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- Title
LCA of land-based freight transportation: facilitating practical application and including accidents in LCIA.
- Authors
Fries, Nikolaus; Hellweg, Stefanie
- Abstract
Purpose: A major task concerning the greening of freight transportation is to influence the process of choosing an appropriate transport solution for a shipment. This paper presents the results of a detailed environmental benchmark study of freight transport chains recorded during a shipper survey administered in Switzerland in 2008. Materials and methods: For the environmental evaluation, life cycle assessment was applied and enhanced with a new method for integrating damage to human health caused by traffic accidents based on the disability adjusted life year concept. Results and discussion: The results show that in land-based transport, road generally has a lower environmental performance compared to intermodal and rail-only transport. Exceptions exist, e.g. for long pre- and post-haulage distances in intermodal transport or for very low train-load factors. The most relevant environmental interventions to pay attention to are, according to the methods applied, emissions of CO, NO and particulates as well as accident damages. Conclusions: Rail transport is often, but not always, environmentally preferable than truck transport. Accident damages to human health should be included in each benchmark study. For practical application, a simplified benchmark methodology is proposed requiring a reduced level of detail for the input data.
- Subjects
FREIGHT &; freightage; TRAFFIC accidents; CARBON monoxide; PARTICULATE matter; SHIPMENT of goods; GREENHOUSE gases
- Publication
International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2014, Vol 19, Issue 3, p546
- ISSN
0948-3349
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11367-013-0657-2