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Green Logistics Management, Urban Air Quality and use of biofuels by Dr. SK Modak

Introduction

Logistics are a vital part link in the transport systems present day. They have improved the cost, efficiency and reliability aspects of our systems management which includes the final part of the supply chain. However, the negative environmental impact of transport movements that lead to high consumption emissions fuel, improve the level of noise, vibration and movement of accident rates have reached such high proportions that sustainability issues have inevitably come to the forefront of all conversations around the world. Logistics, including reverse logistics, distribution, must be environmentally friendly. In this context, "Green Logistics assumes great importance.

actual travel days owes much to modern technology has helped to develop a high degree of organization and control on the movement of goods not only within countries but also across the seven seas. The technology could be called the most effective driver of growth transport industry today. However, it is paradoxical that logistics providers in an effort to serve their own narrow commercial interests have lost sight of the objectives of green logistics. The conflict between self interest of industry and well known green objectives therefore deserves serious discussion and action.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of the concept of green logistics, transportation industry-related greenhouse gas (GHG), the quality management air in urban areas, the subject of modal shift, the use of bio-fuels and sustainability issues in general.

   What is Green Logistics?

T he concept of "green" came to be discussed in relation with the transport industry during the eighties and nineties, especially after the World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987 announced the environment sustainability as a target for international action. The transport industry was identified as one of the culprits that contribute to environmental degradation. The studies and reports have also suggested that the environment must be incorporated into the framework of logistics and supply chain paradigm. green logistics The term "from He has become a cliché.

Traditionally, logistics is responsible for the distribution of forward that includes transportation, storage, packaging, inventory management and information processing starting from the producer to the retailer and end user. Environmental considerations require that, as a corollary, attention must also be consideration of "reverse logistics", which consists in the recycling and waste disposal and materials used. Logistics reverse flow, in fact, opens a new market for readmission (10). In short, the entire life cycle of a product - production, distribution, consumption and disposal - Has to be considered as part of logistics. Since very few operations such as inventory, material handling, packaging etc. can be outsourced to other agencies, operational integration assumes great importance in the total supply chain. In other words, the separate operations of several linked together on the operations to based transactions are buffered by inventory. The focus is on maintaining a continuous flow of desired speed by synchronizing all activities are part of the supply chain.

The main advantage of establishing an effective connectivity is the minimization of transportation costs incurred by companies. Expenditure Logistics comprises the following elements: (a) costs of logistics in particular (operations), (b) cost of certain outbound logistics (marketing and sales), (c) Cost of services, and (d) Profit Management (12). The hallmark of effective integration in the supply chain is (a) The transit time compression, (B) The reliability of service, (c) Just in time (JIT) delivery (d) support good information systems, (e) flexibility in operations (F) Personalization and (g) Minimization of "new cast" or empty trucks on the return trip. The same criteria apply to reverse logistics that require management of returned products by customers, recycling or reuse, repair or removal of products and the search for alternative channels to sell impaired assets (18). This has environmental implications.

transport management, as part of supply chain is also great importance. This is expertise in the vehicles and equipment scheduling, load planning, cargo routing, notification advance shipment, cargo consolidation, tracking the movement of freight as part of the control and efficient information system. It also includes documentation in terms of bill of lading and manifest shipment and what is very important, a competitive pricing strategy (2, 4).

At the time modern international trade has become a large part of global economic activity. The role of transport in the global supply chain is even more important. Carriers can use a combination of modes such as air, road, rail, water, pipelines and other modes of transport. Trucks usually more expensive than rail or water, but has the advantage of shipment from door to door and shorter delivery times. It also eliminates the need to transfer or transfers between pick-up and delivery points. Carriers therefore often prefer road transport over rail for all short-distance movements within the country. When it comes global trade, transportation, water becomes the dominant mode, although the airline is also the preferred light and perishable cargo.

