USA – The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), an independent non-profit organisation which aims to promote the better use of resources, has announced they are combining with members of the US trucking fraternity to create a new conference forum to help improve the industry’s energy efficiency.
The inaugural meeting of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) will be held on the 3rd of November at the University of Chicago. The hope of organisers is that the trucking sector can halve the amount of energy it uses for the same amount of freight carried. This can be achieved, they believe, by making fleet owners and drivers aware of the benefits of new technologies (see previous stories) from reputable developers that could assist their efficiency whilst improving their profitability.
Hiroko Kawai, principal of the RMI’s Mobility and Vehicle Efficiency team (MOVE) says that: “There is a lack of trustworthy information evaluating different technologies for fleets to make investment decisions.
“The freight industry, and the trucking industry in particular, have been burned by a snake-oil salesman approach to technology, and it is difficult for end-users of innovative technologies to accelerate market adoption.
“The same challenges are also shared by producers of technologies; they cannot accelerate the market adoption of their R&D efforts, and it is hard for them to lead the market even when they offer the necessary innovations.”
It is to be hoped that with freight and drayage operators hesitant to invest in new technology through fears of being duped with bogus promises, the new initiative will go a long way to getting the trucking industry back on track for a healthier, sustainable future.
Any organisation or individual interested in attending the NACFE conference can find details at:
http://www.freightefficiency.org
