Green Shipping is headed to the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market and Expo in Salt Lake City from July 21 – 24. It is the biggest expo in the the industry and we are excited to see some great new outdoor products and hope to spread the word about Greenshipping. See you all there!

Early this week, the M/V Auriga Leader, a large cargo ship almost completely powered by solar panels was unveiled in the Port of Long Beach, California. This ship, a joint creation by the Port of Long Beach, Toyota and Tokyo-based shipping company, NYK Line, is powered by 328 solar panels connected to its main electricity grid.

The cargo shipping industry is a large source of CO2 emissions. Other cargo ships have been invented to use solar power to reduce their green house gas emissions, but non have ever depended primarily on solar for electricity, until the Auriga Leader.

Click on the Inhabitat article to read more and see pictures!

Here is an interesting WSJ article by Boeing CEO Scott Carson, where he discusses what Boeing and the aviation industry are doing to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. It is encouraging to see the big industry players lining up behind green initiatives.

In the green shipping business, we spend a lot of time reading the news and monitoring trends in the industry.  We are very encouraged by the green initiatives that all the US based carriers have been pursuing.  With biofuels for air travel, hybrid trucks for delivery, new propulsion systems for trucks, and supply chain optimization, the industry is poised to make a big impact on the footprint of world-wide shipping.  It is no small task and to realize that it is a priority is encouraging to say the least.  Reducing emissions is always better than offsetting them.  While it takes time, we hope that some day, through innovation and continued investment in the transportation infrastructure, that we become obsolete in the shipping process.  We encourage our readers and members to contact their shippers and let them know that you see what they are doing and that you support it 100%.  We’ll post articles as they come out that highlight the state of the industry and the technology advancements that are being made.  

Have a great weekend!

Carbon neutral shipping is measuring the footprint of shipments and then purchasing carbon offsets to negate their footprint.  The heavier the package, the longer the distance travelled, and the most fuel hungry the transportation method, the more CO2 that needs to be offset for carbon neutrality. 

In effect, by offsetting a shipment, you are paying to take an action that reduces carbon output into the atmosphere in an amount equal to the footprint of your shipment.  Examples of those actions are the creation of wind power projects, solar arrays, or the capture of gasses from landfills.  For power projects, your money putting killowatts of power onto the power grid, which reduces the demand for sources like coal power.  Fortunately there are accurate ways of measuring the impact from these projects and legitimate offsetters use third party certifications to verify and quantify the reductions they have achieved.  

In some circles, the idea of offsetting emissions is considered “buying off your conscience” while you continue to maintain a large carbon footprint.  There definitely is some truth to that idea and is a reason why we’ve tried to make Green Shipping an educational tool for shippers.  With the mapping technology we use to display shipments, you can see how your shipments get from point A to point B and how much CO2 they’ve emitted. 

If you follow your shipments, you can quickly learn how your up-front decisions affect the footprint of your actions.  For instance, let’s say you’re buying a new computer on Amazon.com.  Of course “super saver” shipping is free, but for an extra $12 you can get it in just two days.  Most people don’t realize that air shipments emit over 8 times the amount of CO2 that ground shipments do, and make the choice based on the convenience/cost ratio.  We are hoping that as people learn to estimate the impact of their future actions by understanding the impact of their past actions, that we can make a big difference independent of whether we purchase carbon offsets for full carbon neutrality.

We’re pleased to formalize our relationship with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation.  The joint press release went over the wire yesterday.  

We initially selected BEF for two reasons.  First, they’re a non-profit and any proceeds from their carbon projects go to good causes like watershed restoration, renewable energy education for kids, and other great programs.  Second, their projects are focused primarily on North America.  While CO2 is a global problem without regional boundaries, pollution is a regional problem.  North American projects help increase our air quality and help to build our green economy by creating jobs and focusing development locally.  

As we have gotten to know BEF better, we have been increasingly impressed with how they run their business.  They are a leader in developing rigorous site selection criteria used to select the site of new wind projects.  These criteria consider the potential impacts to the ecosystems and surrounding the projects.

We’re proud to announce the launch of GreenShipping.com to the public.  After a beta program with several businesses, we have completed the development of the site and are excited to offer access to the public.  Green Shipping offers businesses and individuals a way to measure and offset the impact of their shipments on the environment.  While making it easy to green your shipments, the site also offers a new way to keep track of your shipments.  Using a Google maps based interface, you can actually see where your packages are, when they are due, and how they are getting there.  

We’re looking forward to hearing feedback about the site and your experiences with it.  

Just because the site is launched, doesn’t mean we aren’t busy working on new features.  We’ll be announcing international shipment support, partnerships with new shipping partners, and other exciting developments over the coming months.  If you’re interested in receiving updates, simply sign up for our RSS feed.