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February 2007
Freight symposium highlights environmental innovations
Alfred Marcus, David Kittelson
Managing the supply chain today means protecting tomorrow’s environmental resources. Mandates, such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) requirement for low diesel emissions on trucks in 2007, are greatly influencing the nation’s freight and transportation market. Research into renewable fuels continues in order to reduce harmful emissions and conserve petroleum-based fuel.
Larry LairIn the keynote speech at the Tenth Annual Freight and Logistics Symposium held in Minneapolis on December 1, 2006, Larry Lair, vice president of 3M’s Traffic Safety Systems Division, outlined sweeping initiatives by 3M in packaging, manufacturing, and transportation. The moves are reducing 3M’s transportation costs while minimizing damage to the environment. “We recognize packaging opportunities are almost limitless and resources are not,” Lair told more than 80 freight and logistics professionals, policymakers, and researchers.
3M is systematically making design changes to packaging on most of its product. In part, the changes arise from new requirements by Wal-Mart for suppliers to reduce packaging by at least 5 percent over a five-year period. “For 3M, when you talk about thousands and thousands of boxes and packages and pallets, pretty soon it adds up and the savings are very significant,” Lair said, noting that savings on packaging supplies will run into the millions of dollars annually.
Next, a panel discussion described “green” moves by supply-chain partners. For many years, the Port of Tacoma, Washington, has been cleaning up its waterways and making other significant environmental remediation efforts at its 2,400-acre site. Vince Sullivan, Midwest sales manager for the Port of Tacoma, said the shift from regular diesel to ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) on its container-handling equipment has reduced emissions. Similar initiatives by shipping lines serving the port also have contributed to the lower emissions.
Roger Poyer, manager of hub and facility operations at BNSF’s intermodal facility in St. Paul, Minnesota, called lowered emissions and fuel consumption a byproduct of corporate-wide moves to reduce costs and increase operating efficiencies. Poyer described how BNSF has recently changed its loading techniques to haul more freight on longer trains. The St. Paul rail yard has also improved safety involving the many truck moves in and out of its facility such as by instituting an anti-idling policy.
Buddy Polovick, shipper coordinator with the EPA’s SmartWay program, outlined the voluntary partnership consisting of nearly 500 trucking companies, shippers, and manufacturers formed to reduce fuel consumption and emissions through smarter logistics practices and better technology. Partnership members benefit from government and private-sector research and other tools. For example, SmartWay monitors research into advanced aerodynamics and promotes the use of renewable fuels.
A second panel shifted discussion to the future role of energy sources for transportation. Bob Clarke, president of the Truck Manufacturers Association, said the EPA’s low-emission requirements to reduce particulate matter emissions on diesel engines for trucks and buses have forced big changes in the industry, affecting truck manufacturers and shippers alike.
Clarke praised the research efforts of academia along with the Department of Energy in supporting advancements toward lowered emissions. “The engineering work required to get vehicles to this state has been nothing short of monumental,” he said. Emission specifications for new trucks will continue to tighten through 2010 for lowered nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, an area where much of the work remains on developing technology.
David Kittelson, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota, said biodiesel fuel, widely used in freight transportation, is a viable renewable fuel. Biodiesel produces particulate matter and carbon emissions up to 60 percent less than petroleum diesel, but it increases NOx emissions because it burns hotter. Like Clarke, Kittelson said that a reduction in truck NOx emissions needs further research. “The technology that is going to be used for NOx emission control is still up in the air. That actually is a tougher problem than the particle problem,” Kittelson said.
Alfred Marcus, Edison Spencer Chair in strategy and technological leadership at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, stressed a need for the stabilization of energy prices and a stable policy environment to encourage advancements in renewable fuels and vehicle technology.
Looking toward the future, Jerry Nagel, president of Northern Great Plains, Inc. (NGP), described a number of issues concerning renewable fuel production in the region, which includes Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. “We’re hearing that biofuels are going to be the most disruptive thing to happen in agriculture since the opening of global markets in the 1970s,” Nagel said, suggesting renewable biofuels made from feedstocks like corn and soybeans may serve to significantly raise food and land prices. He also warned that the nation is unprepared. “There is no strategic thinking going on now about the implications of massive large-scale biofuels development in the region,” he said. NGP has started a dialogue with communities in the region to create a better future, he reported.
Kittelson added that fuel produced from prairie grasses is an attractive alternative. (U of M research indicates that a field of diverse prairie grasses produces twice the bioenergy of land planted with a single species such as corn. The research was featured on the local CBS news affiliate on January 22.)
Overall, panelists agreed upon the value of diversity in fuel sources, even discussing diesel-electric hybrid engines for light-duty vehicles. But Clarke stressed that the disparity in fuel types makes it difficult to bring market-viable technologies into widespread use. “It’s about getting enough volumes to bring the costs down where people will pay for them,” he concluded.
Finally, CTS director Robert Johns closed the symposium by remarking on the innovations presented by panelists. “These small changes are making a big impact,” he said, citing a multiplier effect of the actions of all parties in the supply chain.
A proceedings of the conference will be published early this year. To receive a copy, call CTS at 612-626-1077 or visit the CTS publications page.