The SmartWay Transport Partnership is a business organization administered by the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
government and designed to encourage businesses to manage
logistics
Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...
in an environmentally responsible way. The program was formed in 2004, and is administered by the
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...
(USEPA) and is housed with the USEPA's
Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ) - Transportation and Climate Division (TCD).
SmartWay aims to voluntarily achieve improved fuel efficiency and reduce environmental impacts from
freight transport
Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been exte ...
. SmartWay currently has approximately 600 member businesses, membership is voluntary. The organization provides incentives and recognition for top performers to encourage continued improvement.
Background and history
The Partnership was officially launched on February 9, 2004, with the support of 15 charter members and the backing of the
American Trucking Associations. Since its inception, the Partnership has expanded to include more than 600 companies and affiliates
Partnership members are encouraged to improve fuel savings and reduce emissions in several ways. Freight carriers may upgrade their truck fleet with various fuel saving technologies and
idle reduction
Idle reduction describes technologies and practices that minimize the amount of time drivers idle their engines. Avoiding idling time has a multitude of benefits including: savings in fuel and maintenance costs, extending vehicle life, and redu ...
methods. Other possible strategies include:
* wind deflectors on the tops, sides, and rear of trucks, to reduce
aerodynamic drag
In fluid dynamics, drag, sometimes referred to as fluid resistance, is a force acting opposite to the direction of motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding fluid. This can exist between two fluid layers, two solid surfaces, or b ...
;
*
fuel-efficient tires and
tire inflation systems to reduce
rolling resistance
Rolling resistance, sometimes called rolling friction or rolling drag, is the force resisting the Motion (physics), motion when a body (such as a ball, tire, or wheel) Rolling, rolls on a surface. It is mainly caused by Plasticity (physics), non- ...
;
*
idle reduction
Idle reduction describes technologies and practices that minimize the amount of time drivers idle their engines. Avoiding idling time has a multitude of benefits including: savings in fuel and maintenance costs, extending vehicle life, and redu ...
equipment to power and cool the cab while the truck is not in motion, allowing the engine to be shut off;
* the use of
speed governors; and
* the use of hybrid powertrain systems, especially for urban operation trucks.
SmartWay Affiliates, which include various state government agencies and trade groups, play a promotional role for SmartWay by educating policy actors and their members about the benefits of the Partnership.
Goals of the partnership
By 2012, the SmartWay Transport Partnership aimed to save between 3.3 and 6.6 billion gallons of
diesel fuel
Diesel fuel, also called diesel oil, heavy oil (historically) or simply diesel, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a re ...
per year, which translates to eliminating between 33 - 66 million
metric tons
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the sh ...
of
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
emissions and up to 200,000 tons of
nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or factitious air, among others, is a chemical compound, an Nitrogen oxide, oxide of nitrogen with the Chemical formula, formula . At room te ...
emissions per year. The Partnership also aimed to reduce large amounts of
particulate
Particulate matter (PM) or particulates are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. An ''aerosol'' is a mixture of particulates and air, as opposed to the particulate matter alone, though it is sometimes define ...
matter (PM).
Technologies
*
Semi-trailer aerodynamic device
Semi-trailer aerodynamic devices are devices affixed to semi-trailers, for the purpose of reducing aerodynamic drag caused by air turbulence. The two major types of device in use are trailer skirts (or side skirts), affixed to the underside of trai ...
, including trailer skirts and trailer tails recognized under the SmartWay program
See also
*
Fuel efficiency
Fuel efficiency (or fuel economy) is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical energy, chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or Mechanical work, w ...
*
Green vehicle
A green vehicle, clean vehicle, eco-friendly vehicle or environmentally friendly vehicle is a road motor vehicle that produces less harmful impacts to the environment than comparable conventional internal combustion engine vehicles running o ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
SmartWay websiteJuly 2006 article on greening the supply chain from InboundLogistics.com
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Transportation associations in the United States