Drone Delivery

Delivering packages with drones can reduce carbon dioxide emissions in certain circumstances as compared to truck deliveries, a new study from the University of Washington transportation engineers finds. In a paper to be published in an upcoming issue of Transportation Research Part D, researchers found that drones tend to have carbon dioxide emissions advantages over trucks when the drones don't have to fly very far to their destinations or when a delivery route has few recipients. Trucks that can offer environmental benefits by carrying everything from clothes to appliances to furniture in a single trip become a more climate-friendly alternative when a delivery route has many stops or is farther away from a central warehouse. For small, lightweight packages, such as a bottle of drugs or a kid's bathing costume, drones perform particularly well. However, the carbon benefits erode because the weight of a package increases since these unmanned aerial vehicles have to be compelled to use extra energy to remain aloft with a significant load.