Life Cycle Assessment of Noise Emissions: Comment on a Recent Publication

Heijungs, Reinout; Cucurachi, Stefano

doi:10.1007/s10666-016-9545-z

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Additionally, because the different asphalt types and available technologies in different countries, more specific ALCA and CLCA are valuable. On the other hand, despite the fact that noise assessment has been done for decades, the inclusion of noise impacts in LCA is not constantly taken into account for environmental impact assessments (Heijungs and Cucurachi 2017;Garraín et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment including traffic noise: conventional vs. rubberized asphalt

Obando

Ruiz

Kaloush

et al. 2021

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose It is estimated that in Colombia around 25 million tires are disposed of yearly. The management of discarded tires is still a major problem considering that 3 of 10 disposed tires end up on sidewalks, separators, parks, wetlands, and even in front of houses. Additionally, mainly in urban and suburban zones near the main roads, noise is one of the central factors that affect people's quality of life. In this article, a life cycle assessment (LCA) from cradle to grave of rubberized and conventional asphalt pavements was employed to quantify the consequences associated with the implementation of the alternative technology and the present engineering practices. LCA was performed involving the local materials and available machineries in Colombia, and the inclusion of traffic noise as part of the LCA. Methods LCA in this study involves two methods: attributional LCA (ALCA) and consequential LCA (CLCA). To include the effect of traffic noise in the LCA, a methodology developed by the Swiss author Gabor Doka (2003) was used. Estimation of material's quantities and their characteristics, noise levels, logistics, and production were done based on a Colombian case study. Results and discussionDamage assessment showed that conventional asphalt (CA) impacts 67% more in human life than rubberized asphalt (RA). Traffic noise assessment results presented that CA has about 38% more impact in human life compared with RA, then, considering the study period (25 years), a reduction of 2.8 dB in noise emission due to the implementation of RA represents a considerable positive impact in human life. The total effect in ecosystems showed that CA has 40% more impact in the extinction rate of species than RA. In total, CA causes 43% more impact in resources than RA. Consequential assessment showed that the implementation of the RA represents 48% less environmental damage than the conventional alternative. Conclusions RA is a more environmentally friendly alternative compared with CA because it requires less raw material usage, and less mix production due to its better performance (less maintenance and rehabilitation interventions). RA represents a suitable alternative to divert tons of used tires from the landfills.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment including traffic noise: conventional vs. rubberized asphalt

Obando

Ruiz

Kaloush

et al. 2021

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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“…(), the impact assessment model considers the physical features of the propagation of sound and relates them through exposure and effect to endpoints in DALY. However, no generic or spatially explicit characterization factors are provided for other cases than the main roads of Istanbul (Heijungs & Cucurachi, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noise footprint from personal land‐based mobility

Cucurachi

Schiess

Froemelt

et al. 2019

J of Industrial Ecology

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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.

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“…However, there are no data currently available for the assessment of health impacts due to exposure to industrial or construction noise. Missing life cycle perspective was raised by Heijungs and Cucurachi [32]. Moreover, they considered this approach more as a site-specific noise assessment rather than a general method that allowed for the application in various locations.…”

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confidence: 99%

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

Marcinkowski

Kopania

2021

Energies

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Although one of the most harmful factors to health is noise, it is often ignored in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies. Most researches regarding noise inclusion in LCA focus on the problem of transport noise, and very few works consider the impact of noise emitted by other sources. This study addresses the effects of noise generated by cogeneration plants. The main objective is to assess the environmental performance of the noise reduction system by considering the health effects of noise due to steam discharge as well as to compare the environmental loss associated with the production and disposal of a steam silencer with the benefits resulting from its application for noise reduction. A method to determine midpoint and endpoint human health indicators for a composition of noise emitted by intermittent stationary source and background noise is developed. The results indicate that the health benefit due to noise reduction is six orders of magnitude greater than the environmental loss. Human health indicators attributable to noise reduction in the residential zones under consideration span a wide range of disability adjusted life years (DALY)—0.16–136 DALY. The greatest values occur in the densely populated areas located close to the noise source. A formula is proposed to express annoyance of the residents of individual zones depending on their distance to the steam discharge source, its sound power level, and existing background noise level. Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses have been carried out assuming other conditions. Modifications of sound power level, noise reduction efficiency, steam discharge duration, and the silencer lifetime have not affected the overall conclusion drawn.

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Life Cycle Assessment of Noise Emissions: Comment on a Recent Publication

Cited by 8 publications

References 5 publications

Life cycle assessment including traffic noise: conventional vs. rubberized asphalt

Life cycle assessment including traffic noise: conventional vs. rubberized asphalt

Noise footprint from personal land‐based mobility

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

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