Paragon Software Systems has added a new carbon minimizer function to its software, allowing users to reduce carbon emissions and fuel consumptions with improved routing.
“The additional carbon minimizer functionality reflects our commitment to providing customers with software solutions that meet the needs of the ever changing logistics industry, including meeting government regulations,” says William Salter, president & CEO. “We have been helping improve environmental efficiency within the industry for over 25 years by building efficient route combinations that cut mileage and reduce fuel consumption. The carbon minimizer tool takes this a step further and enables transportation operators to look at the environmental impact of their vehicle routes as part of the planning process.”
The new tool optimizes route efficiency in terms of fuel used and associated carbon emissions. The software estimates and reports the total CO2 and fuel content of all the routes and schedules, including distances, speeds, weight and vehicle fuel efficiency. Carbon minimizer is then used as a final optimization step to adjust the schedules – changing stop sequences and swapping stops between routes – to further reduce total CO2 emissions and fuel usage.
The software takes into account slower city-based travel that utilizes more fuel and emits more carbon emissions than highway travel that is much faster, Paragon said. Similarly, heavily loaded vehicles use more fuel/CO2 per mile than empty ones. The carbon minimizer incorporates these factors to generate carbon-friendly schedules.
“Fuel consumption also depends on other factors, such as driving style, vehicle age, weather conditions and so on,” adds Richard Street, Paragon’s software development director. “But regardless of these, vehicles will use more fuel per mile if they are heavily laden or travelling at slow speeds – so by including these two key factors, Paragon is able to generate fuel-efficient and carbon-friendly routes and schedules.”
