Retail Store Density and the Cost of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The density, size, and location of stores in a retailer\u27s network influences both the retailer\u27s and the consumers\u27 costs. With stores few and far between, consumers must travel a long distance to shop, whereas shopping trips are shorter with a dense network of stores. The layout of the retail supply chain is of interest to retailers who have emission reduction targets and urban planners concerned with sprawl. Are small local shops preferred over large, “big-box” retailers? A model of the retail supply chain is presented that includes operating costs (such as fuel and rent for floor space) as well as a cost for environmental externalities associated with carbon emissions. A focus on exclusively minimizing operating costs may substantially increase emissions (by 67% in one scenario) relative to the minimum level of emissions. A price on carbon is an ineffective mechanism for reducing emissions. The most attractive option is to improve consumer fuel efficiency—doubling the fuel efficiency of cars reduces long-run emissions by about one-third, whereas an improvement in truck fuel efficiency has a marginal impact on total emissions

Carbon Emission Cost Affects Location Decision: CO2 Efficient Area Yields to the Less Efficient

Due to the global warming problem, it is more urgent than ever to take carbon emission problem seriously. It is needed to take carbon emission cost into consideration. Gravity method is used to do location selection. Three aspects of work have been done. First, the carbon emission cost of a certain kind of truck is calculated. Second, the comparison between considering and not considering carbon emission is done. Third, a distance parameter is added to transfer straight-line distance to real distance. The research gets the result in two cases: case 1 single mode transportation tools are used, the best site has no changes with total cost rising case 2 multi-mode transportation tools are used, the best site coordination has changed with cost rising in general except extraordinary case. At the end, we show the application of the model. The carbon emission cost affects the location modeling, the cost like carbon dioxide tax will drive the location center to move a little bit in the direction of the CO2 efficient area towards less efficient area.nbs

Inventory routing problem with carbon emission consideration

Inventory Routing Problem (IRP) has been continuously developed and im- proved due to pressure from global warming issue particularly related to greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission. The burning of fossil fuel for transportations such as cars, trucks, ships, trains, and planes primarily emits GHGs. Carbon dioxide (CO2) from burning of fossil fuel to power transportation and industrial process is the largest contributor to global GHGs emission. Therefore, the focus of this study is on solving a multi-period inventory routing problem (MIRP) involving carbon emission consideration based on carbon cap and offset policy. Hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) based on allocation first and routing second is used to compute a solution for the MIRP in this study. The objective of this study is to solve the proposed MIRP model with HGA then validate the effectiveness of the proposed HGA on data of different sizes. Upon validation, the proposed MIRP model and HGA is applied on real-world data. The HGA is found to be able to solve small size and large size instances effectively by providing near optimal solution in relatively short CPU execution time

Collaboration in urban distribution of online grocery orders

Purpose: Population growth, urbanisation and the increased use of online shopping are some of the key challenges affecting the traditional logistics model. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the distribution of grocery products ordered online and the subsequent home delivery and click and collect services offered by online retailers to fulfil these orders. These services are unsustainable due to increased operational costs, carbon emissions, traffic and noise. The main objective of the research is to propose sustainable logistics models to reduce economic, environmental and social costs whilst maintaining service levels. Design/methodology/approach: The authors have a mixed methodology based on simulation and mathematical modelling to evaluate the proposed shared logistics model using: primary data from a major UK retailer, secondary data from online retailers and primary data from a consumer survey on preferences for receiving groceries purchased online. Integration of these three data sets serves as input to vehicle routing models that reveal the benefits from collaboration by solving individual distribution problems of two retailers first, followed by the joint distribution problem under single decision maker assumption. Findings: The benefits from collaboration could be more than 10 per cent in the distance travelled and 16 per cent in the time required to deliver the orders when two online grocery retailers collaborate in distribution activities. Originality/value: The collaborative model developed for the online grocery market incentivises retailers to switch from current unsustainable logistics models to the proposed collaborative models

Hybrid genetic algorithm for inventory routing problem with carbon emission consideration

Inventory Routing Problem (IRP) has been continuously developed and improved due to pressure from global warming issue particularly related to greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission. The burning of fossil fuel for transportations such as cars, trucks, ships, trains, and planes primarily emits GHGs. Carbon dioxide (CO2) from burning of fossil fuel to power transportation and industrial process is the largest contributor to global GHGs emission. Therefore, the focus of this study is on solving a multi-period inventory routing problem (MIRP) involving carbon emission consideration based on carbon cap and offset policy. Hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) based on allocation first and routing second is used to compute a solution for the MIRP in this study. The objective of this study is to solve the proposed MIRP model with HGA then validate the effectiveness of the proposed HGA on data of different sizes. Upon validation, the proposed MIRP model and HGA is applied on real data and parameter sensitivity analysis is performed on the MIRP model. The HGA is found to be able to solve small size and large size instances effectively by providing near optimal solution in relatively short CPU execution time. In addition, the increase in unit carbon price results in the increase of the supply chain’s total cost while the increase in carbon cap results in the decrease of supply chain’s total cost. The results from the analysis gave an indication that the unit carbon price and carbon cap need to be thoroughly designed so that it will not burden the participating companies of carbon emission regulation and environment

The design of green supply chains under carbon policies: A literature review of quantitative models

Carbon footprinting of products and services is getting increasing attention due to the growing emphasis on carbon related policies in many countries. As a result, many enterprises are focusing on the design of green supply chains (GSCs) with research on supply chains (SCs) focused not only on cost efficiency, but also on its environmental consequences. The review presented in this paper focuses on the implications of carbon policies on SCs. The concept of content analysis is used to retrieve and analyze the information regarding drivers (carbon policies), actors (for example, manufacturers and retailers), methodologies (mathematical modeling techniques), decision-making contexts (such as, facility location and order quantity), and emission reduction opportunities. The review shows a lack of emissions analysis of SCs that face carbon policies in different countries. The research also focuses on the design of carbon policies for emissions reduction in different operating situations. Some possible research directions are also discussed at the end of this review.A NPRP award NPRP No.5-1284-5-198 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation).Scopu