GREEN BENEFIT Effective and green fleet management provides several advantages, such as a reduced carbon footprint and reduced fuel consumption
Owing to carbon tax, expected to come into force by 2016, a key focus of global fleet and mobile asset management solutions provider MiX Telematics is to encourage industry to become more efficient in their fleet management, thereby reducing its carbon footprint.
“While about 17% to 18% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions derives from the road transport industry, businesses interested in saving money and going green should start with their greatest source of CO2 emissions, which is fuel consumption,” MiX Telematics South Africa and Africa sales director Steven Sutherland tells Engineering News.
Effective fleet management has been proven to help operators reduce their fuel consumption, fleet maintenance and operating costs and, importantly, lower their carbon emissions, he highlights.
Sutherland adds that the driving and idling times of a company’s fleet, the number of jobs and trips a day, time spent at customer sites, fuel usage and kilometres driven are all important factors in determining opportunities for improvement.
“An effective solution, implemented properly, saves up to 15% on fuel costs – which equates to massive reductions in carbon emissions.”
As a carbon footprint can be determined by how much fuel is burnt or consumed during the number of kilometres travelled, decreasing the kilometres travelled and, subsequently, the amount of fuel consumed, will reduce this footprint, Sutherland says, noting that MiX Telematics focuses on these key areas through their fleet management solutions – specifically driver and vehicle performance management and route planning, optimisation and adherence applications.
He explains that fuel savings – a current key focus for industry – can be achieved by making the driver’s routes more efficient. This entails enabling the vehicles to run at their most optimum levels and managing the most efficient transport routes between destinations to reduce the number of unnecessary kilometres travelled.
Carbon Offsets
Although effective and green fleet management provides several advantages, such as a reduced carbon footprint, operational costs and fuel consumption; less wear and maintenance; fewer accident risks and increased safety, Sutherland maintains that road transport is essential for industry to grow and maintain South Africa and Africa’s industry network.
The amount of carbon emissions may decrease, but they will remain and, while companies may only be penalised on up to 40% of their carbon emissions, there will still be a penalty, creating a significant impact on the large transport fleets that spend millions on fuel, he notes.
“In light of this and in addition to providing the management technologies and tools to assist industry in operating effectively, MiX Telematics also provides a carbon offset initiative,” Sutherland says.
MiX Telematics launched the MiX Carbon Offset Initiative in April 2011, which assists fleet customers in taking responsibility for their carbon footprint. MiX Telematics facilitates the buying of carbon offsets in the voluntary market from accredited providers, contributing positively to the environment, Sutherland says.