Search results for "pollutant emission"
showing 10 items of 26 documents
Smart vs conventional motorways: environmental impact assessment under realistic traffic conditions
2020
Abstract This research aims at assessing the environmental impacts exerted by a smart motorway compared to those of a traditional motorway. The study has global policy implications: it takes into account the impacts due to the construction and maintenance of the infrastructure and the environmental effects produced by the traffic emissions, taking into account smart technologies and truck platooning regulation. Through a classical LCA approach, 1 km-long smart motorway with 2 m-high embankment was assumed as the functional unit for the analysis. A realistic traffic condition has been considered. A comparison between environmental effects produced by the use of virgin material and by Reclaim…
Energy management strategy to reduce pollutant emissions during the catalyst light-off of parallel hybrid vehicles
2020
Abstract The transportation sector is a major contributor to both air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Hybrid electric vehicles can reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by optimizing the energy management of the powertrain. The purpose of this study is to examine the trade-off between regulated pollutant emissions and hybrid powertrain efficiency. The thermal dynamics of the three-way catalyst are taken into account in order to optimize the light-off. Experimental campaigns are conducted on a spark-ignition engine to introduce simplified models for emissions, exhaust gas temperature, catalyst heat transfers and efficiency. These models are used to determine the optimal distribut…
A simplified method for the indirect evaluation of the “embodied pollution” of natural stones (marble) working chain to be applied for achieving the …
2022
The constant push toward higher energy and environmental quality buildings makes the acquisition of excellence marks for products and materials, of which the building envelope is constituted, increasingly urgent. The recent European (EU) Commission Decision 2021/476 is applicable to marble used in construction. It sets out criteria that companies producing marble have to accomplish to obtain the EU Ecolabel brand. Unfortunately, some criteria such as, for example, those that refer to the application of the Environmental Management System, ISO 14001 and EMAS certifications, or those that concern the ISO 14067 as well as the Product Environment Footprint procedure, are difficult to apply for …
Sustainable Mobility in Park Areas: The Potential Offered by Guided Transport Systems
2012
The project choices to design and manage a transport infrastructure system are extremely hard in thinly populated areas like, for instance, protected areas and mostly parks. In actual fact, the need for promotion and development of these areas, often characterized by large surfaces, contrasts with the necessity to preserve their inestimable natural value. The transportation demand in extremely sensible environmental contexts can be satisfied by providing incentives to use reduced-impact means of transport, regulating adequately the vehicle traffic flow and promoting the intermodality between private and public transport systems. Apart from performing their own traditional functions, these s…
Optimizing Fuel Consumption and Pollutant Emissions of a Spark Ignition Engine for Eco-driving Applications
2018
VPPC 2018, Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference, Chicago, ETATS-UNIS, 27-/08/2018 - 30/08/2018; The transportation sector is a major contributor to both air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. While optimizing fuel consumption reduces CO2 emissions, it can increase fuel-rich operation and cause higher HC and CO emissions. A simplified emissions model is thus introduced in order to account for the impact of air/fuel ratio on both the exhaust concentration of regulated pollutants and the catalyst efficiency. This model is used to solve the eco-driving problem with dynamic programming and a weighted objective function. An emission-centered and a consumption-centered scenario are compare…
An integrated environmental indicator for urban transportation systems: description and application
2015
A simplified version of the ecological footprint method is proposed for assessing the environmental performances of urban transportation systems. The method, starting from the knowledge of the composition of the running vehicular fleet, is here applied to a southern Italian province. It represents a synthetic indicator of the environmental pressure exerted by the system also matching the pollutant emissions with the carrying capacity of the site. Particularly, the forested area needed to absorb the CO2 emissions of the system is compared with the total forested area of the province. The results of the case-study indicates the yearly maximum distance that each vehicle of the fleet can cover …
The environmental benefits of carsharing: The case study of Palermo
2020
Abstract The problems related to traffic emissions are becoming increasingly pressing and serious, especially in big cities where the private car plays the main role in the mobility of people, being excessively used, while walking, cycling and the use of public transport are often seen as secondary options and are hampered by a poorly urban environment. Therefore, solutions must be found to reduce the number of cars circulating in the city and to support the most sustainable modes of transport at the same time, in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and harmful substances. A modal alternative which is of undoubted interest could be represented by carsharing, which is a mode comple…
Reducing Air Pollutants through Road Innovative Intersections
2013
Road pollutant emissions are correlated mainly to infrastructural capacity and to traffic intensity and typology. With the aim to improve road intersections performances in the last years was designed many new geometric layouts, like turbo roundabouts and flower roundabouts. The main objective of this paper is carried out a comparative analysis between conventional and innovative roundabouts in terms of CO, CO2, NO and PM2,5 vehicular emissions, evaluated by means of COPERT Software which is developed as a European tool for the calculation of emissions from the road transport sector.
Integrating vehicle specific power methodology and microsimulation in estimating emissions on urban roundabouts
2021
In this study pollutant emissions were estimated from VSP modal emission rates and the distribution of time spent in each VSP mode obtained from the speed profiles both gathered in the field and simulated in AIMSUN at a sample of urban roundabouts. The versatility of the micro-simulation model for a calibration aimed at improving accuracy of emissions estimates was tested in order to ensure that second-by-second trajectories experienced in the field by a test vehicle through the sampled roundabouts properly reflected the simulated speed profiles. The first results which the thesis will refer, confirmed the feasibility of the smart approach that integrates the use of field-observed and simul…
On the Use of a Hydrogen-Fueled Engine in a Hybrid Electric Vehicle
2022
Featured Application: The specific application of this research could be the implementation of a hydrogen-fueled engine in a hybrid electric vehicle in order to improve the engine efficiency and to eliminate its exhaust emissions. Hybrid electric vehicles are currently one of the most effective ways to increase the efficiency and reduce the pollutant emissions of internal combustion engines. Green hydrogen, produced with renewable energies, is an excellent alternative to fossil fuels in order to drastically reduce engine pollutant emissions. In this work, the author proposes the implementation of a hydrogen-fueled engine in a hybrid vehicle; the investigated hybrid powertrain is the power-s…