Efficiently freighting your goods across the country

While we tend to consider trucks a dangerous nuisance on the road, a noisy intrusion on city streets, or a dirty part of the Interstate landscape, they provide the food and goods we've grown to rely on and enjoy.

Consider that the fruits and vegetables you find at a typical U.S. grocery store frequently travel more than 1,500 miles from the farm to your shopping cart. In fact, just about everything we buy, from DVD players to shampoo, travels great distances.

There are many methods for moving freight around: container ships, airplanes, and trains, for example. But, domestically, with our current infrastructure, a lot of the stuff we buy at the grocery store or Wal-Mart or anywhere else travels by truck.

Despite, or perhaps because of, our reliance on them, trucks are also the fastest-growing source of transportation greenhouse gas emissions. They consume 15 percent of U.S. oil and sport average fuel efficiencies of 6.5 miles per gallon.

This is why it's crucial we improve the efficiency with which trucks transport our goods. It might not be easy to achieve, but it is definitely possible. Thorough, peer-reviewed analysis at Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) indicates trucks could be at least twice as efficient, if not more.

Industry-wide Efficiency

RMI recently held a transformational trucking summit where over 45 industry experts convened to identify barriers and breakthrough solutions to increasing trucks'efficiency.

From aerodynamic devices that reduce air resistance to auxiliary power units that keep drivers cool or warm without idling the engine, participants agreed efficient technologies exist today. The real challenge, however, lies in getting the technologies to market, complying with varied state-by-state policies, and dealing with ever-changing prices for diesel.

What would it take to overcome some of these barriers?

John Woodrooffe from University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute noted that public sentiment was critical, while Jon Gustafson emphasized the lack of information and financing--something his non-profit Cascade Sierra Solutions is successfully addressing today.

Fortunately, today's trucking industry (see these one-on-one video interviews) is excited to move forward on saving diesel and money, and the three-day summit event resulted in some transformational solutions.

You can look forward to these initiatives gaining traction over the next year or two:

1. A U.S. Green Truck Council (modeled after the U.S. Green Building Council): A Technology Value Assessment, Demonstration, and Certification Program; and

2. A Call to Action: Developing National Freight Strategy--creating a united front for industry stakeholders to connect with policy makers on a trucking efficiency agenda.

What You Can Do To Reduce Your Freight Impact

While we wait for the large-scale shifts to take hold, there's a lot an average consumer can do to help save the energy associated with freight transport.

• Buy locally, and make sure the product is appropriate for your locality. (that means don't buy strawberries grown in a hot house in January in Denver, or local wood if your forest can't sustain logging) and that the most efficient vehicle available transports it;
• Combine your errands or arrange for delivery: the trip from a store to your home can have the biggest impact in terms of goods transportation. Fewer trips are better. And a delivery service usually maximizes the efficiency of its deliveries each day;
• Don't buy or send goods via air; and,
• Buy less stuff.

Rocky Mountain Institute is an independent, entrepreneurial, non-profit think-and-do tank. We drive the efficient and restorative use of resources. Sign up for RMI e-lerts here.