Detailed description (English): LIFE GreenYourRoute (LIFE GYR) project will create a logistics platform, an innovative logistics platform for last mile delivery of goods in urban environment primarily addressed to small and medium-sized enterprises to assist them in creating the environmental friendliest routes of their fleet vehicles. Its main target is to improve the efficiency of freight transportation mainly in urban and congested areas, taking environmental factors into account.
LIFE GreenYourRoute (LIFE GYR) Project will provide a service, an innovative environmental technology; its novelty features lie in the fact that it takes into account environmental aspects in order to assist decision makers in planning transport operations. Road freight transport, essential for the economic development, has several harmful effects on the environment. These include pollution, accidents, noise, congestion, resource consumption, land use deterioration and climate change. Vehicle technology dependent solutions, although essential, since conventional fuels could one day be depleted, are very expensive to invest to. Therefore, the use and operation of the already existing vehicle fleets should also be explored in terms of environmental effects.
In all systems the way they operate is an important determinant in the environmental performance and therefore operations optimization is required to address the multitude of decisions needed to improve the environmental effects. Almost all navigation systems provided to freight companies either allow for point-to-point navigation employing shortest paths algorithms or provide basic routing solutions without considering environmental factors. In GreenYourRoute platform, not only the minimum total traveling distance or time of the vehicles fleet is determined, but also a number of additional factors affecting the energy efficiency in freight transportation.
GreenYourRoute logistics platform addresses the fleet efficiency improvement issue, via the use of an intelligent transport system, by minimizing the total routing cost in terms of travelled distance and time. Simultaneously, it ensures lower GHG emissions (e.g. CO2 emissions, by minimizing empty vehicle runs, i.e. increasing vehicles’ load) and non-GHG emissions (e.g. PMs, by reducing stops and goes utilizing less congested routes). More specifically, it provides to the user the following:
- Maximization of freight transport efficiency: last mile delivery of goods is often characterized by low load factors, a low number of deliveries on delivery tours and long dwell times. GreenYourRoute logistics platform tries to minimize these effects, by integrating several constraints and objectives in its routing algorithm.
- Minimization of travelled distances: minimizing the overall distances travelled by vehicle fleets by improved routing of the vehicles results in lesser use of the vehicles and therefore lesser emissions.
- Minimization of vehicles’ utilization: minimizing the vehicles needed for everyday or periodic schedules by imposing an environmental cost of using a vehicle. This cost depends on vehicle characteristics, such as its technology, its age, its weight, its size, etc. For instance an older technology vehicle (e.g. vehicle with EURO III motor engine) is avoided if its environmental cost of using is greater than an available new technology vehicle (e.g. vehicle with EURO V motor engine). Minimizing the vehicles needed to cover consumer demands means less vehicles in an urban area and therefore environmental friendlier logistics schedules.
- Minimization of empty runs: According to the European Commission the share of empty vehicle-km in national transport in the EU reaches 30%. By improving the routing processes there are fewer empty runs. Since the algorithm implemented by the logistics platform requires the minimum number of vehicles needed to cover consumer demands, there is a significant increase in the load factors of the vehicles utilized.
The following results are achieved at impact level:
- Improvement the logistics operations of the involved target users (waste collection authorities, logistics companies, dairy distribution companies, gas distribution companies, post offices etc.), making them more efficient, not only in terms of energy, but also in terms of cost.
- Reduction of air pollution and emissions in urban areas.
GreenYourRoute platform is a service dedicated to logistics companies, aiming to assist them in managing their daily vehicle routing operations in an environmental friendly way. GreenYourRoute platform is currently being developed with the contribution of the LIFE programme.
One of the main principles of the platform is that lower emissions can be achieved just by improving the logistics operations performed, making the platform attractive to adopt by potential stakeholders, since action taken on improving the efficiency of their operations contributes to the achievement of reducing the emissions produced. With GYR platform, the routing planner has the option to choose the environmental friendliest route, which is also in most cases the most profitable in terms of cost, since it results in less kilometers travelled, better occupancy rates and also greater energy efficiency, since they benefit from lower fuel consumption. The emissions emitted from daily operations are recorded and compared to the procedure followed before the use of GYR platform.
