Do you know what your business’ carbon footprint is? Or what your greenhouse gas emissions are? If you’re a business and you provide goods and services to the U.S. government very soon you will be requested to provide this information. In the US government’s efforts towards more sustainable business practices, the EPA and the Obama administration are pushing for increased reporting by businesses on their environmental impact with the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program.
GPS vehicle tracking systems can quickly slash vehicle fuel consumption and reduce greenhouse gas and CO2 emissions. Drivers should install a GPS vehicle tracking system into their vehicles to monitor engine diagnostics, fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions as each vehicle moves. GPS vehicle tracking systems enable drivers to easily set realistic goals to reduce vehicle emissions and show tangible results. Data that used to either be unavailable or used to take days or months to compile now take just seconds with a modern GPS tracking vehicle system.
With a Green GPS vehicle tracking system, it’s easy for drivers to identify areas for improvement and take decisive action on key issues such as:
•Speed Limits: Reduce fuel use and CO2, and improve safety, by monitoring for excessive speeds. According to recent studies, a truck traveling at 75mph consumes 27% more fuel than it does at 65mph and a van at 70mph consumes 12% more fuel than at 60mph.
•Route Optimization: You pay for every mile, so even a small reduction in vehicle mileage can reduce costs and greenhouse gas pollution. Depending on the vehicle type, a decrease of 250 miles per month can translate to carbon reductions of roughly 160kg per month or 2 tons per year, plus a yearly cost savings of $1,000 per vehicle. GPS fleet vehicle tracking systems enable you to minimize distances using automatic route optimization based on time, distance, or avoided roadways.
•Proactive Vehicle Maintenance and Smog Checks: You can remotely monitor motor oil life, engine fault codes, and emissions control system status. In the US alone, better oil-life monitoring could save over 100 million gallons of oil over 5 years. For every 1lb psi of tire under-inflation, around 4 million gallons of fuel are wasted each day. A poorly tuned engine can use up to 50% more fuel and produces up to 50% more emissions than one that is running properly. Depending on the size of your fleet, this proactive effort can lead to thousands or even millions of dollars saved in vehicle maintenance, repairs and replacement costs.
•Driving Analysis and Training: Stop aggressive driving. Reduce sharp acceleration aka jack-rabbit starts, hard braking, and unnecessary idling events. Jack-rabbit starts and hard braking can increase fuel consumption by as much as 40%. Tests show that “jackrabbit” starts and hard braking reduces travel time by only four percent, while toxic emissions were more than five times higher.
In city driving, nearly 50% of the energy needed to power your car goes to acceleration.A GPS fleet tracking system helps you to find each of your fleet vehicle’s “sweet spots” such as the specific speeds, gear shifts, and acceleration where the best fuel efficiency can be achieved.
•Compliance with Upcoming Regulations for Government Contracts: Recently the EPA handed down a ruling that requested suppliers in the U.S. to report their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). For some US fleets this will prove to be a major headache, for others, like those using FieldLogix fleet management software, it won’t be a problem. Government departments are under pressure from environmental agencies to control and limit GHG emissions, and that has a rippling effect for all American fleets, especially those the government does business with.
•Customer Service: Diminish unnecessary customer service issues by as much as 95% through on-time delivery, accountability, and immediate responsiveness. With GPS fleet tracking you can identify and send out the nearest vehicle, improve route optimization, and reduce cargo spoilage. Also you can increase customer retention by offering proof of the company’s green achievements.
•Idling Controls: Lower idling times by up to 90%. Long-haul trucks can save up to $8,000 per truck per year (averaging 1,800 hours idling per year).
•Improve Vehicle Utilization: Drivers and fleet vehicle managers can realize huge savings in labor and fuel expenses because drivers aren’t sent out in search of lost trailers. Large fleet operators have recovered millions of dollars this way. Plus, you can avoid additional trailer purchases by lowering tractor-trailer ratios by 10% to 15%.
•Paperwork Reduction: With a fleet GPS management system you can automatically share electronic driver logs, fuel tax reports, employee time cards, and schedule analysis of dispatch and accounting systems. Because paper trails are no longer necessary, overtime and administration costs can be cut by 10% to 35%.
GPS fleet management system FieldLogix will give you a Green Driving Report that is easy to understand and utilize to develop a green driving strategy. These automated Green Fleet Score Reports work around the clock, so you can quickly see increases in profitability, performance and greenhouse gas emissions reductions. With this type of GPS fleet tracking solution, even a small fleet can save thousands of dollars per vehicle per year.
The GPS fleet tracking system can correlate all this data with routing options, schedules, maintenance, and driving behavior to establish current baselines. Once baselines have been established, realistic goals can be set and the results can easily be measured by the GPS fleet tracking system. Fleet management can instantly communicate the news to customers, investors, or other company stakeholders.