Transport Industry and Green House Gas (GHG)

Transportation is clearly energy intensive industry with high levels of emissions of direct greenhouse gases and indirect. According to Carbon budget and trends 2007 Annual Report, global carbon emissions rose rapidly during 2007 with the nations industrialized countries such as China and India produce over half the CO2 production of human carbon dioxide is the main cause of global warming (11). It states that emissions from burning fossil fuels was the main contributor to increasing CO2 and India will soon overtake Russia to become the largest emitter CO2 third. It should be noted that 450 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 leads to two degrees Celsius increase in atmospheric temperature, with disastrous consequences in terms global warming. A wake-up call to industry, business and our astute political figures is given by recent atmospheric CO2, in general, which rose to 383 ppm in 2007. This was 37% higher than the average. China, India, Russia and Japan are regarded as the big players in CO2 emissions and that vehicular pollution is the main culprit (6). Country wise figures in Table 1 illustrate the severity (23).

. Table 1: Overview of emissions GHG for selected countries

Country CO2 Emissions Growth Rate

(In millions of tonnes) (1990-2004)

6046 U.S. 25

China 5007 109

Russia 1524 23

India 1342 97

Japan 17 1257

Germany -18 808

Canada 637 54

United Kingdom 587 01

Korea 93 465

Italy 450 15

World 28 28 983

_________________________________________________-

Note: Percentage of developed countries is 15% of world population

but 50% of CO2 emissions.

Also is considered that, given that Russia is actually reducing the emission rate, India will soon be included in the third biggest polluter after the U.S. and China.

Tackling Urban Air Pollution Transport

Transport undoubtedly plays a crucial role in the proper and effective functioning of our cities. , But is primarily responsible for air pollution. Vehicle emissions are considered a serious problem in the metro cities world, including India. The levels of particulate matter (SPM) is much higher than the standard 90 (as in 1992) established by the World Health Organization (WHO). A comparison of the concentration of suspended particles in certain cities of India with other Asian cities are given in Table 2.

As can be seen, in 1992 each of the three cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata had exceeded many times the WHO limit of 90 SPM and our national capital was the worst.

Table 2: Average Annual figures of SPM concentration in the Cities of Asia "during 1990-1999 (WHO limit of 90 as suspended particles in 1992) _________________________________________________________________________

Bangkok Hong Kong 55 215 490 New Delhi

Kolkata 380 394 Beijing 101 Seoul

Shanghai Busan 250 198 100 Manila

Mumbai 250 252 Chonguing

The blame for the rising pollution levels can be placed at the door of the steep Park cars in the cities of India as shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Number of Registered Motor Vehicles in India during 1951-2004

(Figures in thousands)

Two Year All cars, jeeps Buses Other Products

Wheels & Taxis Vehicles Vehicles

1951 306 27 159 34 82 4

1961 665 88 310 57 168 42

1971 1865 576 682 94,343,170

1981 5391 2618 1160 162 554 897

1991 21374 2533 14200 2954 331 1356

2000 48857 5319 34118 6143 562 2715

2001 54991 5795 38556 7058 634 2948

2002 58924 6121 41581 7613 635 2974

2003 67007 6676 47519 8599 721 3492

2004 72718 6829 51922 9451 768 3749
_______________________________________________________________________-

Source: (19) and Transport Research Wing, Ministry of Road Transport, Government of India

Motor vehicles are prone to emit large amounts of total organic gases (TOG), including hydrocarbons (HC), carbon mono oxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxide (NOx), oxides sulfur (SOx). These air pollutants cause serious health and the environment. The fine Particulate Matter (PM) leads to aggravate respiratory and cardio vascular and pulmonary function deteriorated. In addition, the degraded environment can be obtained by acid rain, eutrophication, visibility impairment and, of course, climate change. According to a study published in Current Science (5), while the Indian economy grew by 2.5 times during 1975-1995, the level pollution by motor vehicles increased by 7.5 times. This is worrying indeed. It shows that the transport system and air pollution are directly related to cooperation. Emissions from motor vehicles in practice will depend on vehicle kilometers, vehicle speed, life vehicle and fleet composition. The emission rates of different categories of vehicles are shown in Table 4.

