Vehicle Routing Problem for Emissions Minimization

TLDR

Environmental, social, and political pressures to curb greenhouse gas emissions are mounting, yet little research has addressed emissions minimization as the primary goal in vehicle routing, where the capacitated VRP traditionally focuses on vehicle count and distance. This study introduces the emissions vehicle routing problem (EVRP), aiming to minimize emissions and fuel consumption as primary or secondary objectives. The authors formulate the EVRP and present solution approaches, detailing decision variables and their properties. Comparative analysis of the proposed EVRP solution under varying congestion levels shows its effectiveness in reducing emissions and fuel use.

Abstract

Environmental, social, and political pressures to limit the effects associated with greenhouse gas emissions are mounting. Little research has been done on reducing emissions as the primary objective of a routing problem despite the growth in use and impact of commercial vehicles. In the capacitated vehicle routing problem (VRP) with time windows, it is traditionally assumed that carriers minimize the number of vehicles as a primary objective and distance traveled as a secondary objective without violating time windows, route durations, or capacity constraints. New research focuses on a different problem: the minimization of emissions and fuel consumption as the primary or secondary objective. This creates the emissions VRP (EVRP). A formulation and solution approaches for the EVRP are presented. Decision variables and properties are stated and discussed. Results obtained with a proposed EVRP solution approach for different levels of congestion are compared and analyzed.