Noise footprint from personal land‐based mobility

Abstract

A large part of the world population is exposed to noise levels that are unhealthy. Yet noise is often neglected when impact assessment studies are conducted and when policy interventions are designed. In this study, we provide a way to calculate the noise footprint of citizens directly determined by their use of private and public transport on land. The study combines the results of the large transport simulation model MATSim applied to Switzerland, with a noise characterization model, N‐LCA, developed in the context of life cycle assessment. MATSim results allow tracking the use of private and public transportation by agents in the model. The results after characterization provide a consumption‐based noise footprint, thus the total noise and impacts that are caused by the private mobility demand of the citizens of Switzerland. Our results confirm that road transportation is the largest contributor to the total noise footprint of land‐based mobility. We also included a scenario with a full transition to an electrified car fleet, which showed the potential for the reduction of impacts, particularly in urban areas, by about 55% as compared to the modeled regime with combustion engines.

Does Size Matter? The Influence of Size, Load Factor, Range Autonomy, and Application Type on the Life Cycle Assessment of Current and Future Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles

“…The sum of noise power over time divided by the distance of the driving cycle results in noise energy (joules) per kilometer driven, which are then converted into Person-Pascal-second. As with hot pollutant emissions, different emission compartments are identified for each driving cycle (i.e., urban, suburban, and rural), as environment-specific characterization factors (from Person-Pascal-second to disability-adjusted life year) are used to assess the impact of noise energy on human health, according to ref .…”

Environmental Performance of Noise Reduction System in Cogeneration Plants—A Life Cycle Assessment Study

“…Despite the longstanding interest of scientists and legislators in the environmental impact of noise, this aspect is still neglected. An important manifestation of this is the lack of noise implementation in the life cycle assessment (LCA) [4,5].…”

“…Another recent study aimed at determining the noise footprint of personal mobility in Switzerland [5]. The model included land-based transportation distinguishing between private cars, regional, urban and long-distance trains, trams, and trolley buses considering the distances covered and speeds.…”

Open-source modeling chain for the dynamic assessment of road traffic noise exposure

“…Kuehnel et al (2020) proposed a method to estimate the effect of noise on housing prices based on this same coupling. Cucurachi et al (2019) also relied on MATSim to evaluate the contribution of road transportation to the total noise footprint of land-based mobility. Lastly, from a decision-making perspective, Bean & Joubert (2020) proposed a modeling approach based on MATSim to investigate offhour deliveries in Cape Town (South Africa); their work highlighted the need to account for the induced increase in noise pollution.…”