An increasingly prominent option is the use of uncrewed aerial vehicles or drones.
This week research comparing the environmental impact of different forms of last-mile delivery was published in the scientific journalPatterns.
They found that greenhouse-gas emissions per parcel were 84% lower for drones than for diesel trucks.
Unsurprisingly, drones consumed up to 94% less energy per parcel than trucks.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
This raises issues for competitive delivery pricing and in rolling out operations for national carriers like Amazon.
Were not comparing like with like
While a great start, the research has some limitations.
Currently,drone delivery operatorshave to comply with geo-cached local airspace regulations.
This longer route could potentially increase the drones energy consumption and GHG emissions per package delivered.
The last steps challenge
A package-carrying drone can fly directly to the recipient.
But it requires someone to come outside and take the delivery from the lowered drone.
So the delivery experience is quite different.
Id be interested in future analysis based on heavierdronecargo loads.
As both offer single-order deliveries, the comparison could bring more insight into the challenge of small order deliveries.
Ultimately, all solutions to remove and reduce diesel trucks in our cities need priority.
This research offers some compelling statistics into the mix about greening our cities.
Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin.
Also tagged with
