Environmental impact of truck transport vs dematerialization

1,000 letter page brochures with 48 pages, plus cover on 100 lb stock weighs 480 lb. Including packing cartons and palettes, we have rounded the weight for 4,000 pieces to 2,000 lb, or 1 ton.

According to the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, the emissions per ton-mile for truck transport is 0.63 lb of hydrocarbons; 1.90 lb CO; 10.17 lb of NOx. (Grier, 2002)

Distance from Vancouver to Toronto is 2,754 miles, so shipping 4,000 brochures (1 ton) for that distance emits 0.87 tons of hydrocarbons, 2.62 tons of CO and 14.0 tons of NOx.

According to Hydro Québec, air freight, on average, emits over 13 times the emissions per ton-mile as truck transport.

Publishing file sizes vary, but let's assume the download of a large file takes 30 minutes and calculate energy consumption on the following:

• Apple iMac G5 with built in 20" LCD screen: 110 watts
• Cable modem: 7 watts
• D-link DI-604 router: 4.5 watts
• 500 GB external FTP drive: 8.0 watts

Total power consumption = 129.5 watts. Let's assume we have the same hardware configuration at the file source and receiving teminal, so total power requirement is 259 watts. 30 minute download = 0.5 hours so total kilowatt hours = 0.13 kWh.

(watts x hours used) / 1,000 = kilowatt-hours

According to the US Department of Energy the US average is 1.341 lb of CO2 per kWh of electricity.

So our total electricity requirement to download this digital file results in 0.17 lb of CO2 (0.13 kWh x 1.341 lb of CO2 = 0.17 lb CO2). But since Design HQ Inc. has committed to 100% renewable electricity use, there are no emissions at the source terminal. Therefore, emissions to send this file would be half this amount or 0.087 lb of CO2 (0.065 kWh x 1.341 lb of CO2 = 0.087 lb CO2).