Calculation Of External Costs Research Articles

Multi-Faceted Analysis of Airborne Noise Impact in the Port of Split (I)

This multi-faceted study deals with the analysis of the impact of noise emissions from the cargo terminals in the port of Split, especially in view of the proximity to inhabited areas and the growing number of registered issues and concerns due to its particular location. Three objectives are pursued: the identification of noise sources in the port area, an overview of strategic noise maps and simulations of noise propagation from ships at berth, and the calculation of external costs of noise pollution. In the first, preliminary part of the research project, by conducting a monitoring campaign and analyzing the data on strategic noise maps of the studied area, road and rail traffic were estimated as the main noise sources causing excessive noise emissions for all assessment periods: day (Lday), evening (Levening), night (Lnight), and day-evening-night (Lden) period. Industrial resources, including ports, were identified as having marginal noise emission levels. The calculation of the total external noise costs results in a damage value of €190,166/year, considering the number of affected inhabitants and the assumed noise levels. As an added value of the study, the simulation results of two scenarios have determined the noise propagation of a ship at berth and highlighted the zone of excessive noise under certain conditions. The results of this study should encourage the relevant institutions to strengthen noise management plans and introduce effective and continuous monitoring of noise emissions in critical areas.

Calculation of External Costs from Production of Direct and Indirect Emissions from Traffic Operation

Abstract The paper addresses the issue of the internalisation of the external costs of direct and indirect emissions from traffic operation on the transport route, on the section of the transport route as well as on the transport of one shipment in freight and one passenger in the bus transport. Existing emission calculators do not allow the calculation of external costs from traffic in the environmental impact of transport services. The article deals with design of methodology for calculator of direct and indirect emissions and the internalisation of external costs of transport services for different types of vehicles in road transport.

DIDEM - An integrated model for comparative health damage costs calculation of air pollution

Air pollution represents a continuous hazard to human health. Administration, companies and population need efficient indicators of the possible effects given by a change in decision, strategy or habit. The monetary quantification of health effects of air pollution through the definition of external costs is increasingly recognized as a useful indicator to support decision and information at all levels. The development of modelling tools for the calculation of external costs can provide support to analysts in the development of consistent and comparable assessments. In this paper, the DIATI Dispersion and Externalities Model (DIDEM) is presented. The DIDEM model calculates the delta-external costs of air pollution comparing two alternative emission scenarios. This tool integrates CALPUFF's advanced dispersion modelling with the latest WHO recommendations on concentration-response functions. The model is based on the impact pathway method. It was designed to work with a fine spatial resolution and a local or national geographic scope. The modular structure allows users to input their own data sets. The DIDEM model was tested on a real case study, represented by a comparative analysis of the district heating system in Turin, Italy. Additional advantages and drawbacks of the tool are discussed in the paper. A comparison with other existing models worldwide is reported.

Life-cycle consequences of internalising socio-environmental externalities of power generation

Current national energy sectors are generally unsustainable. Within this context, energy policy-makers face the need to move from economy- to sustainability-oriented schemes. Beyond the integration of the sustainability concept into energy policies through the implementation of techno-economic, environmental and/or social restrictions, other approaches propose the use of externalities –based on life-cycle emissions– to deeply take into account sustainability in the design of the future energy system. In this sense, this work evaluates the consequences of internalising socio-environmental externalities associated with power generation. Besides the calculation of external costs of power generation technologies and their implementation in an energy systems optimisation model for Spain, the life-cycle consequences of this internalisation are explored. This involves the prospective analysis of the evolution of the sustainability indicators on which the externalities are founded, i.e. climate change and human health. For the first time, this is done by endogenously integrating the life-cycle indicators into the energy systems optimisation model. The results show that the internalisation of externalities highly influences the evolution of the electricity production mix as well as the corresponding life-cycle profile, hastening the decarbonisation of the power generation system and thus leading to a significant decrease in life-cycle impacts. This effect is observed both when internalising only climate change externalities and when internalising additionally human health external costs.

