Laurence Turcksin

Multi actor multi criteria analysis (MAMCA) as a tool to support sustainable decisions: State of use

In this contribution, the multi actor multi criteria analysis (MAMCA) to evaluate transport projects is presented. This evaluation methodology specifically focuses on the inclusion of the different actors that are involved in a project, the so-called stakeholders. Like the traditional multi criteria decision analysis (MCDA), it allows including qualitative as well as quantitative criteria with their relative importance, but within the MAMCA they represent the goals and objectives of the multiple stakeholders. As such, the stakeholders are incorporated in the decision process. The theoretical foundation of the MAMCA method is shown, together with several applications in the field of transport appraisal.

Life Cycle Assessment of conventional and alternative small passenger vehicles in Belgium

In this paper it is examined how environmentally friendly conventional and new vehicle technologies are and how their environmental effects can be compared. An automotive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is being performed for small family passenger vehicles in Belgium. Next to the well-to-wheel (WTW) emissions (related to fuel production, distribution and fuel use in the vehicle), the LCA also includes cradle-to-grave emissions (related directly and indirectly to the vehicle production, transportation, maintenance and the end-of-life (EoL) processing of the vehicle). The considered impact categories are: air acidification, eutrophication, human health and greenhouse effect (GHE). Thanks to a range-based modeling system, the variations of the weight of the vehicles, the fuel consumption and the emissions are taken into account. The results show that the battery electric vehicle (BEV) has the best environmental score for all the considered impact categories. Petrol vehicles have the worst impact on the greenhouse effect, but hybridization of the drive train has a positive influence on this impact category. The impact of the hybrid vehicle is considerably lower than of the equivalent petrol vehicle. On the other hand, when assessing the acidification impact, one can notice that the hybrid car has a high impact. Without the recycling of the NiMH battery, the results for the hybrid vehicle would be even higher than for the equivalent petrol vehicle. This is due to the production of the nickel contained in the NiMH battery. Vehicles running on diesel have the highest impact on eutrophication. The tank-to-wheel (TTW) part contributes the most to the overall impact on eutrophication, as a result of the NOX emissions. The evaluation of the impact on human health shows that the petrol vehicle has the highest impact, due to the high NOX, particulate matter (PM) and SOX (WTT) emissions.

Environmental Assessment Of Different VehicleTechnologies And Fuels

In this paper, a comparative LCA of conventional and alternative vehicles is performed. Thanks to a modeling approach combining LCA methodology, vehicle homologation data and statistical tools, all the available vehicle types in a given fleet are included in a single LCA model. Statistical distributions are used to include the variations of the main parameters (weight, fuel consumption and emissions) of all the considered vehicles in the LCA model. When dealing with greenhouse effect, battery electric vehicles (BEV) powered with the Belgian electricity supply mix, have a lower greenhouse effect (18.6 ton CO2eq/lifetime) than all the comparable vehicle technologies with exception of the sugar cane based bio-ethanol E85 vehicle (8.47 ton CO2eq/lifetime). For the different impact categories considered in this study, the impacts of the LPG technology are comparable to diesel. Euro 4 LPG and Euro 4 diesel have respectively greenhouse effects of 53.2 ton CO2eq/lifetime and 49.4 ton CO2eq/lifetime. FCEVs have lower impact than petrol and diesel vehicles for greenhouse effect, respiratory effect and acidification. CNG vehicles appear to be an interesting alternative for conventional vehicles. They have a low greenhouse effect (34.7 ton CO2eq/lifetime for a Euro 5 CNG) and the best score for respiratory effects and acidification. Furthermore Euro 4 CNG and Euro 4 HEV have comparable greenhouse effects (respectively 44.9 ton CO2eq/lifetime and 46.4 ton CO2eq/lifetime). Thanks to an iterative calculation process and the use of range of values instead average values, the variation of all the LCA results is assessed without performing a new LCA model. This approach provides the Urban Transport XVIII 15 doi:10.2495/UT1200 1 2 www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 (on-line) WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, Vol 128,