{"id":342451,"date":"2017-06-01T05:23:38","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T21:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1497305"},"modified":"2017-06-01T05:23:38","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T21:23:38","slug":"study-suggests-last-mile-drone-delivery-could-lower-carbon-footprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/study-suggests-last-mile-drone-delivery-could-lower-carbon-footprint\/","title":{"rendered":"Study suggests last-mile drone delivery could lower carbon footprint"},"content":{"rendered":"

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There\u2019s always been talk about how drones could improve the emissions situation produced by our truck-based delivery infrastructure. But you have to look into<\/em> these things. A new study from University of Washington researchers indicates that drone delivery may indeed lead to a lower carbon footprint \u2014 if it\u2019s done properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was amazed at how energy-efficient drones are in some contexts,\u201d said Anne Goodchild, who led the research, in a UW news release<\/a>. \u201cTrucks compete better on heavier loads, but for really light packages, drones are awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her study examined the theoretical energy costs of a number of delivery scenarios in the Los Angeles area. Drones, as they are today, can only carry one item at a time, but they can fly over traffic in efficient straight lines. When was this style more efficient than a truck with dozens or hundreds of packages?<\/p>\n

According to the researchers\u2019 analysis, drones are more efficient for pretty much anything up to a mile away, and depending on the number of stops, considerably farther. Scenarios with lots of stops in one place, like a major office building, don\u2019t make much sense for drones \u2014 but going a mile out of your way to deliver to a farmhouse is equally nonsensical for a heavy truck.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re probably not going to see these in downtown Seattle anytime soon,\u201d Goodchild said. \u201cBut maybe in a rural community with roads that are slow and hard for trucks to navigate and no air space or noise concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s much more to the question than simply which is more efficient, of course: How clean is the power used to recharge the drones? How reliable are these estimates? Is backyard delivery really what\u2019s needed? What about electric trucks?<\/p>\n

Good questions all! And studies addressing them will surely be conducted over the years to come. Meanwhile, this one will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Transportation Research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: Matternet Inc.<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" There’s always been talk about how drones could improve the emissions situation produced by our truck-based delivery infrastructure. But you have to look into these things. A new study from University of Washington researchers indicates that drone delivery may indeed lead to a lower carbon footprint — if it’s done properly. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"\/ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-342451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}