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The transportation sector emits a significant portion of carbon emissions, which is even more notable when combined with the impact of the manufacturing or construction industries. What if corporations minimized its dependence altogether? Discover how it might be possible to slash transportation’s impact on climate change by looking at some of its most dependent enterprises.
Environmental Impacts of Transportation in Construction and Manufacturing
Transportation accounts for 29% of GHG emissions, while industry follows close behind at a 23% slice of the pie. Though ships, rail and aircraft only have a 13% combined contribution compared to light-duty vehicles’ 58%, every category must find a way to shrink to make it viable in a climate-friendly future. Transportation’s impact on climate change seeps into all parts of nature, transforming and polluting it beyond recognition.
Air Pollution
Everything from tailpipe emissions to tire particulates contaminate the air all species breathe. Volatile organic compounds, microplastics, nitrogen oxides and more float all over, leading to health concerns for humans and biodiversity. Eventually, what enters the air also enters the water and soil.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Carbon dioxide, methane and other GHGs are invading the atmosphere from petroleum-based fuels. Amid urbanization and industrialization, humans place significant importance on vehicles as a symbol of development, economic growth and independence.
The access transportation provides for delivery systems also heightens its emissions through increased commerce, in which delivery systems receive more pressure each year to meet ballooning customer demands. Fossil fuels’ cost-effectiveness compared to electrification is another barrier to decarbonization.
Energy Consumption
Industrial energy and fuel consumption are not as green and diverse as they should be. In 2023, it was 90% petroleum-based, while only 6% was biofuels and electricity was less than 1%. Natural gas comprises the remainder.
The sheer amount of resources it takes to produce the fuel volume transportation needs translates to even more resource consumption in addition to energy. Dangerous corporate practices like fracking are sapping aquifers and contaminating groundwater stores.
Strategies for Minimizing Industrial TransportationÂ
Knowing the destruction transportation can cause in manufacturing and construction is half the battle. Initiating widespread procedural shifts for a more carbon-friendly and electrified purpose is the rest. What are the most influential and long-lasting shifts to make right now? Do these sectors need to remove vehicles from operations entirely or can they find a happy medium?
Localization of Suppliers and Materials
Construction and manufacturing materials sometimes make a global exodus to reach their destination. The most beneficial strategy for curbing the time and emissions required to make this trip is to reshore and localize. Bring as many facets of the value stream close to home as possible to make transportation emissions easier to control.
Localizing permits corporations to focus on decarbonizing the last mile — a more nuanced puzzle to make efficient. However, materials have to be more accessible before this becomes a priority. Utilizing AI-assisted routes, real-time analytics and optimized compliance will be another weapon to chip away at transportation’s impact on climate change.
Optimization of Logistics and Supply Chains
As mentioned with curbing emissions from the last mile, supply chains need efficient route-planning resources to coordinate eco-friendly transportation. This must combine with smarter load consolidation to maximize fuel efficiency. How can logistics teams organize this?
- Rely less on light-duty vehicles with less space.
- Minimize pressure to meet strict deadlines, which encourages repeated small shipments.
- Sync procurement schedules with the construction team’s project timetable.
- Leverage renewable energy to electrify as many routes as possible.
- Make docking schedules more flexible.
Use of Advanced Prefabrication and Modular Construction
Conventional construction methods produce 50 million tons of debris annually. Waste manifests from various avenues, from wasted fuel to damaged materials in transit. Transportation has much to do with protecting materials to minimize transportation’s environmental impact.
Choosing lightweight, smartly manufactured construction options is a way to get the most out of the vehicle's shipping parts and find even more avenues to be sustainable, like choosing eco-friendly and recycled lumber. Producing prefabs in a controlled off-site environment permits greater environmental impact regulation while shipping parts to workers with little emissions.
Promotion of Sustainable Transportation Modes
The most apparent way to reduce transportation emissions is to transition to a carbon-negative fleet. EVs powered by renewable energy could deliver production line parts across millions of square footage without impact. Semi-trucks could travel hundreds of miles to drop off modules for townhomes without an ounce of diesel. There are more climate impacts past making petroleum obsolete — reducing noise pollution provides a kinder environment for wildlife.
Investment in On-Site Renewable Energy Generation
Though transportation is the greatest guzzler of fossil fuels, choosing to self-produce renewable energy makes the environmental benefits go further. Construction and manufacturing companies choosing electricity independence will free themselves from the volatile pricing of fossil fuels. This allows them to invest in more renewable integrations and technologies that bolster green transport, such as Internet of Things devices and machine learning.
Setting Environmental Targets
It is vital to appreciate the power of a centralized objective, especially in collaborative environmental projects. The U.S. EPA worked with the Department of Transportation to issue rules for light- and heavy-duty vehicles, notifying them how much they must cut emissions and how. This is what they recommended:
- Light- and heavy-duty vehicles must reduce emissions by 6 billion and 270 million metric tons, respectively.
- Multiply the efficiency of whatever fuel vehicles use.
- Provide alternative fuel sources for consumers.
Each bullet point has curated regulations and other fuels — like aviation — have their projects. For example, they are responsible for cleaning up power for small-piston engines, which are responsible for 70% of the atmosphere’s concentration of lead.
Improving Transportation’s Impact on Climate Change
Manufacturing and construction emissions are high enough, but transportation is one of the most notable reasons. Tackling these numbers until they reach more controllable ranges will have a noteworthy impact on Earth’s recovery from the climate crisis.
Promoting and embracing electrification, decarbonization goals, and advocacy for eco-conscious legislation and regulations on industrial transport is essential. Collaboration in this way is the only method for allowing transportation to continue.