Heavy duty vehicles: Impact on the environment and the path to green operation

•A holistic approach was presented for assessment of the combined effects of HVDs.•Pollutant emissions, noise and dynamic load of vehicles were used as criteria.•HVDs with low pollutant emissions are not necessarily low noise.•The methods can be used to introduce a bonus/malus system.•The methods would encourage vehicles with a total low environmental footprint.

The increase in the number of heavy duty vehicles (HDV) is inherently accompanied by increase in congestion, pollutant emissions and energy use as well as infrastructure overuse, all of which have broad societal implications. In addition to affecting the environment, contributing markedly to global warming, significant implications for the health of many residents living along traffic corridors as well as increases in the cost of infrastructure maintenance are logical consequences. In this interdisciplinary work a holistic approach is presented for the assessment of the combined effects of HDV employing pollutant emissions, noise and dynamic load of vehicles as criteria. Results show that vehicles that are environmentally friendly due to their pollutant emissions are not necessarily environmentally friendly when their noise emissions are considered. Each relevant parameter has to be assessed individually. Using a proposed model, the parameters are combined to obtain a holistic impression of the vehicles’ total environmental footprint. This information can be used by policy makers to introduce a bonus/malus system that would encourage vehicles with a total low environmental footprint using the “polluter/user pays” principle.