External costs from vessel emissions at port: a review of the methodological and empirical state of the art

ABSTRACTThe accurate calculation of external costs from vessel emissions and shipping (as it happens with transport) strongly depends on parameters such as location, the time of the day and vessel operative. Thus, the use of a full bottom-up approach and granular traffic details is suggested. The latter may represent a substantial improvement in the resolution of shipping activity, energy demand, emissions and cost data being the latter essential for better regulations. The revised work identifies the Impact Pathway Approach (IPA) as the best-practice bottom-up methodology for calculating site-specific external costs derived from shipping air emissions. It has been widely adopted, among others, over major European studies (CAFE, BeTa, NEEDS and HEATCO). Also, it shows that due to costly and complex requirements of creating a shipping and harbour-specific bottom-up approach, external cost calculation based on tonne per euro factors obtained from European Studies (top-down approach) has been widely accepted. Moreover, methodological improvements and the possible achievement of refined estimations (IPA) dedicated to ports and shipping are strongly suggested, as these may improve information quality used for environmental policy and measures that contribute to the internalisation of externality costs.

Competencies of logistics operators for optimisation the external costs within freight logistics solution

Maritime transport logistics outgrows the competence of classic freight forwarders deleting the boundaries among forwarders, brokers, and carriers and creates a new profession, logistics operator. They are now faced with the need for careful planning and coordination among multiple parties for shifting the freight logistics industry towards more sustainable goals. Significant need for political and operational respect of principles of sustainable development, and also external costs in this context, undertakes logistics operators to review their solutions in accordance with adequate knowledge, skills, and competencies. It is particularly important in forecasting the external costs which are not a central business interest. The above mentioned competencies are described focusing on subjects (issues and knowledges) through whom logistics operators should be trained. Moreover, logistics operators have a greater responsibility towards carriers but also an opportunity to reduce not only the cost of transportation but also the external costs within the logistic supply chain. In this paper calculation of external costs is, practically, shown in the example of towing in the port. The old education programs were compared with the new demands of the market. The substantial difference was evident in the subject of Marine Ecology whose content is becoming the central issue of sustainability of transport modalities. New competencies of logistics operators will become the relevant factor of sustainable development and competitiveness on the freight logistics market. That confirm the analysed current projects about present trends in the transport sector in which the green logistics including external costs become the important and binding element of cargo flow planning.

“After the Sublime,” after the Apocalypse: Two Versions of Sustainability in Light of Climate Change

This article interrogates a commonly accepted conception of "sustainability" first formulated in the Brundtland Commission Report of 1987. Stoekl argues that notions of sustainability that are vague as to what is being sustained, and for how long a time, are fundamentally incoherent. Stoekl proposes two conceptions of sustainability, a restrained and a general, that both derive from a recognition that a sustainability based on a calculation of external costs is impossible, given the fundamental incalculability of external cost. This is not to say, however, that the calculation of external costs need not be engaged in, but rather that that its necessity results in a kind of sublime, a sense of awe before a towering task. The sublime itself implies a subject-centered experience, however, which the incalculabilities put in question. This leads to the formulation of a post-sublime implying two sustainabilities: a second order, or restrained, one, entailing the mobilization of fictions and aesthetico-sacred fabulation in the face of ecological disaster, and a first-order, or general one, in which the necessity of the human origin and end is put more thoroughly in question.

Calculation of external costs for freight transport

The negative impacts of transport are in general associated with costs. These costs are usually denoted as ‘external costs’ or ‘externalities’. This paper presents a tool for calculating external costs for freight transport together with its application to a number of case studies. The categories considered include: air pollution, greenhouse gases, noise, accidents and congestion. Results are presented for a number of different transport alternatives as total costs and divided into categories. The uncertainties in the results are discussed. The assessment of these costs is essential for predicting future transport costs.

Trends and uncertainty in air pollution impacts and external costs of Belgian passenger car traffic

The main objective of this paper is to track the changing importance of air pollution impacts by Belgian passenger cars. Our assessment of environmental impacts is based on the calculation of external costs with the ExternE methodology. Our results show that the decline of air pollution impacts from Belgian passenger cars between 1993 and 1998 was limited. This is explained by the combination of three contributing factors the slow turnover of the fleet, the typical Belgian high and growing percentage of diesel fuelled passenger cars and the annual increase of the average mileage per car. The secondary objective is to investigate to what degree the choice of emission factors influences our conclusions. Although estimates of the overall cost of air pollution derived from MEET and Infras are similar, the trend towards improved air quality is more pronounced for MEET.