The aim of LIFE GreenYourRoute project is to deliver and demonstrate, to 5 SMEs in 3 different EU member states, an innovative, smart, and integrated green vehicle routing platform (i.e. an intelligent transportation planning and execution system) for last mile delivery. It includes a set of tools and services that promote eco-efficient sustainable freight transport operations in urban regions, via environmental-friendly vehicle routing decisions. At the same time, it addresses driving eco-requirements as well as operational cost efficiency through an innovative environmental assessment approach.
The novel feature of the platform lies in the environmental impact assessment for calculating the routes to be followed by vehicle fleets.
These include the vehicle attributes affecting their environmental footprint (i.e. type and size, fuel technology and emission control technology), the circulation speed, the road characteristics (i.e. gradient and surface characteristics) and several on-road dynamics, such as the traffic flow, the wind speed and direction and the air condition usage. Emission calculation models developed for the purposes of the platform, interact with the optimization of the travelling distance and provide a green routing solution.
By using GYR platform, the routing planner has the option to choose the environmental friendliest route, which is also in most cases the most profitable in terms of cost, since it results in less kilometers travelled, better occupancy rates and also greater energy efficiency, since they benefit from lower fuel consumption. The emissions emitted from daily operations are recorded and compared to the procedure followed before the use of GYR platform.
Target group(s): GYR platform is a service dedicated to logistics companies, aiming to assist them in managing their daily vehicle routing operations in an environmental friendly way.
Target Groups:
- Companies that offer services in transport: 3rd party logistics companies, dairy product factories, supermarket suppliers, fresh food and vegetable wholesalers, motor and other spare part sellers, couriers, school bus runners, private transport services providers etc
- State owned organizations and legal entities that offer transport services: general public transportation, public goods deliveries, public trucks and lorries usage, maintenance of public infrastructure and networks, etc
- Local Authority Agencies: handling the garbage disposal and sanitation routings
Objectives: European Commission has recognized that tradeoffs are necessary to ensure mutual coherence between environmental policy and that of other domains. Transport, the fastest growing sector in terms of emissions production and energy use, plays a central role in the EU and accounts for almost 20% of total gross energy consumption, while 98% is fossil fuel. LIFE GreenYourRoute (LIFE GYR) integrates and develops environmental policy by exploiting results from previous EU financed research projects in a multidisciplinary approach of environmental engineering, computer science and operation research.
The project’s objectives are:
- Contribute to the implementation of EU emission reduction commitments under UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol and the specific objectives of the LIFE climate action sub-programme, as set out in Article 10 of the LIFE regulation, by reducing in the frame of the project GHG and non-GHG emissions;
- Introduce an innovative policy in the pan-European transport system, based on the environmentally friendliest routing of vehicles by demonstrating that environmental friendly is also cost saving using an innovative approach to minimize environmental cost of routing plans;
- Increase replicability and transferability of GreenYourRoute service to other contexts, sectors, regions and entities;
- Establish a sustainable GreenYourRoute Company in the frame of the project which provides verified green routing service to transport operators and certify them as green routing operators;
- Develop a significant network of customers for GreenYourRoute Company in Czech Republic, Greece and Italy as well as in additional EU member states;
- Raise awareness and mobilise key local, regional and national actors in order to adopt green procurements rules and environmental measures towards sustainable urban mobility;
- Support the exchange of good practices with the target of environmental integration in policy areas related to transport and bring together SME’s and scientists, to deal with impacts of transport on air pollution and climate change in urban zones;
- Monitor the environmental and socio-economic impact of routing operations by using GreenYourRoute service.
Partner: 3 EU countries are represented in the Project through seven organizations in Greece, Italy, Czech Republic. The expertise mix of the partnership account for a high quality, cross-fertilizing approach drawing from diverse contexts both at national as well as intracompany, organizational level.
The consortium of the project:
University of Thessaly
Athinaiki Metaforiki S.A.
CEDA Maps a.s.
CHAPS spol. s r.o.
ITACA S.R.L.
Militos Consulting S.A.
Plus Metaforiki IKE
Koukouzelis A.S. & SIA E.E.