IT, mat och miljö

Abstract

Shopping for groceries often means that, as consumers, we travel to the grocery store ourselves, by ear, bike or on foot. At the store we pick out the groceries that we want, go the register and pay for them. During the last couple of years consumers in Sweden have been given the opportunity to let someone else select and transport the groceries to their home instead, so called home shopping. As this report is being written, the possibility to buy groceries this way is somewhat limited, but many forecasters believe that in the near future it will increase immensely. Because of the large volumes of groceries that are being transported, there is great transport work being done in the supply chain. The consumers? use of energy for transportation of the groceries is approximately the same amount of energy that the domestic transports of groceries generate by truck, train and boat, The change will not only be immense for the consumer and the actors involved in grocery shopping; it will significantly change the way groceries are transported to the consumer. The questions that this report will illuminate are what these changes will mean for the environment and what the changes in energy consumption and emissions will be. The study does not deal with the changes of the structure of grocery shops due to home shopping.

The aim of this report is to analyze what the consequences for the environment will be if 10, 25 or 50 percent of the total turnover of groceries in Sweden is done through home shopping. The analyses of the environmental consequences are limited to calculations for the transports between the order assembly unit (OAU) and the home of the consumer, along with a discussion of the differences in the remaining parts of the supply chain caused by home shopping.

The first step is a description of today's grocery supply chain and an analysis of the actors on the Swedish grocery market. The latter analyses are being done because grocery shopping in Sweden is very dependent on the big actors ICA, KF and D&D. In connection with this the structure of grocery shops in Sweden will be outlined. The already existing home shopping of groceries in Sweden will be described to provide a background to the analyses and show how home delivery of groceries is being conducted today.

With the description of today's grocery supply chain as starting point, factors that influence the appearance of the OAU and how home delivery is performed were identified. The factors that were seen as especially important were the size of the delivery area, the share of home shopping and the population density within the delivery area. These factors also determine the extent of the environmental consequences. The analysis is subsequently done in two steps. The first is to outline probable logistical models for distribution of the groceries to the consumer's home. This is done to ensure that the calculation of the environmental consequences will be made on logistically functional systems. The second step is to apply these models to different shares of home shopping and to areas with differing population density, which is a presentation of probable scenarios at 10, 25 and 50 percent home shopping and calculations of the resulting environmental consequences.

Graph 1: Energy consumption for Model.

The horizontal line at approximately 3.1 TWII is the energy consumption when all of the groceries are transported throw the traditional supply chain, when the consumers themselves travel to the grocery store. The other three lines show the energy consumption when 10, 25 or 50 percent of the groceries are acquired through home shopping depending on the length of the route that the delivery van travels, The length of the delivery route varies depending on the area in which the deliveries take place. A typical route length is between 50 to 90 km, the area marked in the graph. When the delivery route exceeds 185 km the energy consumption for the delivery van will be greater then that of traditional shopping. This means that the energy consumption decreases if the delivery route is shorter than 185 km. In Chart 1 below the decrease in energy consumption at 10, 25 and 50 percent home shopping can be seen in reference to traditional shopping when the delivery route is either 50 or 90 km. Graph 1 and Chart 1 are calculated under the conditions that the average shopping amount is 3.5 times greater than with traditional shopping and that the delivery van can hold 25 orders per route.

Chart 1: Change in energy consumption with home shopping

A sensitivity analysis is subsequently made for the delivery models to show variables that are critical for the environmental impact when using home shopping. The sensitivity analysis shows how the environmental consequences are dependent on a set of factors, amongst them the share of home shopping and the delivery area, which are important.

The results imply that under the right conditions, in densely populated areas, where the delivery vans? full capacity can be used and a sensible plan of the routes can be created, there are environmental savings to be achieved with home shopping.

Even though the distance travelled by the delivery van is rather long, the energy consumption decreases. At 10 percent home shopping the decrease in energy consumption is between 5 and 7 percent depending on the length of the delivery route. At 25 and 50 percent the energy density is high, and it is in these areas where home shopping is likely to take place, environmental benefits will come as a result of increasing home shopping.

• author: Orremo, Fredrik and Wallin, Claes
• supervisor: Gunilla Jönson
• organization: Packaging Logistics
• year: 1999
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Technology and Engineering
• keywords: IT, mat, miljö, Technological sciences, Teknik
• language: Swedish
• id: 1317072
• date added to LUP: 2008-05-30 00:00:00
• date last changed: 2010-02-01 14:40:03