CN offers online tool to calculate carbon emissions, rate at same time
(CN issued the following on March 29, 2010.)
MONTREAL In a rail industry first, CN customers can now calculate their carbon savings from switching shipments to rail from truck at the same time they secure a rate from the company's public pricing tools, Get Carload Price and Get Intermodal Price.
"We are making it easy for our customers to measure and reduce carbon emissions by giving them simple, yet powerful, tools to do it," said Jean-Jacques Ruest, CN's executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "Our customers can now make proactive decisions on modal shift right when they need it most -- when getting a price."
The CO2e emission savings identified in CN's pricing tools reflect the reduction in carbon emissions when a shipment moves by rail instead of truck, with the estimated tons saved based on the average shipment lading weight for a single rail car or container.
For specific emission saving estimates for rail versus truck, or to calculate carbon savings for shipments across multiple modes of transportation, shippers can use CN's Greenhouse Gas Calculator at GHG Calculator.
Reduced fuel consumption and carbon emissions are two of the environmental benefits CN offers its customers. Rail has been shown to be up to six times more energy-efficient than heavy trucks, because rail consumes a fraction of the fuel to transport one tonne of freight one kilometre. In fact, we can move one tonne of freight 197 kilometres on just one litre of fuel.
CN Intermodal using a combination of rail and truck offers the green advantage to shippers not directly served by rail. The intermodal combination for shipments moving more than 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles), according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), cuts fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions by 65 per cent, compared with using truck alone.
