Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NEMO (Noise and Emissions Monitoring and radical mitigation)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2021-11-01 do 2023-10-31
The harmful effects of the transport sector are one of the most worrisome problems in Europe. Transport produces almost a quarter of Europe's greenhouse gas emissions and is the main cause of noise and air pollution in cities. Long-term exposure to noise and pollution may cause direct health problems, such as sleep disturbance, stress, asthma, high blood pressure and cardiac diseases. According to the latest available data from the European Environment Agency (EEA), noise is associated with more than 12,000 premature deaths every year in EU-27, whereas air pollution (PM2.5 NOx and O3) with more than 367,000. Hence, there is a need to design and manage transport and mobility in a smarter way.
Other problems addressed by NEMO are:
• EU-27 circulating car park presents discrepancies between certification tests and the real-world emissions in road vehicles. For trains, UIC noted that most present diesel-locomotives did not comply with stage IIIA of the European NRMM directive. There are no standardized criteria for their monitoring and enforcement.
• The major source of environmental noise in European urban areas is road traffic (contributing 80%), while railway traffic is the second one.
• The current systems running in main of the cities are not prepared to collect and analyse data from traffics sensors and communicating within the infrastructure or with the drivers. Digital Transformation in Europe is one of the key pillars for the Europe of 2050. Thus, it is necessary to provide to the local authorities fully functional solutions easily integrable in their system.
• The wear of car tyres that significantly contributes to the flow of microplastics into the ocean.
Therefore, Europe has the need to measure, monitor and identify all noise and pollutant sources in transport. If it is measurable, it can be targeted and reduced. With these regards, the project objectives are:
• Create totally new RS emission technology that can be integrated with existing infrastructures and can deliver gaseous emissions analyses in near real-time.
• Drastically extend existing noise measuring technology for road traffic with array technology and with engine speed and engine load detection while for rail traffic to determine TSI standardized noise level of single wagons in a train.
• Integrating fully autonomous Emissions & Noise RS systems into existing infrastructures to offer a more complete monitoring solution.
Thus, considering the goal and results achieved along whole NEMO project, High gaseous and noise emitting vehicles are circulating in European roads without effective control, and they pose a significant danger to public health. Nevertheless, these vehicles could be identified in their free-flow circulation with the use of remote sensing technology. Lessons learnt from many countries where this is already regulated should be used in Europe. Cities would especially benefit from this technology, but the lack of EU regulation prevents them from using this technology. They should be empowered not only to monitor air quality, but also to manage and reduce local emissions, which are mainly from road traffic. This leads to the following recommendations focused on promotion and standardization of pollutants and noise real-world measurements directly by the source.
Other problems addressed by NEMO are:
• EU-27 circulating car park presents discrepancies between certification tests and the real-world emissions in road vehicles. For trains, UIC noted that most present diesel-locomotives did not comply with stage IIIA of the European NRMM directive. There are no standardized criteria for their monitoring and enforcement.
• The major source of environmental noise in European urban areas is road traffic (contributing 80%), while railway traffic is the second one.
• The current systems running in main of the cities are not prepared to collect and analyse data from traffics sensors and communicating within the infrastructure or with the drivers. Digital Transformation in Europe is one of the key pillars for the Europe of 2050. Thus, it is necessary to provide to the local authorities fully functional solutions easily integrable in their system.
• The wear of car tyres that significantly contributes to the flow of microplastics into the ocean.
Therefore, Europe has the need to measure, monitor and identify all noise and pollutant sources in transport. If it is measurable, it can be targeted and reduced. With these regards, the project objectives are:
• Create totally new RS emission technology that can be integrated with existing infrastructures and can deliver gaseous emissions analyses in near real-time.
• Drastically extend existing noise measuring technology for road traffic with array technology and with engine speed and engine load detection while for rail traffic to determine TSI standardized noise level of single wagons in a train.
• Integrating fully autonomous Emissions & Noise RS systems into existing infrastructures to offer a more complete monitoring solution.
Thus, considering the goal and results achieved along whole NEMO project, High gaseous and noise emitting vehicles are circulating in European roads without effective control, and they pose a significant danger to public health. Nevertheless, these vehicles could be identified in their free-flow circulation with the use of remote sensing technology. Lessons learnt from many countries where this is already regulated should be used in Europe. Cities would especially benefit from this technology, but the lack of EU regulation prevents them from using this technology. They should be empowered not only to monitor air quality, but also to manage and reduce local emissions, which are mainly from road traffic. This leads to the following recommendations focused on promotion and standardization of pollutants and noise real-world measurements directly by the source.
The NEMO project has developed two prototypes for measuring noise and emissions from transportation. These devices aim to identify high emitters in road, rail, and sea traffic, aligning with current and upcoming EU legislation. The Emissions remote sensing device (E-RSD) has been successfully tested against PEMS measurements, showing good agreement. The Noise remote sensing device (N-RSD) measures noise emissions from individual vehicles using microphones, radar, and cameras. The prototypes were tested in Germany and the Netherlands under real conditions.
