May 20, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: The EM Role in Greening Transportation

Key Discussion Points:

o Discussed importance of knowing environmental footprint of the entire supply chain; however, there are many unknowns.
o Important tradeoffs exist: transportation service performance and economics v. environmental impacts.
o Methods and approaches identified for evaluation:
1. Third Party Contracting
2. Purchasing Decisions
3. Logistics Decisions
4. New Technologies
5. Use of Carbon Offsets if No Improvement Possible

o What gets done is largely a function of the characteristics of the firm.
o Key to success is matching the green supply chain options to production, distribution, and market realities
o Discussed role of
1. Corporation (large/small) and influence on steering third party “contracted” decisions (technology or mode of transport).
2. Government (Regulations- Tier II, III, IV requirements, etc.)
3. Individuals (Ex: Use of public transport, awareness of “green” transportation)

o Strategies for the Environmental Manager
1. Corporate leadership is important (high level support)
2. Research and develop options for purchasing, supply contracts, and technology.
3. Cross-training important – environmental manager needs to understand decision making process of other internal departments and vice versa.
4. Leverage tools to determine “greenest” mode of transportation versus transportation time and cost.

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May 1, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: The EM Role in Greening Transportation

McKinnon, Alan “Synchronized Auditing of Truck Utilization and Energy Efficiency: A Review of the British Government’s Transport KPI Programme.” Green Logistics 2 April 2009. World Conference on Transport Research University of California, Berkeley June 2007

The Key Performance Indicators (KPI) program began in 1997 with a partnership between the British Government and the Cold Storage and Distribution Federation over a concern that just-in-time delivery program would adversely affect utilization of refrigeration trucks. The government was operating a best practice program to improve fuel efficiency and the start of the KPI program. Program objectives included promotion of standard methods of performance management in road transport, provide the government with information of a range of transport variables, and calculation of the potential for improving energy efficiency across industry sectors. These studies continue to be performed over 48 hour time frames to minimize market effect and focus on vehicle fill, empty running, fuel consumption (motor power and refrigeration), vehicle time utilization, and deviations from delivery schedule. The results from the study are reported on a government best practice website and have indicated good potential for cutting energy use in transport, utilization affects fuel efficiency, and efficiency can be affected by the delivery schedule. This article provides a good basis for completing similar partnership studies with a goal of generating and distributing best practices that can be adopted by businesses and organizations.

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May 1, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: The EM Role in Greening Transportation

Allen, J. and Browne, M. ” Review of survey techniques used in urban freight studies.” Green Logistics 2 April 2009. University of Westminster London. November 2008

This review was accomplished as a literature study of 162 surveys conducted from 1960 to 2008 and focuses on urban freight transport activities to determine sustainability (economic, social, and environmental) and how to enhance sustainability. As part of the review, both data collection topics (delivery/collection trips, good flows to and from establishments, service trips, etc.) and survey techniques (commodity flow studies, freight operator surveys, driver surveys, etc.) are discussed with recognition that delivery vehicle activity is generated by the demand for goods and services. The review generated a matrix of survey techniques and how they can be effectively applied. Two import observations made during the review included the fact that freight studies are not publically available; however, public funding is often used to complete the studies, which should be pooled to make research more efficient. This article supplies valuable information relating to freight study techniques that can be used by the environmental manager.

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May 1, 2009 by Brian Butler , , maitamim and John Morelli | Filed under: The EM Role in Greening Transportation

Leonardi, J. and Rizet, C. and Browne, M. and Allen, J. and Perez-Martinez, P. and Worth, Roger “IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN ROAD FREIGHT TRANSPORT SECTOR: THE APPLICATION OF A VEHICLE APPROACH” Green Logistics 2 April 2009.

A vehicle approach, in regards to energy efficiency, is a bottoms-up approach that uses fuel data from transport surveys and data collection from trucking companies instead of fuel sale data from petroleum companies. This approach is used to analyze performance, energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions while comparing freight transport operations versus energy use and efficiency. There are traditionally three ways to improve energy efficiency: mileage reduction (using a navigation system), increase fuel efficiency (scheduling systems), or a change in driver behavior to promote either of the latter. The study itself revealed that additional information was necessary, including weight versus volume, commodity types, and driving conditions to enable accurate fuel use comparison. One conclusion drawn by the study indicated that, when comparisons were made between Brittan and France, fuel efficiency was better in the United Kingdom due to the use of rigid vehicles but total fuel usage was lower in France due to less distance traveled. The inclusion of government policy in future studies could also provide insight as to the effect on energy efficiency of those programs. This article provides a good framework for completing similar energy efficiency studies which can help drive environmental goals.

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March 16, 2009 by John Morelli , Brian Butler | Filed under: The EM Role in Greening Transportation

This workshop description was sent by Dr. James Winebrake, who will moderate the workshop.

The breadth of concerns for environmental managers is quickly expanding.  Firms interested in their sustainability profile are now looking beyond their own environmental performance and are considering the environmental attributes of their logistics supply and distribution chains.  This workshop topic will explore issues related with the roles and responsibilities of the environmental manager in this context, as well as the tools and methodologies that are available to help environmental managers meet these responsibilities.

The workshop will include presentations by several speakers on green logistics and a discussion with audience participants on the role of the environmental manager in these topics.

Dr. Winebrake has suggested the following papers as resources for this topic:

Professor James J. Winebrake, Ph.D. is Chair of the Department of Science, Technology, & Society/Public Policy and co-Director of the Laboratory for Environmental Computing and Decision Making at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.

Dr. Winebrake focuses his research on solving problems related to energy security, environmental quality, and transportation. Most recently, Dr. Winebrake has published on a wide-range of issues related to the environmental impacts of goods movement, including: health risk assessments of ocean-going vessels, total fuel-cycle analyses of low sulfur and alternative marine fuels, and cost-effectiveness of emissions reduction technologies and policies. Dr. Winebrake received a B.S. in Physics from Lafayette College, a M.S. in Technology and Policy from M.I.T., and a Ph.D. in Energy Management and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

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