'Friend' a Package, Save the Planet?

Researchers at the University of Minnesota and Seoul National University shed light on efficiencies of socially networked local delivery. MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (08/21/2012) —What if your cell phone and social network could help deliver packages for you? This may be more likely, easier and more beneficial to the environment than you might think, researchers at the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment and Seoul National University report in the current issue of Environmental Science & Technology . Online shopping may be economical and convenient from the shopper's standpoint, but it can also carry a hefty environmental price. Particularly, the "last mile" of local delivery is the retail system's largest contributor to fossil fuel consumption, CO2 and local air emissions. Replacing traditional home truck delivery with pickup locations can help in some instances. But in the suburbs, such systems can actually increase overall travel distances and emissions as personal vehicles detour from their normal daily activity to make the pickup. That is, according to the ES&T article, unless you can find a few good friends to help.