Summertime has come again and with it our desire to spend more time outside and in nature. It is also the time that makes us think more about how to preserve nature. One part –and this is not a choice but a requirement- is to reduce the energy consumption and transport emissions. Because of the globalisation it is not only a question of reducing the quantity of transports but also to select an eco-friendly transport service.
EcoTransIT World calculates the energy consumption and the emission of your freight transports. The updated methodology of our current release offers plenty of new calculation options. You can benefit from these adoptions now:
New Differentiation of alternative fuel types within trucks
Worldwide the vast majority of truck engines use diesel as fuel. Due to the potential emission reductions and lower fuel costs some fleet managers have recently invested into alternative fuels. In 2014, around 200,000 heavy or medium-heavy trucks in Europe and 350,000 heavy or medium-heavy trucks in China were using CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) or LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) according to the natural gas vehicle association. Electric trucks are even less common but have a growing importance. From now on, you can define whether the truck power is based on CNG, LNG, diesel or electric battery in EcoTransIT World. In some countries it will significantly impact the calculation results.
ICAO allocation for belly planes
Last year we started our cooperation with the Smart Freight Centre enabling us to integrate the GLEC recommended allocation method for belly freight. In contrast to EN 16258, the ICAO allocation also includes the weight of the seats for belly planes. Thus, the overall weight per passenger is higher and more accurate in comparison to the cargo. You can choose between these two models of calculation for your evaluation.
New ECA consideration at sea freight transports
We increased the level of detail within our sea network and included Emission Control Area (ECA) zones. On the basis of this information our emission calculator considers the appliance of maritime diesel oil (MDO) for fuel as long as the ship sails in an ECA. Outside of ECA, the emission of the ships is calculated based on heavy fuel oil (HFO).
New emission classes for diesel trains
Similar to diesel engines for trucks and inland waterway vessel transports, the exhaust emission performance of locomotive engines strongly depends on the emission class of the engine technology. In the past years, the UIC, the EU and US implemented emission limits for new engines in several stages, thus reducing specific emissions for newer engines. With the current release the user has the possibility to specify an emission class for diesel trains, similar to what is already available for truck and inland waterway vessel transports.
Update of the emissions for EPA trucks (US) and new emission class JP
Due to an update of our source (EPA) we updated the base emissions factors for our EPA trucks in North America. In addition, we included the new Japanese emission class.JP2009 is available in our list of emission classes.