  Table 4: Rates of emission of the different categories of vehicles in the typical Indian city in g / km

 

Category of vehicle CO HC NOx SO2 TSP Pb

Two wheels 8.3 5.18-0013 0004 -

Motor vehicles 0053 1.57 24.03 0012 3.57 -

Three wheels (cars) 12.25 7.77-0029 0009 -

Bus 4.38 8.28 1.33 1441-.275

Truck 3.43 1.33 6.48 1.127 to 0.450

Light commercial vehicle o.50 1.30 2.50 0.400 to 0.100

Note: (-) indicates negligible amount

Source: (21)

Here one can see that the emission rates in terms of CO and HC for custom modes as the car engine and two wheels are very high, which suggests the need for replacement public modes of passenger transport by bus or metro rail are. The figures for the average efficiency of the motor vehicle categories as is expressed in terms of miles per gallon as in Table 5.

Table 5:

Vehicle Fuel Category _ km by litre__

 

4.30 Diesel Bus

Two petrol wheels 44.40

Gasoline tricycle 20.00

Motor car petrol 10.90

Source: (21)

An image of vehicular emission charges in selected cities in India can be had from the figures in Table 6.

Table 6: Vehicle Emissions estimated load in certain metropolitan cities of India

City Name Vehicular pollution load (tons per day)

_________________________________________________________________________ The sulfur oxide particles of carbon Total Hydrocarbons

Nitrogen dioxide monoxide

________________________________________________________________________

Delhi 10.30 8.96 126.46 249.57 651.01 1046 .30

Mumbai 5.59 4.03 108.21 70.82 469.92 659.57

Bangalore 2.62 1.76 26.22 78.51 195.36 304.47

Kolkata 3.25 3.65 54.69 43.88 188.24 239.71

Ahmedabad 2.95 2.89 40.00 67.75 179.14 292.71

Pune 2.39 1.28 16.20 73.20 162.24 255.31

Chennai 2.34 2.02 28.21 50.46 143.22 226.25

Hyderabad 1.94 1.56 16.84 126.17 56.33 202.84

Jaipur 1.18 1.25 15.29 20.99 51.28 88.99

1. Kanpur 1.06 1.08 13.37 22.24 48.42 6.17

Lucknow 1.14 0.95 9.68 22.50 49.22 83.49

Nagpur 0.55 0.41 5.10 16.32 34.99 57.37

Total 35.31 29.84 422.88 809.69 2299 .21 3597.20

Source: (3)

The levels of air pollution in our cities are worrying indeed. The number of vehicles moving motor roads in India today is certainly much more than the figure of 7.2 crore in 2004 (see Table 3). What is more alarming is its focus on metropolitan cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Delhi, for example, that 1.4 percent of the indigenous population accounted for 7 percent of total motor vehicles in the country. Another concern is that while the share of public transport (buses) is well below the target range of 60-85 for two million of cities, the share of personal transport (cars and two wheels) and para-transit (autorikshaws and taxis) is above the optimum range of 10-20 in most of cities.

The impact of a rapidly growing number of vehicles in the background of grossly inadequate road space, poor furniture, the invasion by illegal street vendors, parked cars and live in the street can be easily imagined. Most Indian cities of traffic congestion today face serious, especially during peak hours when the vehicle speed drops to 50-10 km per hour in the central business district areas. vehicular emissions as CO2, HC and NOx dramatically increasing levels of pollution.

Mass transport services like buses and suburban rail systems generally are overcrowded. They are irregular and involve long waiting times. Naturally, this leads to a massive change of personal transport and para-transit modes. In India possession of a motor vehicle is still considered a status symbol. As a result, the neo-rich are quick to join the club of car owners and it is feared that the situation may worsen after the nano-lakh rupees car reaches an Indian roads. All this can also lead to higher accident rates heights dizzy. It's time to hear the warning and save ourselves from becoming a car-oriented society.

