Is it better for the environment to shop online?

On Tuesday 27th January 2009 the Logistics Research Centre (LRC) here at Heriot-Watt University hosted a seminar on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport UK entitled Is it better for the environment to shop online?

With several internet retailers claiming that it is better for the environment for consumers to shop online and have their goods delivered to the home than to travel to the shops, a new government-funded research project, led by the LRC’s Professor Alan McKinnon and Dr Julia Edwards, is assessing whether online retailing is more environmentally sustainable than conventional retailing. The research has involved comparing the energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from online and conventional distribution channels. concentrating on the ‘last mile’ deliveries  (i.e. deliveries of goods from local depots to the home) and personal shopping trips.  Account has been taken of the efficiency of van deliveries on the ‘last mile’ to the home, personal shopping trips, the nature of the upstream supply chains and the return flows of unwanted products.

The seminar gave an insight into the preliminary findings from their research.  Overall the research suggested that, while neither home delivery nor conventional shopping has an absolute CO2 advantage, on average, the home delivery operation is likely to generate less CO2 than the typical shopping trip.   It was found that, on average, when a customer shops by car and buys fewer than 19 items per  trip (or fewer than 6 items in the case of bus users) the home delivery will emit less CO2 per item purchased.

The ‘Last Mile’ report is due to be published in mid-February, and will be available for download from the LRC website (www.sml.hw.ac.uk/logistics)