Where's the rest of it?!
Posted on 11/07/2008 6:25:46 AM PST by Halfmanhalfamazing
A little less than four months ago, the world's largest retail chain, Wal-Mart,announced that it would be launching an environmental plan to reduce its environmental footprint. “Sustainability 360”, as it's called, outlines a number of different sub-projects, such as reducing the amount of packaging that it uses for its products, and selling (and using) energy-efficient lighting. Not surprisingly, a good deal of the plan focused on the transportation side of things. Wal-Mart has requested that its suppliers cut down on the amount of packaging, citing that a 5-percent reduction would be the equivalent of taking 213,000 trucks off the road, and thereby saving 67 million gallons of diesel fuel per year. Perhaps the most significant part about this is that Wal-Mart has actually taken things into their own hands, and has pledged to make its fleet of trucks more efficient.
(Excerpt) Read more at car-reviews.automobile.com ...
Where's the rest of it?!
Last night
Regular gas 1.98
Diesel 3.09
Highland Park $46 a liter.
This is why Wal-Mart is rich, frugality. If they can shave a penny and multiply it by a billion, that’s serious money.
I think it’s a good thing that they are doing this, but let’s not kid ourselves. They are outfitting their fleet to save gas as a cost cutting measure, not as a concession to the greens.
There isn’t a battery pack big enough. Sure, Diesel-electric locomotives have been on the rails for years, but when they use electric-regenerative braking, the heat is dispersed through cooling off of the electric generation units as they are converted into motors, and drive the Diesels.
There are alternatives that would be more practical than an electric type hybrid. Use of a hydraulic pressure accumulator is a much more practical application of both regenerative braking and for assist in building up speed when getting back into traffic.
Ford and Eaton had a prototype system (Hydraulic Launch Assist) for medium-duty vehicles, and with some additional modifications, it could be applied to even larger tractor units.
But ... but ... that’s the way the market always works! (And why government mandates don’t)
They are doing it for the right (pun intended) reasons.
wal-mart is more efficient than many co’s because it is not union.
comrade obamao and buds will change that.
Wal-Mart wouldn’t be doing this unless:
1. It worked.
2. It saved them money.
Wal-Mart isn’t “we’re green, because we’re leftys”. They’re green because it saves money (as in green money.)
I couldn’t locate the actual article. That website is a piece of work and no I don’t want to talk live to one of your sales people, just close and go away!
However, in response (not having had a chance to actually find or read the article) I have several questions and a couple observations. First the observations. A trucker myself who delivers to Wal-Mart Distribution Centers here in the Midwest, I note that the number of non-Wal-Mart trucks making deliveries dwarfs the Wal-Mart private fleet and those trucks wont be hybrid anytime soon.
The effort toward greater use of intermodal (truck to train) has taken numerous rigs off the road in long haul operation but has concentrated traffic around rail hubs in the larger cities like Chicago, LA, Kansas City, and Atlanta. The result is to offer significant savings on transportation to the Wal-Marts, Targets, Costcos, etc but to pollute the rail hub cities. Is that a fair trade-off? I am not anti-Wal-Mart mind you, just asking.
Two, the non-idling policy and the effort to go to auxiliary power units on many tractors is in response MAINLY to comply with strict non-idling laws passed in California and New York not by Wal-Mart’s effort to appear to be green.
And the questions I have are this: Will this hybrid engine develop enough power to get me up a hill with a 44,000 pound load of tap water bottled in virgin plastic in West Nyack, NY to a Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Hermiston, Oregon? And enough engine braking to allow me a safe and controlled descent of a steep mountain grade without toasting the brakes?
My company, one of the largest truckers in the nation, is replacing its older tractors with the newest Freightliners and my particular rig has exhaust after-treatment and runs on ultra low sulfur diesel fuel. There will be no effort on my company in this economic downturn to replace tractors with hybrids unless and until the actual fuel savings is substantial. The greatest fuel savings a company can realize in the short term is to get drivers to shut the damn engine off when they are not in the truck. I still see drivers get out for whatever reason and just let the truck run. It’s ignorant. I don’t want to smell your damn exhaust anymore than John Q. Public wants to and your company doesn’t need to foot the bill for your stupidity.
Rant/off
Funny. The picture is of a truck with a CAT engine. Caterpillar is not going to make truck engines any more.
You got me. *shrug*
46 dollars a liter?
What’s highland park?
No doubt. I’ve tried to do the same thing.
No, no I understand that fully.
That’s just the link. I can’t help that. :-)
Some people have a high in the sky pie. Not me. I know it’s all about the green, but not the green that grows. It’s the green with the dead peoples’ faces on it.
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