As a complement to the measuring elements, a digital platform called NAUTILUS had been developed to synchronize, classify, store, and analyze data from these devices. The platform uses a flexible, scalable, and complete design. The Classification Dialog System communicates classification results to vehicle owners and infrastructure providers.
Complementary to remote sensing, the project created mitigation elements including, in one hand a multifunctional barrier to absorb noise and eliminate atmospheric pollutants (NOx and PM). On the other hand, a pavement solution designed to minimize noise and capture microplastics were also developed and tested in Florence.
NEMO's technologies have achieved a high functional level, even though the objective of the project was to develop prototype solutions. These technologies are fully market-ready or remarkably close to market readiness. All partners intend to continue to invest in these solutions, improve them and bring them to the market for commercial exploitation.
There are immediate plans to put these solutions on the market, first in Europe and then elsewhere (mainly USA and Asia). Certain regulatory barriers in Europe need to be overcome for these solutions to truly scale. There is end-customer interest in using the technologies, but the lack of regulation is limiting commercial adoption, as they cannot yet be used in Europe to regulate the circulation of high-emitters.
As a complement to the measuring elements, a digital platform called NAUTILUS had been developed to synchronize, classify, store, and analyze data from these devices. The platform uses a flexible, scalable, and complete design. The Classification Dialog System communicates classification results to vehicle owners and infrastructure providers.
Complementary to remote sensing, the project created mitigation elements including, in one hand a multifunctional barrier to absorb noise and eliminate atmospheric pollutants (NOx and PM). On the other hand, a pavement solution designed to minimize noise and capture microplastics were also developed and tested in Florence.
NEMO's technologies have achieved a high functional level, even though the objective of the project was to develop prototype solutions. These technologies are fully market-ready or remarkably close to market readiness. All partners intend to continue to invest in these solutions, improve them and bring them to the market for commercial exploitation.
There are immediate plans to put these solutions on the market, first in Europe and then elsewhere (mainly USA and Asia). Certain regulatory barriers in Europe need to be overcome for these solutions to truly scale. There is end-customer interest in using the technologies, but the lack of regulation is limiting commercial adoption, as they cannot yet be used in Europe to regulate the circulation of high-emitters.
Remote sensing devices for road vehicle emissions (RSD) have been around for several decades, are portable and require considerable manpower for daily use. ORSE and OTS have developed a new prototype of this technology. The main improvements of the E-RSD technology are related to 24/7 operation and infrastructure integration capabilities. The result is a new technology that provides a device with fully autonomous capabilities and an additional feature which allow monitor emissions from 2-lane roads. In a similar way, a system to measure noise emissions from individual circulating vehicles was developed in the NEMO project.
The ability of a road surface to mitigate traffic noise emissions depends on the fleet composition and traffic conditions. In the NEMO project, the UC and M+P have developed two specific formulas, one for urban and one for peri-urban areas considering an optimal combination of high noise reduction and low rolling resistance defined for two different fleet composition and traffic conditions, one specific for each area. Apart from minimizing noise and rolling resistance, the new formulations present a very good mechanical performance. The mixture design for urban roads (NEMO-urban) has been implemented in a real road section in Florence where its noise mitigation capacity has been assessed and compared with a conventional pavement. Targeted mitigation noise values have been largely achieved.
Traditional noise barriers focus on mitigating noise pollution from road traffic. Traditionally, materials such as concrete or acrylic are used. On the other hand, vegetation-based noise barriers to absorb and reflect sound were gaining popularity. To improve the state of the art, the multifunctional NEMO barrier, commercially called ASWALL (Acoustic Solution Wall), has integrated noise mitigation and air pollutant removal using nature-based solutions (NBS) into a single system. ASWALL, developed by AUDIOTEC and CARTIF and demonstrated in the city of Valladolid, Spain, has achieved positive results in reducing noise levels and target pollutants, NOx and PM.
The ability of a road surface to mitigate traffic noise emissions depends on the fleet composition and traffic conditions. In the NEMO project, the UC and M+P have developed two specific formulas, one for urban and one for peri-urban areas considering an optimal combination of high noise reduction and low rolling resistance defined for two different fleet composition and traffic conditions, one specific for each area. Apart from minimizing noise and rolling resistance, the new formulations present a very good mechanical performance. The mixture design for urban roads (NEMO-urban) has been implemented in a real road section in Florence where its noise mitigation capacity has been assessed and compared with a conventional pavement. Targeted mitigation noise values have been largely achieved.
Traditional noise barriers focus on mitigating noise pollution from road traffic. Traditionally, materials such as concrete or acrylic are used. On the other hand, vegetation-based noise barriers to absorb and reflect sound were gaining popularity. To improve the state of the art, the multifunctional NEMO barrier, commercially called ASWALL (Acoustic Solution Wall), has integrated noise mitigation and air pollutant removal using nature-based solutions (NBS) into a single system. ASWALL, developed by AUDIOTEC and CARTIF and demonstrated in the city of Valladolid, Spain, has achieved positive results in reducing noise levels and target pollutants, NOx and PM.