Alto Consulting
Supply Chain and Logistics Consultants We Drive Performance
Green Logistics
Approach .....
Our approachTo investigate how your company can improve the socio-environmental performance of its logistics activities or supply chain and to realise a sustainable logistics, one must start with an analysis of the energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions and other air contaminants from the logistics emission sources or of existing supply chains. This will provide a baseline from which a emission reduction strategy can be developed and performance can be measured over time.
Starting with material flow analyses, logistics data
and
technical data, the logistics profile of a supply chain are
converted into energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions
data.
This process results in
Emission
Inventories for logistics emissions sources and in
Supply Chain Ecological Key Performance Indicators
(Eco-KPI) per supply chain, parts of the supply chain, product group
or product in terms of value, weight and/or volume. An example of
an Eco-KPI is the energy use needed for the transport and storage of
a product unit expressed in megajoules (MJ) per Unit (EUR, $, kg,…).
If detailed logistics data or energy consumption data is not (yet) available, average profiles and default energy and emission factors are used to estimate the energy consumption and related key environmental impacts.
A
project of the Green Logistics Consultants Group is the development
of EcoLog Databases per transport mode.
This data provides information on the capacity, capacity
utilisation, energy consumption,
greenhouse gas
and other air
contaminants
of the different transport modes and of different transport vehicle
classes or
(representative)
types.
The following databases are currently being developed:
- EcoLogRail for rail transport data;
- EcoLogRoad for road transport data;
- EcoLogAir for air transport data;
- EcologMar for maritime and short sea shipping data;
- EcoLogIn for inland waterways transport data;
- EcologStor for storage and distribution centre data;
- EcologHand for non-road sources such as handling equipment.
Based on direct energy consumption and the energy carrier (e.g. diesel, electricity), the total energy consumption is calculated taking into account the energy losses during the energy conversion chain (ERE or energy requirement for energy value). This is needed to evaluate the potential effect of alternative energy carriers such as biofuel since (fossil) energy is needed to produce it and to take country specific aspects into account, such as the distance between "well and wheels".
Other tools that are currently being developed are a step-by–step
guidebook and supply chain specific and logistics industry
specific protocols to measure or calculate greenhouse gas
emissions
and other air contaminants.
This
guidebook and protocols provide information on organisational and
operational boundaries, accounting approaches and quantification
methods.
These protocols and data are consistent with IPCC guidelines and
will be complementary to the IPPC guidelines and the GHG protocols
developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
and the World Resources Institute.