E. Brantjes
De ecokosten van transport.
Masters thesis,
Report 99.3.LT.5202, Transport Technology, Logistic Engineering.
At this moment a new theory is being developed to assess environmental
pollution in terms of 'virtual ecocosts'. Up until now, environmental
specialists have used the 'millipoint' to describe the impact of pollution
on the environment. To an outsider of environmental theories, this is a
rather abstract measure. 'Virtual ecocosts' measure pollution in a common
unit, namely 'money'. For example, high ecocosts indicates a product's
high environmental impact.
In transport, environmental pollution is almost always narrowed down to
the pollution caused by burning fuel. In this report, all parts of the
transportchain of roadtransport are investigated in relation to their
pollution, as indicated by their ecocosts. These parts are transport,
handling and storage.
A spreadsheet computer program has been written to calculate the costs and
ecocosts of a transportchain. This program was then applied to a case: The
transport of sweet peppers to Germany, where the best choice of packaging
- re-useable crates or one-way cardboard boxes - is investigated.
Calculations on the case prove that less than 70% of the transportchains'
ecocosts are caused by fuelconsumption. Therefore it seems that pollution
caused by handling and storage should not be neglected. The case also
indicates that the cheapest and environmental friendliest way to transport
sweet peppers is by use of crates. It also shows that the volume of a
crate or box is very important. Reduction of costs and ecocosts are
possible when crates or boxes are improved. Enlarging the volume of crates
or making cardboard boxes re-useable are examples of these possibilities.
Reports on Logistic Engineering (in Dutch)
Modified: 2000.02.28;
logistics@3mE.tudelft.nl
, TU Delft
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