Systems and methods for calculating emissions resulting from transporting a shipment

• US 8,498,818 B1
• Filed: 09/18/2009
• Issued: 07/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Inventors: Jones, James Anthony Jr., Matulevicus, Mark, Ridley, David T., Guernsey, David
• Primary Examiner(s): SUGLO, JANET L
• Application Number:
  US12/562,431
• Time in Patent Office: 1,411 Days
• Field of Search: 702/1, 702/22, 702/176, 702/182, 702/187, 235/384
• US Class Current: 702/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

According to various embodiments, an emissions calculation system calculates the emissions resulting from transporting a shipment that includes an individual or group of packages. In certain embodiments, the calculated emissions are based on estimated amounts of fuel used in the transportation process based on historical fuel usage and shipment data. In addition, various embodiments of the system generate and display (or otherwise make available) one or more reports of the calculated emissions information. For example, the reports may provide a total amount of carbon dioxide emitted for a particular shipment or group of shipments. In addition, the report may provide a breakdown of the amount of emissions resulting from various operational activities in the transportation process (e.g., resulting from pickup, delivery, and/or transportation between carrier facilities, and resulting from stationary operational activities, such as sorting or movement within each carrier facility).

Claims

1. An emissions calculation system for calculating emissions resulting from transporting a shipment from an origin address to a destination address through a carrier'"'"'s transportation network, the emissions calculation system comprising at least one computer processor and a memory, said at least one computer processor configured for:

receiving at least a portion of shipment parameters associated with a particular shipment, the received shipment parameters comprising an origin address and a destination address for the particular shipment;

identifying a transportation route along which the particular shipment is expected to travel from the origin address to the destination address;

retrieving one or more emissions factors related to at least one of the shipment parameters, each of the one or more emissions factors being based at least in part on an amount of fuel used during a particular time period by the carrier to transport previously shipped packages along at least a portion of the transportation route; and

estimating an amount of emissions resulting from transporting the particular shipment along the at least a portion of the transportation route based at least in part on the one or more retrieved emissions factors and at least a portion of the shipment parameters.

2. The emissions calculation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured for estimating the amount of fuel used during the particular time period to transport packages along the at least a portion of the transportation route based at least in part on an expected amount of time for transporting the packages along the at least a portion of the transportation route, the expected amount of time based on historical shipment data of the carrier.

3. The emissions calculation system of claim 2, wherein the expected amount of time is associated with a distance range that includes a distance of the at least a portion of the transportation route, and the amount of fuel is further based on the number of packages transported within the distance range by the carrier during the particular time period.

4. The emissions calculation system of claim 3, wherein the expected amount of time is further based on a service level associated with the packages, the service level in part indicating the transportation route along which the packages travel, one or more modes of transportation for transporting the packages along the transportation route, the expected amount of time for transporting the packages, and an average volume per package transported via the service level.

5. The emissions calculation system of claim 2, wherein the transportation route comprises one or more route legs, and wherein the expected amount of time is associated with transporting packages along a particular route leg, and the amount of fuel is further based on the number of packages transported along the route leg by the carrier during the particular time period.

6. The emissions calculation system of claim 5, wherein the expected amount of time is further based on a service level associated with the packages, the service level in part indicating the transportation route along which the packages travel, a mode of transportation for transporting the packages along each route leg, the expected amount of time for transporting the packages along each route leg, and an average volume per package transported via the service level.

7. The emissions calculation system of claim 1, wherein:

the transportation route comprises a first route leg from the origin address to a first carrier facility, a second route leg between the first carrier facility and a second carrier facility, and a third route leg from the second carrier facility to the destination address,

a transport operational activity comprises transporting the particular shipment along the second route leg, and a transport emissions factor of the one or more retrieved emissions factors is associated with the transport operational activity,

a pickup operational activity comprises transporting the particular shipment along the first route leg, and a pickup emissions factor of the one or more retrieved emissions factors is associated with the pickup operational activity, and

a delivery operational activity comprises transporting the particular shipment along the second route leg, and a delivery emissions factor of the one or more retrieved emissions factors is associated with the delivery operational activity.

8. The emissions calculation system of claim 7, wherein the transport operational activity further comprises transporting the particular shipment through at least one intermediate carrier facility located between the first carrier facility and the second carrier facility.

9. The emissions calculation system of claim 7, wherein the particular shipment is associated with a first service product, and the pickup emissions factor is based at least in part on the amount of fuel per stop previously used by the carrier for picking up packages associated with the first service product.

10. The emissions calculation system of claim 7, wherein the particular shipment is associated with a first service product, and the delivery emissions factor is based at least in part on the amount of fuel per stop previously used by the carrier for delivering packages associated with the first service product.

11. The emissions calculation system of claim 7, wherein the one or more retrieved emissions factors further comprises a stationary operational activities emissions factor associated with one or more stationary operational activities.

12. The emissions calculation system of claim 1, wherein estimating the amount of emissions comprises estimating an amount of carbon dioxide.