Title: Environmental sustainability of urban road transport: an integrated analysis for life cycle emission impact

Authors: Md. Habibur Rahman; Hoong Chor Chin; Md. Mazharul Haque

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, Block EW1, #04-02B, Engineering Drive 2, 117576, Singapore ' Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, Block EW1, #04-02B, Engineering Drive 2, 117576, Singapore ' Faculty of Health, School of Psychology and Counseling, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, QLD 4059, Australia

Abstract: Despite of significant contributions of urban road transport to global economy and society, it is one of the largest sources of local and global emission impact. In order to address the environmental concerns of urban road transport it is imperative to achieve a holistic understanding of contributory factors causing emissions, which requires a complete look onto its whole life cycle. Previous studies were mainly based on segmental views, which mostly studied environmental impacts of individual transport modes and very few considered impacts other than operational phase. This study develops an integrated life cycle inventory model for urban road transport emissions from a holistic modal perspective. The Singapore case was used to demonstrate the model. Results show that total life cycle greenhouse gas emission from Singapore's road transport sector is 7.8 million tons per year. The total amount of criteria air pollutants are also estimated in this study.

Keywords: environmental pollution; environmental impact; global warming; life cycle analysis; LCA; road transport; Singapore; sustainable development; urban transport; urban policy; sustainable policy; environmental sustainability; urban planning; transport emissions; vehicle emissions; life cycle inventory modelling; greenhouse gases; GHG emissions; air pollution.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2014.060191

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2014 Vol.13 No.2, pp.126 - 141

Accepted: 06 May 2013
Published online: 24 May 2014 *

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