Damage costs due to automotive air pollution and the influence of street canyons

Using the methodology of the ExternE Project of the European Commission, we have evaluated the damage costs of automotive air pollution by way of two case studies in France: a trip across Paris, and a trip from Paris to Lyon. This methodology involves an analysis of the impact pathways, starting with the emissions (e.g., g/km of particles from tailpipe), followed by local and regional dispersion (e.g., incremental μg/m3 of particles), calculation of the physical impacts using exposure-response functions (e.g., cases of respiratory hospital admissions), and finally multiplication by unit costs factors (e.g., per hospital admission). Damages are aggregated over all affected receptors in Europe. In addition to the local and regional dispersion calculations carried out so far by ExternE, we also consider the increased microscale impacts due to the trapping of pollutants in street canyons, using numerical simulations with the FLUENT software. We have evaluated impacts to human health, agricultural crops and building materials, due to particles, NOx, CO, HC and CO2. Health impacts, especially reduced life expectancy, dominate in terms of cost. Damages for older cars (before 1997) range from 2 to 41 Euro cents/km, whereas for newer cars (since 1997), the range 1–9 Euro cents/km, and there is continuing progress in reducing the emissions further. In large cities, the particulate emissions of diesel cars lead to the highest damages, exceeding those of gasoline cars by a factor of 7. For cars before 1997 the order of magnitude of the damage costs is comparable to the price of gasoline, and the loss of life expectancy is comparable to that from traffic accidents.