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LCA of land-based freight transportation: facilitating practical application and including accidents in LCIA

Fries, Nikolaus ; Hellweg, Stefanie

In: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2014, vol. 19, no. 3, p. 546-557

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    Titre
    • LCA of land-based freight transportation: facilitating practical application and including accidents in LCIA
    Auteur
    • Fries, Nikolaus. ETH Zurich, Institute for Transport Planning and Systems (IVT), Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 15, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
    • Hellweg, Stefanie. ETH Zurich, Institute of Environmental Engineering (IfU), Schafmattstr. 32, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Inglese
    Publié dans
    • The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2014, vol. 19, no. 3, p. 546-557. Springer Berlin Heidelberg
    Autre version électronique
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:326516
    Summary
    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 CO2, NOx 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.