Reduction of carbon emissions in VRP by gravitational search algorithm

Abstract

Purpose

Nowadays, global warming, due to large-scale emissions of greenhouse gasses, is among top environmental issues. The purpose of this paper is to present a problem involving the incorporation of environmental aspects into logistics, which provides a comparison between pollution reduction and distance-based approaches.

Design/methodology/approach

In green vehicle routing problem (VRP), the aim is to model and solve an optimization problem in order to minimize the fuel consumption which results in reducing energy consumption as well as air pollution. The Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) is adapted and used as a powerful heuristic.

Findings

Here, it is shown that a set of routes with minimum length is not an optimal solution for FCVRP model since the total distance is not the only effective factor for fuel consumption and vehicle's load plays an important role too. In many cases, a considerable reduction in emissions can be achieved by only an insignificant increase in costs.

Research limitations/implications

Green transportation is a policy toward reducing carbon emissions. This research focussed on routes problem and introduce FCVRP model. GSA is used as a powerful heuristic to obtain high quality routes in a reasonable time. Considering other factors that affecting fuel consumption could make this study more realistic.

Practical implications

When a distribution center receives all the information it needs about the demand from all the retail stores it supplies, a VRP is produced. So the models are valid for use by all goods producers and distributors. The preliminary assessment of the proposed model and method carried out on benchmark problems up to 200 nodes.

Originality/value

Fuel consumption is one of the most influential factors in transportation costs. This paper introduces an innovative decision-making framework to obtain optimum routes in a vehicle routes problem considering air pollution. The results were compared from fuel consumption as well as total travel distance viewpoints.

Citation

MirHassani, S.A. and Mohammadyari, S. (2014), "Reduction of carbon emissions in VRP by gravitational search algorithm", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 25 No. 6, pp. 766-782. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-08-2013-0086