tailieunhanh - Energy and environment report 2008

One technology being employed to signifi cantly reduce noise made by freight trains is composite brake blocks. ‘K-blocks’, also known as ‘whispering brakes’, are now being fi tted to all new freight wagons in accordance with the ‘Noise TSI’ (Technical Specifi cations for Interoperability). K-blocks reduce noise at source by 8-10 decibels (dB) which, to human ears, sounds like cutting the noise by half. Rolling stock has a high life expectancy of up to 40 years, so the retrofi tting of the existing fl eet is crucial in order to meet EU noise targets. The. | EEA Report No 6 2008 Energy and environment report 2008 B__ European Environment Agency 1 Cover design EEA Cover photo Pawel Kazmierczyk Left photo Stockxpert Right photo Stockxpert Layout EEA Legal notice The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the official opinions of the European Commission or other institutions of the European Communities. Neither the European Environment Agency nor any person or company acting on behalf of the Agency is responsible for the use that may be made of the information contained in this report. All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying recording or by any information storage retrieval system without the permission in writing from the copyright holder. For translation or reproduction rights please contact EEA address information below . Information about the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server . Luxembourg Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 2008 ISBN 978-92-9167-980-5 ISSN 1725-9177 DOI 10548 EEA Copenhagen 2008 EMAS Verified environmental management European Environment Agency Kongens Nytorv 6 1050 Copenhagen K Denmark Tel. 45 33 36 71 00 Fax 45 33 36 71 99 Web Enquiries enquiries Contents Contents Executive 1 What is the impact of energy production and use on the environment .14 Greenhouse gas Air Other energy-related environmental Climate change impacts on energy production and Life cycle analysis LCA of energy 2 What are the trends concerning the energy mix in Europe and what are its related environmental consequences .36 Energy Has there been a switch in the energy fuel mix .41 .