An integrated activity-based modelling framework to assess vehicle emissions: approach and application

Owing to the richer set of concepts which are involved in activity-based transportation models, the potential advantages of an activity-based approach for air quality purposes have been recognized for a long time. However, models that have been developed along these lines are still scarce. In this research the activity-based model ALBATROSS was used in combination with the emission model MIMOSA to assess the travelled distances and the mobile source emissions produced by passenger cars in the Netherlands. The fact that this approach is based on hourly travel and emission values, rather than on aggregated results or peak hour values, a common practice within other traditional models, is an important added value. The predicted values seem to correspond well with the reported values from the Dutch Scientific Statistical Agency. Predictions for travelled distances overestimated the reported values by approximately 8%. Predictions for emissions of nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and particular matter differed by 16%, 11%, 9%, and 3%, respectively, from the officially reported values. This paper is novel in the sense that it both reports on the applied methodology and presents the practical results from a case study of the activity-based emission modelling approach.