Emissions of greenhouse gases in many European countries are declining, and the European Union (EU) believes it is on track in achieving emission reductions as agreed upon in the Kyoto Agreement and the EU's more ambitious post-Kyoto climate policy. However, a number of recent publications indicate that emission reductions may also have been achieved because production has been shifted to other countries, and in particular China. If a consumption perspective is applied, emissions in industrialized countries are substantially higher, and may not have declined at all. Significantly, emissions from transports are omitted in consumption-based calculations. As all trade involves transport, mostly by cargo ship, but also by air, transports add considerably to overall emissions growth incurred in production shifts. Consequently, this article studies the role of transports in creating emissions of CO 2, based on the example of exports from China. Results are discussed with regard to their implications for global emission reductions and post-Kyoto negotiations.
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Limited data is available on the size of urban goods movement and its impact on numerous aspects with respect to livability such as emissions and spatial impact. The latter becomes more important in densifying cities. This makes it challenging to implement effective measures that aim to reduce the negative impact of urban good movement and to monitor their impact. Furthermore, urban goods movement is diverse and because of this a tailored approach is required to take effective measures. Minimizing the negative impact of a heavy truck in construction logistics requires a different approach than a parcel delivery van. Partly due to a lack of accurate data, this diversity is often not considered when taking measures. This study describes an approach how to use available data on urban traffic, and how to enrich these with other sources, which is used to gain insight into the decomposition (number of trips and kilometers per segment and vehicle type). The usefulness of having this insight is shown for different applications by two case studies: one to estimate the effect of a zero-emission zone in the city of Utrecht and another to estimate the logistics requirements in a car-free area development.
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Abstract: Last few years the hindrance, accidents, pollution and other negative side effects of construction projects and namely construction transport have become an issue particularly in urban areas across Europe such as in London, and in the Netherlands as well, including the cities of Utrecht, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Municipalities have issued new legislation and stricter conditions for vehicles to be able to access cities and city centres in particular and accessibility of older and polluting vehicles. Considerate clients, public as well private, have started developing tender policies to encourage contractors to reduce the environmental impact of construction projects. Contractors and third party logistics providers have started applying consolidation centres. These developments have shown considerable reductions of number of vehicles needed to deliver goods and to transport workers to site. In addition these developments have led to increased transport efficiency, labour productivity and cost reductions on site as well as down the supply chain. Besides these developments have led to increased innovations in the field of logistics planning software, use of ICT , and handling hardware and equipment. This paper gives an overview of current developments and applications in the field of construction logistics in the Netherlands, and in a few project cases in particular. Those cases are underway as part of an ongoing applied research project and studied by using an ethnographic participative action research approach. The case findings and project results show initial advantages how the projects, the firms involved and the environment can profit from the advancement of logistics management leading to reduced environmental impact and increased efficiencies of construction transport.
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The Dutch government, in alignment with the Paris climate agreement, has expressed the ambition to reduce CO 2 emissions in the Netherlands by 49% in 2030 compared to 1990. As freight transport is recognized as a serious CO 2 emitter, this sector is confronted with a substantial part of the target. For cities, the reduction of the urban freight transport emissions is, next to the CO 2 reduction, also important to improve the air quality. Dutch municipalities take an active role in coordination, facilitation and acceleration of the emission reduction processes, not only via regulation but also by using their public procurement power. This paper describes the City of Rotterdam's experiences from the EU Horizon 2020 BuyZET project. This project was launched in November 2016 and includes the cities of Rotterdam, Oslo and Copenhagen. The project aims at understanding and optimising the impact of public procurement activities on transport patterns and emissions in cities as well as to find innovative and sustainable delivery solutions for goods and services-related transport in order to reduce emissions.
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Abstract Purpose In mental health care, patients and their care providers may conceptualize the nature of the disorder and appropriate action in profoundly diferent ways. This may lead to dropout and lack of compliance with the treatments being provided, in particular in young patients with more severe disorders. This study provides detailed information about patient–provider (dis)agreement regarding the care needs of children and adolescents. Methods We used the Camberwell Assessment of Need (CANSAS) to assess the met and unmet needs of 244 patients aged between 6 and 18 years. These needs were assessed from the perspectives of both patients and their care providers. Our primary outcome measure was agreement between the patient and care provider on unmet need. By comparing a general outpatient sample (n=123) with a youth-ACT sample (n=121), we were able to assess the infuence of severity of psychiatric and psychosocial problems on the extent of agreement on patient’s unmet care needs. Results In general, patients reported unmet care needs less often than care providers did. Patients and care providers had the lowest extents of agreement on unmet needs with regard to “mental health problems” (k=0.113) and “information regarding diagnosis/treatment” (k=0.171). Comparison of the two mental healthcare settings highlighted diferences for three-quarters of the unmet care needs that were examined. Agreement was lower in the youth-ACT setting. Conclusions Clarifcation of diferent views on patients’ unmet needs may help reduce nonattendance of appointments, noncompliance, or dropout. Routine assessment of patients’ and care providers’ perceptions of patients’ unmet care needs may also help provide information on areas of disagreement.
