1. Background, Goal and Scope: The ecoinvent database is a reference work for life cycle inventory data covering the areas of energy, building materials, metals, chemicals, paper and cardboard, forestry, agriculture, detergents, transport services and waste treatment. Generic inventories are available for freight and passenger transport including air, rail, road and water transport. The goal of freight transport modelling is to provide background data for transport services, which occur between nearly any two process steps of a product system. This paper presents and discusses the model structure, basic assumptions and resultsfor selected freight transport services. 2. Main Features: Transport services are divided into several datasets referred to as transport components. In addition to vehicle operation (comprising vehicle travel and pre-combustion), infrastructure processes such as vehicle maintenance, manufacturing and disposal, as well as transport infrastructure construction, operation and disposal, are also modelled. In order to link the various transport components to the functional unit of one tonne kilometre (tkm), so-called demand factors are determined. In the case of transport infrastructure that is not exclusively used by freight transport, allocation is essential. The respective allocation parameters employed for line infrastructure construction/disposal and operation datasets (including land use) are yearly Gross-tonne kilometre performance (Gtkm) and kilometric vehicle/train performance. Results are presented for selected environmental exchanges related to gaseous emissions (climate change gases, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons), heavy metal (zinc and cadmium) emissions to soil and air, as well as BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) and land use. Particle emissions are further distinguished into fine (PM2.5) and coarse (diameter between 2.5 and 10 mikrometer) particles. The results presented comprise both an intra- and intermodal comparison. 3. Results and Discussion: A comparison of Swiss and European rail transport reveals considerably lower emissions from Swiss rail transport due to the almost exclusive use of hydropower as traction energy. For gaseous emissions, freight transport by water or rail exhibits considerably better performance than road transport (65-92% less gaseous emissions). As far as zinc and cadmium emissions to soil are concerned, water and rail transport produce less than 1% of the emissions resulting from road transport for either pollutant. For zinc and cadmium emissions to air, road transport has the highest emissions; however, the emissions due to water and rail transport range from 2 to 18% of the emission levels arising from road transport. Particle emissions show a more diverse pattern. Whilst fine particle emissions due to water and rail transport are considerably lower than road transport, rail transport with respect to coarse particles performs worse than road transport.
Life cycle inventories of transport services. Background data for freight transport
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment ; 10 , 1 ; 85-94
2005
10 Seiten, 4 Bilder, 6 Tabellen, 17 Quellen
Article (Journal)
English
Umweltforschung , Ökologie , Umweltumgebung , Lebenszyklus , Lebenszyklusbewertung , Bewertungsmethode , Energiewirtschaft (Ökonomie) , Energieumwandlung , Transport , Energie , Baustoff , Metall (Werkstoff) , Chemikalie , Abfallprodukt , Waschmittel , Abfallbehandlung , Infrastruktur , Emission , Schadstoffemission , Datenbank , Bahntransport , Wasser , Transportsystem , klimatische Bedingung , Elektrizität , Umweltbelastung , Umweltbilanz
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