Trucking's turn for carbon reduction / MPG

[ElFenix]

Based on pure volume and/or deadweight, ships are going to be the most efficient forms of goods movement. Ships also carry dense cargoes like ore. FYI coal is not a very dense cargo. A ship carrying coal can fill up its hold but will not be submerged to her loadlines.

apparently coal trains are fairly specialized and achieve quite high efficiencies compared to regular freight. they were picked out in the link i found a month ago but can't find now.

Inland waterway competes with rail. In some cases rail may be more efficient specially if transhipment by truck is not needed at the loading point or at the destination.

problem with inland waterways is that they often don't go where you need them. so if you have to go round about you could eat up your efficiency by moving a greater distance.

Fuel is one of the reasons why ships are cheaper to operate. Ships use Heavy Fuel Oil which is basically residual oil - what remains from crude once all other lighter stuff has been taken out.

Trains use diesel fuel which is a lighter product and much more expensive. Their engines are too small to use HFO.

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apparently tugs often use diesel locomotive engines and so that's a wash. inland waterways are not going to be improved so much that the big ocean going container ships will be moving up and down them. i'm not even sure how far they go up the mississippi (seen some in new orleans).

 

[werepossum]

I inflate to sidewall, always.

And as the Messiah has told us, proper tire inflation is actually an energy source in and of itself. Who needs oil when we can merely inflate our way to energy independence?

 

[charrison]

It is. I remember Wal-Mart making deals with their suppliers, decreasing the size of their packaging and whatnot to decrease costs.

Quick google search brings up...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9815727/

And this is where they are today.

http://walmartstores.com/sites/sustainabilityreport/2010/environment_energy.aspx

It does appear logistics and fleet management is playing a bigger roll than improved fuel economy than engine/aerodynamics.

 

[piasabird]

I will go ahead and say this. There are some individuals that are pushing for some type of hybrid truck. On the road when trucks are on a stretch of highway that is actually moving they could get buy with a significantly less horsepower or use an alternative fuel like liquid natural gas. They could use something like diesel for getting the truck up to speed i.e. accellaration or when they have to do get over some steep hills.

There are some truck engines in production now that can lower emissions by running either on all their cylinders or turning off half of the cylinders depending on the type of driving.

One big factor in cities is that stop and go traffic is worse for pollution.

 

[Thump553]

And as the Messiah has told us, proper tire inflation is actually an energy source in and of itself. Who needs oil when we can merely inflate our way to energy independence?

Please post a link for your alleged statement of fact.

 

[ShawnD1]

I will go ahead and say this. There are some individuals that are pushing for some type of hybrid truck. On the road when trucks are on a stretch of highway that is actually moving they could get buy with a significantly less horsepower or use an alternative fuel like liquid natural gas.

Um why? What is the reason for doing this? Natural gas is still a fossil fuel, and hybrids are not exactly known for their highway efficiency.

 

[Scotteq]

And as the Messiah has told us, proper tire inflation is actually an energy source in and of itself. Who needs oil when we can merely inflate our way to energy independence?

Please post a link for your alleged statement of fact.

...while the rest of us (pretend to) search for your ability to detect sarcasm..

 

[MotF Bane]

Please post a link for your alleged statement of fact.

Try getting out of P&N once in a while. :awe:

 

[GroundedSailor]

apparently coal trains are fairly specialized and achieve quite high efficiencies compared to regular freight. they were picked out in the link i found a month ago but can't find now.

I was referring to the density of coal as a cargo. You can fill up a compartment with coal without reaching the maximum weight allowed to be carried in that compartment. Ships have load lines which cannot be submerged and which limit the maximum weight a ship is allowed to carry. With coal you can fill up all the cargo compartments and the load lines will be well above the waterline.

Rail cars for coal are usually hopper cars which can be unloaded from below, but more likely by tipping the car over.

problem with inland waterways is that they often don't go where you need them. so if you have to go round about you could eat up your efficiency by moving a greater distance.

Agreed. If you have to truck the cargo to the waterway and then truck it again at the destination, you've lost the efficiency due to double handling and short range trucking costs.

apparently tugs often use diesel locomotive engines and so that's a wash. inland waterways are not going to be improved so much that the big ocean going container ships will be moving up and down them. i'm not even sure how far they go up the mississippi (seen some in new orleans).

Ocean going ships go up to Baton Rouge though not the largest ones. It is a fairly deep water port with channel depths maintained at 45 feet. According to wikipedia The Port of Baton Rouge is the ninth largest in the United States in terms of tonnage shipped. I've taken an oil tanker up to St James which is above New Orleans and below Baton Rouge.

Tugs do use more expensive diesel but many tugs use marine diesel as opposed to the cleaner 'diesel' used by locomotives.

MARAD is looking into increasing waterway cargoes by using smaller vessels and barges. I hope they do.

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