Objective
The objectives are to co-ordinate research activities related to direct or indirect emissions of regulated and unregulated pollutants, as well as fuel consumption or energy use by various modes of transport. This includes the analysis of the methodology and results of research, to carry out syntheses of the available data, and to develop appropriate tools, to co-ordinate research. The four transport modes (road, rail, air and waterborne) are considered, as well as all levels of calculation, from local and instantaneous emissions to world-wide estimation.
Ever-growing mobility, in Europe and world-wide, has made transport - especially road transport - the major contributor to air pollution, especially in urban areas. This is why considerable research effort addresses the problem of transport and the environment. This activity can be categorised under two major headings : studies to estimate the current situation and to forecast the future, and studies to develop and evaluate solutions. In general terms, the estimation of the mobility related emissions can be based on the equation :
E = ea
where E is the amount of emission, e is the emission rate per unit of activity, and a is the amount of transport activity.
This equation applies to every level, from a single car engine, a plane or ship to a whole fleet ; and from a single road to the whole of Europe or even wider.
Current status
The wide field covered by the action, as well as the large number of experts involved (more than 80), demanded the formation of four main Working Groups, specialised in :
- road emission factors and functions : quantification of emission rates per unit of transport activity and studies of the factors that influence them ;
- road traffic characteristics : modelling and measurements of driving behaviour, fleet composition characteristics and statistics, future trends ;
- inventorying tools : study and evaluation of models and procedures to assess road transport emissions ;
- non-road transport : emission factors, traffic characteristics and inventorying tools specific to air transport, railways transport and waterborne transport.
Each main group is further divided in sub-groups which have been meeting when necessary. Thus 23 sub-groups are working. Each Working Group or sub-group has a co-ordinator. While 80 scientists directly contribute to the Action, a network of 150 experts (mainly European) has also been created to allow better co-operation with the different subgroups or potential users. The Action has already completed the collection of available measurements data, statistics, and models, especially for road transport. Among other achievements, research came up with improved estimates of cold start emissions, enhanced instantaneous emissions functions needed for local applications, or new models and data for heavy duty vehicles for which measurements on test benches are more costly.
Contracts
"Life Cycle Analysis of Motor fuels", ETSU, final report included in the Action interim report.
"Estimation of pollutant emissions from alternative fuels and new vehicles technologies", MIRA, final report included in the Action interim report.
"Traffic Management effects on the pollutant emissions", ETP, final report included in the Action interim report.
Work planned
More attention will be paid to air, train and plane emissions for which collection of available data and models is on-going. By the end of the Action, the expectation is to compile and harmonise data and models for large scale and multi-modal applications (regional, national or European), to improve models for local applications, and to improve compatibility of emission models with models used for traffic estimates and forecast and those used for calculating the impact of emissions on environment.
The expected benefits are that the results will allow the making available of a set of methodologies accepted by most of the European experts. The use of common methods to evaluate emissions and energy consumptions all over Europe and possibly more widely will make the different studies and assessments comparable. At European level, the Action is expected to contribute directly or indirectly to estimate the environmental impact of the Trans-European networks, to conduct European emission inventories, to provide data and methods to define an appropriate Inspection and Maintenance policy for road vehicles, and to define and to agree on the most cost-effective vehicle standards.
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
Data not availableCoordinator
1049 Brussels
Belgium