Various forms of automated underground freight transport in the Netherlands were investigated in a desk study to sketch both the current and possible future environmental effects. The transport methods examined were traditional and extra-traditional pipelines, pneumatic and hydraulic capsule pipelines, and systems using rail-guided vehicles, automatic guided vehicles or dual mode vehicles. Most of the focus was on the traditional pipelines and the underground logistic systems that make use of automatic guided vehicles. Environmental effects were came from emissions of CO2, NOx, SO2, VOC and PM10, along with noise and visual nuisance and the pressure on space. The state-of-the-art was determined for the diverse forms of underground freight transport and for the methods for building infrastructure underground. Thereafter the extent of the existing Dutch pipeline network was determined and an overview given of possible future applications of the different forms of underground freight transport. Both direct and indirect energy use and the environmental effects of underground freight transport were studied on the basis of the literature and supplementary calculations. A case study was performed to determine the total effect on the energy use and emissions of the underground logistic system (ULS) Utrecht, an existing network concept for underground freight transport. Most types of underground freight transport appeared to have low direct energy intensities. For traditional, extra-traditional and capsule pipelines, the indirect energy use was also low. In contrast, ULSs have a very high level of indirect energy use, which increases for larger tube diameters. The use of the ULS Utrecht is expected to lead to an increase in total energy use and emissions for all the alternatives under discussion. (Author/publisher)
Abstract