Air Quality Management - Operations

It is obvious that we must act without delay through effective intervention in the transport sector. The transport through green green logistics should be our goal. Maintenance of air quality standards is possible by establishing an air quality monitoring network environment for vehicle emissions while helping drivers to make the transition. The variety of operations to be carried out may be in the following lines:

• (A) Diesel engines emit carbon particles TSP, heavy hydrocarbons, sulfates and other byproducts of combustion and gasoline engines also emit CO, NO and other volatile compounds. However, diesel engines are considered relatively more dirty and the government should discourage its use through measures appropriate policy to include differential pricing (14).

• (B) The government should promote the use of fuels cleaner alternatives such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG). Fortunately, it is already doing so gradual and effective. Air quality in Delhi and Mumbai has improved after its use in public transportation buses and autorikshaws. It should also be careful to establish service stations GNC along all major roads. Another good news, according to a research report from Frost & Sullivan (), is that car manufacturers India are hardly likely to roll out models that run on alternative fuels like CNG and LNG. They are also developing a conversion kit that will transform of existing petrol and diesel vehicles on CNG / LPG vehicle driven. These three-wheel drive packages are already on the market. After this conversion India really needs 10 000 CNG pumping stations while today the number is less than 5000 in 15 cities.

• (C) Use old vehicle must be slowed. The shortage of funding or fear of unemployment should not come in the way of implementing the directives of the government. Petitions for intervention court must resolve soon. obsolete models, except those for vintage cars ralleys should be made to retire.

• (D) Improvement of fuel quality in terms of reduced surphur content in diesel and lower benzene and aromatics in petrol should be forced. The Road Transport Department of the Government of India has enacted right in April 1995 regarding the use of unleaded petrol and installation of catalytic converters on new vehicles, gasoline engine. Similarly, the standards for sulfur content in gasoline have been set at 0.1% and 0.25% diesel

• (E) Establishment of emission standards for all types of motor vehicles is necessary. Happily, the emission standards for the next generation two-wheelers and tricycles were made from April 2005. If feasible, the government may begin to conduct emissions testing motor vehicles prior to registration. It can be said that the automotive sector of the Indian industry is very sensitive to environmental risks and safeguards.

• (F) The local security agencies should initiate sustained drives against vehicles emitting smoke, which abound in small and medium-sized cities India size. This should bring emission testers for road inspection of vehicles. compulsory retirement of older vehicles highly pollutants can be appealed. The government should also take safety laws for pedestrians and clear of all invasions trails for pedestrians to walk right safely.

• (G) A better integration between rail services and other subordinate systems bus transport and water facilities should be brought about by the merge. Joint tickets and information systems to provide seamless connections between modes of transportation also can be thought. the integration of the elevated railways and light rail MRT lines can be constructed to discourage private car ownership. (20)

Modal Change

The question of changing the modal split in favor of railways and waterways should also be seriously addressed. It a well established fact that the road freight vehicle movements to more carbon emissions per kilometer ton of freight by rail or by water. The traffic arteries in India these days are becoming more and more congested that affect climate change. The share of rail transport movements load, not absolute but relative, has been declining relative to road transport, due to the accessibility and door to door delivery advantage enjoyed by road transport. However, this does not bode well from the standpoint of environment and sustainability. There is no doubt that the freight traffic India railways during the last decade has increased in absolute terms, with the Container Corporation of India - a subsidiary of Indian Railways, playing a role more attractive to the customer in the provision of ISO containers, both in port terminals and inland container depots (ISDS). However, for logistics providers of road transport remains the preferred mode for the reason that their approach to measure transport costs differs from the government. The costs of environmental degradation are external to them and is not necessary for the purposes of the internalization of company accounts.