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The aim of this research/project is to investigate and analyze the opportunities and challenges of implementing AI technologies in general and in the transport and logistics sectors. Also, the potential impacts of AI at sectoral, regional, and societal scales that can be identified and chan- neled, in the field of transport and logistics sectors, are investigated. Special attention will be given to the importance and significance of AI adoption in the development of sustainable transport and logistics activities using intelligent and autonomous transport and cleaner transport modalities. The emphasis here is therefore on the pursuit of ‘zero emissions’ in transport and logistics at the urban/city and regional levels.Another goal of this study is to examine a new path for follow-up research topics related to the economic and societal impacts of AI technology and the adoption of AI systems at organizational and sectoral levels.This report is based on an exploratory/descriptive analysis and focuses mainly on the examination of existing literature and (empirical) scientific research publica- tions, previous and ongoing AI initiatives and projects (use cases), policy documents, etc., especially in the fields of transport and logistics in the Netherlands. It presents and discusses many aspects of existing challenges and opportunities that face organizations, activities, and individuals when adopting AI technology and systems.
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Standard mass-production is a well-known manufacturing concept. To make small quantities or even single items of a product according to user specifications at an affordable price, alternative agile production paradigms should be investigated and developed. The system presented in this article is based on a grid of cheap reconfigurable production units, called equiplets. A grid of these equiplets is capable to produce a variety of different products in parallel at an affordable price. The underlying agent-based software for this system is responsible for the agile manufacturing. An important aspect of this type of manufacturing is the transport of the products along the available equiplets. This transport of the products from equiplet to equiplet is quite different from standard production. Every product can have its own unique path along the equiplets. In this article several topologies are discussed and investigated. Also, the planning and scheduling in relation to the transport constraints is subject of this study. Some possibilities of realization are discussed and simulations are used to generate results with the focus on efficiency and usability for different topologies and layouts of the grid and its internal transport system. Closely related with this problem is the scheduling of the production in the grid. A discussion about the maximum achievable load on the production grid and its relation with the transport system is also included.
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The transition from diesel-driven urban freight transport towards more electric urban freight transport turns out to be challenging in practice. A major concern for transport operators is how to find a reliable charging strategy for a larger electric vehicle fleet that provides flexibility based on different daily mission profiles within that fleet, while also minimizing costs. This contribution assesses the trade-off between a large battery pack and opportunity charging with regard to costs and operational constraints. Based on a case study with 39 electric freight vehicles that have been used by a parcel delivery company and a courier company in daily operations for over a year, various scenarios have been analyzed by means of a TCO analysis. Although a large battery allows for more flexibility in planning, opportunity charging can provide a feasible alternative, especially in the case of varying mission profiles. Additional personnel costs during opportunity charging can be avoided as much as possible by a well-integrated charging strategy, which can be realized by a reservation system that minimizes the risk of occupied charging stations and a dense network of charging stations.
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Urban Consolidation Centres (UCCs) are often put forward as a solution to reduce the negative impact of freight transport on cities. However, few UCCs have so far successfully attracted sufficient volume to become viable. Receivers of goods can potentially be effective initiators of a UCC, due to their buying power. The purpose of this research is to learn how receiver-led consolidation initiatives develop. We use qualitative data on four receiver-led UCCs in The Netherlands to understand the success factors and challenges in various stages of development. Our research shows that receivers can help during the start-up stage of a UCC, when they have a large volume of goods, can convince internal stakeholders, and are willing to pay or can make suppliers pay. However, receiver-led UCCs still face challenges related to growth in the later stages and require continuous effort to attract volume.
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from the article: "Abstract The way in which construction logistics is organised has considerable impact on production flow, transportation efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions and congestion, particularly in urban areas such as city centres. In cities such as London and Amsterdam municipalities have issued new legislation and stricter conditions for vehicles to be able to access cities and city centres in particular. Considerate clients, public as well private, have started developing tender policies to encourage contractors to reduce the environmental impact of construction projects. This paper reports on an ongoing research project applying and assessing developments in the field of construction logistics in the Netherlands. The cases include contractors and third party logistics providers applying consolidation centres and dedicated software solutions to increase transportation efficiency. The case show various results of JIT logistics management applied to urban construction projects leading to higher transportation efficiencies, and reduced environmental impact and increased production efficiency on site. The data collections included to-site en on-site observations, measurement and interviews. The research has shown considerable reductions of vehicles to deliver goods and to transport workers to site. In addition the research has shown increased production flow and less waste such as inventory, waiting and unnecessary motion on site."
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