Using currently wasted capacity is a clever way to cut transport emissions

In order to reach UN targets for climate change abatement, industries worldwide need to revolutionise technology and methods to significantly cut emissions of greenhouse gasses. But what is the transport sector doing to reduce its international environmental footprint?

Passenger vehicles still contributed more than 50% of transport-related CO2 in 2008. Now strides are being made in consumer vehicle technology in an effort to reduce emissions. Fuel efficiency has improved by nearly 30% in the last decade with the average achieving 52.5mpg. Commercial vehicles too have been subject to innovations in weight reduction, aerodynamics and alternative fuel technologies.

Electric vehicles are seen by many as the next step for transport, however, the fragile state of the economy has arguably slowed the uptake of alternative fuel cars. Despite soaring petrol prices, tax credits and exemptions, 2011 failed to deliver the expected number of EV sales.

Sluggish sales

In the US, electric vehicles made up less than 0.002% of new car sales; the UK and France only saw combined sales of 3,000 EVs in the year to October 2011. Despite £5,000 and €5,000 subsidies, the initial cost of an EV may have proved hard to justify for many.

In London, emissions reducing schemes have been high on Boris Johnson’s agenda whilst mayor; his ambitious Source London programme hopes to install 1,300 charging points by 2013, which is more than the current number of petrol stations across the city. The development of fast charge points has also reduced the time needed to fully charge an EV by 50%, though this still typically takes some four hours.

Futuristic wireless charging, via surface or underground base charging units, is to be trialled in London during 2012, a world first for this type of vehicle charging technology. The revolutionary charging method should circumvent some of the downsides of plug-in charging such as its susceptibility to vandalism and the weather.

But despite the heavy push behind EVs, innovation and cost reductions are still needed if there is to be a wider uptake. Cost efficient batteries, quicker charging and overall affordability need to be addressed before EVs make up even 1% of vehicles on the road.

Efficient freight

The transport and logistics industries are among the most energy intensive, therefore decarbonising freight is seen as integral to the UK’s Department for Transport’s long term environment strategy.

IEA statistics say that these sectors are responsible for 25% of worldwide CO2 emissions and more than half of global oil consumption. IEA estimates warn that energy expenditure from these sectors could increase by 1.6% per year until 2030 without strong policy changes.

A modal shift to the use of rail and waterborne freight instead of road when dealing with large-scale international logistics is among the recommendations from the Freight Transport Association. Despite this proposed change, local level distribution and delivery will always rely on trucks and vans in some form. In spite of rising fuel costs there are still inefficiencies to be addressed in the road transport sector.

Empty or part loaded commercial vehicles cause huge wastage for the haulage industry, hurting a company’s bottom line in addition to causing unnecessary pollution.

Fleet miles run with empty space result in increased cost-per-mile figures for operators and emissions from preventable trips. Figures from Transport Statistics Great Britain reveal a 28.3% empty running figure for HGVs and they also estimate that better backload utilisation could result in vehicle-mile savings of up to 20%.

In the US the National Private Truck Council estimates that 28% of its members’ fleet miles were driven unloaded. This equates to 30bn gallons (over 110bn litres) of wasted fuel.

Demands for luxury

The problem is likely to worsen given the growing wealth and demand for luxury goods in developing economies. China’s CO2 emission per capita has increased more than 170% since 2000 while India is now the third largest emitter of CO2 globally.

The most straightforward solution to reducing emissions caused by loading inefficiencies in the industry is for hauliers to participate in load sharing and arrange backloads. This involves hauliers sharing space with other transport providers to ensure less partially loaded vehicles.

Previously this required calling competitors or partners to arrange suitable loads. Now there are websites that facilitate back loading by allowing drivers to search for consignments that match their existing delivery routes.

Going further

Further steps are being made to cut the impact of delivery services. The Freight Transport Association’s Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme works to report fuel usage and stimulate industry action to reduce emissions. Night time deliveries have been suggested as one way to reduce extra pollution caused by congestion and idling vehicles.

Research undertaken by the UK Department for Transport suggests that new high volume articulated trailers have safety benefits as well as the potential to save 100,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, both resulting from a reduction of the number of vehicles on the road. According to the Transport Research Laboratory, aerodynamic “nose cone” adaptations to HGVs could also result in 29,000 to 61,000 tonnes of CO2 savings per year.

There are still many innovations to be made in an industry that has been slow in addressing its own inadequacies and issues with emissions – 99% of commercial vehicles still use conventional fuels.

Change is not far off – initiatives such as the LCRS will get the ball rolling, as already its members show a marked carbon-per-vehicle-mile improvement over the industry standard. Strict regulations and increased support for these schemes are required if we are to meet ambitious future emission reduction goals.

Robert Matthams is managing director of Shiply and a Shell Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Shiply provides a platform for couriers and hauliers to identify potential consignments along their existing routes. The site has saved more than 11m kgs of CO2 by increasing the backload utilisation of its members.