinando Salata²  Iacopo Golasi²  Emiliano Bombelli²  Emanuele de Lieto Vollaro¹  Fabio Nardecchia²  Francesca Pagliaro²  Franco Gugliermetti²  Andrea de Lieto Vollaro²  Francesco Asdrubali³ 

[1] DIMI—Università degli Studi “Roma TRE”, Via Vito Volterra, 62, 00146 Rome, Italy; E-Mail:;DIAEE—Area Fisica Tecnica, Università degli Studi di Roma “Sapienza”, Via Eudossiana, 18, 00184 Rome, Italy; E-Mails:DIAEE—Area Fisica Tecnica, Università degli Studi di Roma “Sapienza”, Via Eudossiana, 18, 00184 Rome, Italy;

关键词: road tunnels;    lighting systems;    backup and safety lighting systems;    PV;    investments;    costs amortization;    Dialux software;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su7089809

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

While planning a double-hole road tunnel with a length higher than one km, it is important to pay attention to the safety factor if an accident occurs. If there is a power outage, in order to avoid critical situations that could jeopardize the safety of the people present (facilitating the stream coming out from the tunnel and the arrival of the emergency personnel), it is really important to guarantee uninterrupted lighting of roadways, mandatory emergency lay-bys, and ways of escape. Uninterrupted service of the lighting systems supply must be guaranteed, in accordance with the current regulations, through the exertion of UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) and power units. During tunnel construction, such devices represent a cost that must be amortized. In this case study, which takes into consideration a section of a road tunnel characterized by emergency lay-bys and ways of escape, emergency and security lighting were planned and installation and management costs were evaluated. The goal of this research was the creation of a cash flow thanks to the energy generated by photovoltaic panels, in a way that the service life of the system (25 years) coincided with the amortization of the costs of the backup electrical equipment installation (complying with the regulations). The possibility of over-dimensioning the UPS and providing it with a proper photovoltaic panel surface (235 kW_p) to generate and exchange electric energy with the grid was taken into consideration.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.