The correlation between fuel usage and carbon footprint is well understood and fleet operators understand the need to manage fuel usage to avoid waste. They are using management reporting systems such as Merridale FuelWorks, to fulfil this requirement by focussing on vehicle fuel performance.
Ongoing development by Merridale has further enhanced these tools to enable the operator to tag fleet vehicles with specific exhaust characteristics in order to provide additional reporting on Nitrous Oxide (NOx) emissions as well as Carbon Dioxide(CO2).
This will help Fleet Operators to develop operational strategies aimed at reducing their environmental impact whilst also balancing the requirements to operate sustainably and profitably.
The burning of diesel fuel creates exhaust gases, and while there can be slight differences from engine to engine, those gases are created in known quantities. By knowing the rate at which a vehicle engine consumes fuel, a very accurate calculation of CO2 emissions can be obtained. This has been taken forward by also categorising specific vehicle types and therefore, the consequential volume of NOx emissions.
Fleet operators can use these reports to provide credible evidence of their current impact on the environment. From this position they can be used to monitor progress and demonstrate the success of different strategies employed to improve fleet efficiencies, such as training, route planning and vehicle/load deployment.
Reports can be customised to cover fuel usage over time or for specific routes enabling planners to compare different vehicles and load characteristics. The vehicle calculations for NOx are derived from the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS) – an accreditation organisation which has developed the tools required to meet various regulatory obligations. Merridale FuelWorks enhances this and will permit vehicles to be placed into various categories each of which has a NOx rating applied.
Merridale FuelWorks is a market leader in hosted services for monitoring, controlling and reporting fuel usage. Now widely adopted in over 1300 locations across the United Kingdom, FuelWorks is being used to drive down fuel costs at fleet operations large and small. As a hosted service, all users are on the same version and any new developments and future enhancements are delivered automatically to the existing Merridale customer base.