This is where policymakers must use their wits in the evolution of such tax, regulatory and organizational arrangements in which there will be a modal shift from road to rail and water transport. Unfortunately there is no evidence yet of a serious analysis by politicians to achieve modal shift on the environment desirable from road to rail and water. The reason is not hard to find. The decision on mode choice for shippers of goods involves many complex issues. Depends on a variety of factors that influence the performance of the movements of rail freight and the costs in terms of money and while to be borne ultimately. It is therefore necessary to identify the barriers to desired change modal and develop appropriate measures to achieve objective. It is the logistics managers that can really enlighten us on the way ecological influence mode selection. ()

   Switch to Bio-fuels

Due to the high prices on the world oil market over the past decades, it became necessary to free oil and use alternative energy sources such as biofuels, which would reduce oil demand, ensure energy security and prevent changes climate. At the same time, efforts were undertaken to promote research and development of clean alternative energy options like wind, hydro, solar and hydrogen resources. However, the shift to ethanol biofuels, specifically - was seen as the easiest way to achieve the goal (7)

The question that often arises is whether reliance on bio-fuels could be a good strategy. Research carried out by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) reveal a different story (17). During the period 2000-2007 there was a boom in ethanol production. Brazil and U.S. controlled the market producing 90% ethanol. The European Union (EU) also followed suit. Great tracts of land were diverted to the production of palm and soya to produce bio-diesel and to corn and sugarcane to produce ethanol. This led to an increase in commodity prices throughout the period. According to IFPRI, if it continues this trend, by 2020 the price of maize is estimated to increase from 26% today to 72%, sugar 12% to 277% for oilseeds and 18% to 44%. This scenario is destined to have a serious impact on the poor strata of society with the quality of the diet and get reduced malnutrition extends to much of Asia and Africa.

In this situation, rich countries can continue to emit most greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and poor countries will bear the burden of climate change in terms of warmer weather, less rain, and deforestation, and also low income, malnutrition and greater dependence on agriculture and natural resources to live.

It is feared that the risks of switching to agriculture-based fuels are real. The switch can trigger further deforestation and ecosystem destruction. The warnings are therefore being given to agro-fuels policies should not go further without a proper risk analysis. (1). According to a UNIDO document, "the primary concern here is the competition between land use for bioenergy production and food production food of animal origin. "respect to the fuel supply issue is very puzzling. The document further states that" the coupling of energy market with the food market may increase food prices and therefore worsen access to affordable food for many "(25). This warning can be ignored only at our peril.

It should be clear that prices rose may result in increased income for farmers and give them food security, but the effect depend on the total income distribution increased. According to the Organization for Food and Agriculture (2006) food versus fuel an issue that requires detailed analysis of the possible results of biofuels policy. Wood of Stanford University, Institute of Environment states that the use bio-fuels as part of the new U.S. energy plan is not a good strategy. It is a fact U.S. corn-based ethanol program has led to an increase in prices of food crops due to diversion of crop lands. (23) This can happen anywhere and in India too. Land may be diverted for the production soybean and sugar cane. The decision to switch from fossil fuels to fuels based on crops, therefore they should be taken with extreme caution. The Scientists say that the agro-fuels production of oilseeds and corn has the potential catastrophic damage to our climate.

Research being carried out to produce liquid biofuels for transport as such. These "first generation fuels refer to the fact bio-energy sugar, starch, vegetable oils or animal fats using conventional technology. "Second generation" fuels refer to comments the lingo-cellulosic biomass using advanced technologies. In India, we have used solid biomass gasification through the creation of small plants scale, mainly in rural areas that produce heat and energy. We must modernize the technology to feed the gases in pipelines or, alternatively, compressed for use in vehicles. In this regard, Brazil has a success story to report. The production of sugar cane ethanol has reduced the dependence the country of fossil fuels and also to 'clean' industry. ()

In short, if the idea is to produce "clean" energy and gradual reduction of oil consumption, biofuels can be regarded as welcome. But should carefully evaluate the fall outs of changing the biofuels. Obama President New U.S. Energy Plan supports greater use of ethanol produced from corn. This has led to increased food prices, especially wheat. If in the same way that production of ethanol from sugar in India, can deplete our water levels and degrade soil quality. Bio-fuels can not reach be as "green" after all. (23) The sustainability of biofuels does not seem as strong as it seemed before.

