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Estimates of real damage from air pollution: Site dependence and simple impact indices for LCA

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Abstract

In contrast to the various “potential impact” indices that have been proposed, we show that indices for real damage can be derived, based on the impact pathway methodology which involves the calculation of increased pollutant concentration in all affected regions due to an incremental emission (e.g. μg/m3 of particles, using models of atmospheric dispersion and chemistry), followed by the calculation of physical impacts (e.g. number of cases of asthma due to these particles, using a concentration-response function). The numbers are summed over all receptors of concern (population, crops, buildings,…). We show that in a uniform world (linear dose-response function, uniform receptor density and uniform atmospheric removal rate) the conservation of matter implies a very simple formula for the total damage. The generalization to secondary pollutants is straightforward. By detailed numerical evaluations, using real data for atmospheric dispersion and geographic receptor distribution, we have demonstrated that this simple formula is an excellent representation of typical damages. Results are shown for the principal air pollutants emitted by smoke stacks of industrial installations or by road transport.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado, 80309, Boulder, CO, USA

    Ari Rabl

  2. Ecole des Mines, 60 boul. St.-Michel, F-75272, Paris CEDEX 06, France

    Joseph V. Spadaro & Ari Rabl

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  1. Joseph V. Spadaro
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  2. Ari Rabl
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Correspondence to Joseph V. Spadaro or Ari Rabl.

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A preliminary version was presented as a key note lecture at the SETAC Meeting in Bordeaux, April 14-18, 1998

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Spadaro, J.V., Rabl, A. Estimates of real damage from air pollution: Site dependence and simple impact indices for LCA. Int. J. LCA 4, 229–243 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02979503

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