Creating a Sustainable Urban Transport – the Ecological Aspect

Many European cities have initiated actions in the matter of creating sustainable transport systems that is useful for the society, economical and ecological, through utilization of modes of transport of better environmental performance. Many solutions promoting sustainable transport are being implemented such as electric vehicle rentals, separate infrastructure for collective transport, joint ticket systems, low emission zones or park&ride systems. The paper presents legal regulations and guidelines related to the principles and methods of creation of sustainable urban transport. In second part of paper, actions and measures facilitating the reduction of the impact of transport on the environment carried out by selected European cities are discussed

Analysis of vibroacoustic estimators for a heavy-duty diesel engine used in sea transport in the aspect of diagnostics of its environmental impact

The paper describes the impact of a marine engine operation on selected vibroacoustic quantity estimators and their characteristics made in different signal domains. The authors focused on the assessment of the combustion process diagnostic for the engine operating characteristics to obtain information on its functional relations and its nature determined by changes in the main structural and operational point measures, in a powertrain of a non-road means of sea transport. In the empirical research, the vibration, acoustic signal generation and its propagation have been selected to obtain quantitative measures of an engine diagnostic assessment. The authors have confirmed that the considered vibroacoustic estimators and their specified characteristics can be useful for a continuous engine assessment in a vehicle during its normal operation, which gives additional tools to perform more accurate diagnostics under real stationary and non-stationary operating conditions. Furthermore, it makes it possible to identify malfunctions in regular operation of the means of transport, which can be also helpful in the identification of their sources. All such factors and the obtained analyses are in strict correlation with the present and future requirements of the international and domestic regulations for means of transport fitted with combustion engines

Analysis of vibroacoustic estimators for a heavy-duty diesel engine used in sea transport in the aspect of diagnostics of its environmental impact

The paper describes the impact of a marine engine operation on selected vibroacoustic quantity estimators and their characteristics made in different signal domains. The authors focused on the assessment of the combustion process diagnostic for the engine operating characteristics to obtain information on its functional relations and its nature determined by changes in the main structural and operational point measures, in a powertrain of a non-road means of sea transport. In the empirical research, the vibration, acoustic signal generation and its propagation have been selected to obtain quantitative measures of an engine diagnostic assessment. The authors have confirmed that the considered vibroacoustic estimators and their specified characteristics can be useful for a continuous engine assessment in a vehicle during its normal operation, which gives additional tools to perform more accurate diagnostics under real stationary and non-stationary operating conditions. Furthermore, it makes it possible to identify malfunctions in regular operation of the means of transport, which can be also helpful in the identification of their sources. All such factors and the obtained analyses are in strict correlation with the present and future requirements of the international and domestic regulations for means of transport fitted with combustion engines

Comparative assessment of materials used in the construction of passenger cars in terms of energy demand and harmful emission

PURPOSE: The article refers to the current energy and ecological issues related to the life cycle assessment of vehicles. The main objective of the study was to compare the environmental impact of changes in passenger car design with the use of the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). LCA is now a widely used decision-making tool in the automotive industry to improve the energy and environmental performance of new cars.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A simplified LCA method, which, in strictly defined cases, can be used to analyse the environmental impacts related to the manufacturing process of a passenger car, has been presented in the paper. Environmental inputs such as energy, required to provide materials and CO2 and SO2 emissions were used to evaluate the impact. The values of these variables were identified based on the material mass used to build the car.FINDINGS: The environmental burdens resulting from the use of individual types of materials in the most important functional units of the car were compared. Both the energy inputs and the environmental burdens increased at the turn of the analysed periods.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The results of the analysis allowed to identify the materials with the greatest environmental impact.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: A life cycle model of a passenger vehicle with a conventional drive that allows to determine its environmental burdens was created.peer-reviewe

A multi-criteria decision making approach for the evaluation of roads and streets system in Gniezno

The article presents the application of the MCDM methods, belonging to the PROMETHEE family, for the evaluation of potential solutions of the road system (RS) in the selected area located in Gniezno, historical capital of Poland. The proposed set of heuristics variants of RS were assessed by a coherent family of criteria taking into account different groups of stakeholders. The decision problem was defined as an issue of prioritising a finite number of variants of road-rail system reconstruction. The proposed model of decision-maker’s preferences was developed based on the results of surveys conducted during public consultations with the residents of the area. The originality of the study consists in that the model became the basis for the final variants ranking that was subsequently compared with the results obtained using another MCDM method – ELECTRE III, where the decision-maker's preference model was developed on the basis of information obtained from independent experts

A comparative study on end-of-life vehicles network design

This paper investigates the current research in the field of the end-of-life vehicles (ELV) recycling network. The optimisation of the location of a network facilities in forward logistics in the automotive industry has received a lot of attention for many years but the reverse logistics for ELVs has been a subject of investigations since the beginning of 21st century. ELV recycling network design gained in popularity after the European Union and other countries like Japan, South Korea and recently China introduced legal obligations to organize a collecting or recycling network for used vehicles. When regulations are introduced, there is a need for a systemic solution to the problem, especially since the obligation to create a collection network is often accompanied by requirements related to its accessibility for vehicle owners or efficiency of operation. With the growing scope of legal regulations, companies or organisations responsible for the network are forced to redesign the existing recycling infrastructure in a given area so that it meets specific requirements. Initially, the most important criterion was network availability. Currently, the same importance is attached to economic, environmental and social aspects in order to meet the sustainability criteria. In this paper, forty one peer-reviewed published studies focused on network design were classified. Its main purpose is to provide an extensive review of state-of-the-art research published in the period 2000-2019. The scope of the review is limited to network design problems including facility location and flow allocation problems. Only papers that present mathematical models are considered. Studies on the ELV network design are classified based on: type of supply chain, type of network, optimisation problem, type of facilities, modelling technique, single/multi objectivity, objective function, period of time, solution approach and scope of implementation. The final part of the paper includes discussion of the methodology of the reviewed studies and some recommendations for future research area

Konsekwencje regulacji technic znych i operacyjnych w transporcie drogowym

The author of the article is analyzing the results of technical and operational regulations in the road transport. The author also contains analysis of productivity of a “new” and “old” stock, and also of connections between frequency of regulations and a cycle of life of means of transport. The author later indicates various shaping of productivity of goods stock in various countries. The legal regulations are an indispensable element of transport system functioning. It can have both good and bad consequences for the transport companies. Independently of a negative character of some regulations, the introduced requirements do not influence the decreasing of the significance of the road transport in the economy

Consequences of technical and operational regulations in the road transport

The author of the article is analyzing the results of technical and operational regulations in the road transport. The author also contains analysis of productivity of a "new" and "old" stock, and also of connections between frequency of regulations and a cycle of life of means of transport. The author later indicates various shaping of productivity of goods stock in various countries. The legal regulations are an indispensable element of transport system functioning. It can have both good and bad consequences for the transport companies. Independently of a negative character of some regulations, the introduced requirements do not influence the decreasing of the significance of the road transport in the economy

Optimization Criteria in End-of-Life Products Reverse Logistics Network Organisation

The paper discusses the problem of selection of objective function in modelling of the reverse logistics network entity location. A growing ecological awareness of societies as well as implementing concepts of manufacturer responsibility for their products result in a creation of systems of collecting and treatment of end-of-life products. Rather than being a random process a reverse logistics network should be designed as an effect of informed decisions taking into account all aspects and points of view of the stakeholders. A key issue in network design related to the use of decision support tools based on mathematical optimization is the appropriate selection of the objective function for evaluation of the potential solutions