Analyzing Implementation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Tools and Systems on Businesses and Employees

Abstract

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported in 2015 that the transportation sector accounts for 27% of total reported greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States, representing one of the major contributors in all sectors. Several guidelines are currently available by Departments of Transportation (DOTs) to reduce single-occupant vehicle travel in communities in order to reduce transportation-related emissions. To date, however, these guidelines have had limited success. This research study, first, discusses features and capabilities of a system recently developed by the authors, called business commute optimization system (BCOS). BCOS is developed to search for and identify optimal commute plans for employees in a business to simultaneously minimize GHG and air pollution emissions as well as commute time and cost while maintaining commuter convenience and needs. Furthermore, this study discusses capabilities and limitations of existing tools and systems that are used to change commute behavior and reduce transportation-related emissions, including commuter choice decision support system, business benefits calculator, TRIMMS model, commute greener, and quantified traveler. Second, this paper presents a comparative analysis of BCOS and the above tools and systems. The comparative analysis is performed using real-life commute data from Fresno, California. To this end, the estimated reductions in GHG and air pollution emissions obtained from BCOS were compared with the corresponding estimations obtained using the above tools. Findings show promising and unique features of BCOS as compared to existing tools and systems to minimize transportation-related emissions of businesses more effectively.

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