References

  

• 1. Almuth Ernsting, Deepak Rughani, Dr. Andrew Boswell (2007): "Agro fuels threaten to accelerate global warming, the UNFCCC in Bali, version, www.biofuelwatch.org.uk
• 2. Bowersox, Closs, and Cooper (2008), Supply Chain Logistics Management, McGraw Hill, Second Edition
• 3. Contamination Central Board of Control: National Ambient Air Quality Statistics of India, different years
• 4. Sunil Chopra and Peter Meindl (2007): Supply strategy Chain Management-Planning and Operation, Prentice Hall of India
• 5. Current Science (1999): "Urban Air Pollution-Commentary vol.77, No. 3, August 10, 1999.
• 6. Financial Express, November 3, 2008, India ups
• 7. John Browne (1997): "Biofuels - A Solution to Climate Change, Climate Change Our Earth, "a presentation at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Nov.13, 1997.
• 8. John Pucher, Korattyswaropan Nisha, Neha Mittal, Ittyerah Ninu (2005): "The crisis of urban transport in India", Transport Policy 12, Elsevier, pp. 185-198.
• 9. Prodosh Mitra (2009): "Biofuels are not green-Counter view," Times of India, February 17, 2009
• 10. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Brian Slack, Claude Comtois (2001): "Green Logistics (The Paradoxes of)" in Handbook of Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Brewer et al (eds.), Pergamon / Elsevier, London Business Greening 2008 Survey
• 11. Financial Express, September 22 and 29, 2009: "Emissions carbon global rise despite the steps of Decline "- Carbon Budget and Trends Report, 2007
• 12. Raghuram G. and N. Rangarajan (2005): Logistics and Supply Chain Management issues and concepts ", Macmillan, New Delhi
• 13. Hindustan Times, December 19, 2007: "India is in an ecological unit. "
• 14. House of Representatives, Philippines Policy Advisory No.2004-03 (2004): Tackling Transport Pollution Urbano.
• 15. Indian Express, November 16, 2007: International Energy Agency (IEA) on World Energy Outlook
• 16. Form Jain, AK (2009): "Retrofitting cities and built to meet the challenges of Climate Change and Carbon Emissions", Akruti Journal of Infrastructure, vol. II, N ° 2, pp. 101-121
• 17. Joachim von Braun (2008): "Food prices, biofuels, and Climate Change, International Politics Food Research Institute (IFPRI)
• 18. Sahay BS (Ed.) (2004): Power Problems in Supply Chain Management, Akruti Journal of Infrastructure, Vol II, No. 2, pp. 122-1
• 19. Sanjay K. Singh (2005): "Review of urban transport in India", Journal of Public Transportation, vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 79-97
• 20. Warwick J. McKibbin (2009): "Climate Change Policy for India"
• 21. Sibal and Sachdeva (2001), "Scenario Urban Transport in India and its relationship with Energy and Environment, Urban Transport Journal, Vol.2, No. 1, pp.34-55
• 22. Sudarsanam Padam and Sanjay K. Singh (2002), "Urbanization and Urban Transport in India-The schema for a policy of the Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune
• 23. Times of India, November 28, 2007, "global warming to the Land of Fire" - Subodh Varma
• 24. Geeta Tiwari (2007), "transport urban Indian cities ", Urban Age, test papers, LSE
• 25. UNIDO (2007): Bio-Industrial Strategy Sustainable Energy Conversion and productive use of Bio Energy - Report

e-mail: shankermodak@yahoo.co.in

About the Author

Dr. S.K.Modak is an eminent educationist with over 4 decades of teaching and research experience at college and university level. He has authored 12 books, 4 monographs and over 100 articles in journals and periodicals. He has pioneered a new discipline: Human Orientation Science dealing with guidance systems and signage at public places.

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