Our total use of fossil fuels (gasoline and diesel) is a combination of use from 3 different "engines". The first is, of course, our own personal vehicles - how far we drive to get to and from the office. The second is our company vehicles - how many miles we put on them every year. The third is our delivery of materials from Phantom - how many trips from Phantom to Southern Screens that we require for product delivery. The following is our progress report and plans for reducing all three engine consumptions.
With only a handful of employees who live in three different areas of the city, car-pooling is not a viable option. However, by scheduling office hours and installation schedules to avoid peak rush hour traffic, our employees waste little time stuck in gridlock. We also schedule all errands (mail and package pick-up and drop-off, bank deposits, office supply purchases, etc) to avoid the morning, lunch, and afternoon traffic tie-ups. As we continue to grow, we will encourage ride-sharing when it's appropriate.
In Aug, 2006 we began a 2 year program to phase out our existing gasoline powered vans with diesel powered ones for two primary reasons. The first was to be able to use new bio-diesel fuels as they become more readily available and production of which reaches the point of actually saving fossil fuels. The second, but most pressing, reason was to immediately reduce our fuel consumption. Our territory is rather large (see: FAQs: Phantom 101 ) and we make frequent trips with a trailer in tow to Jackson, MS, Jonesboro, AR, and many other cities some distance from Cordova. Trailering in our existing vans required disengaging "Overdrive" or 4th gear, resulting in an almost doubling of our fuel use on long trips.
The first of the new diesel-powered, heavy-duty trailer-ready vans went into service October, 2006, and is now designated for all trailering trips. We calculate that this new van has already saved us 1500 gallons of fuel! The replacement of the remaining van will be in November, 2007. All vans are and will be equipped with roof racks to minimize trailer usage whenever possible.We estimate that converting to the new vehicles will save us over 10,000 gallons in the first 5 years.
And, as always, we strive to schedule all of any day's installations in the same general area (ie. Collierville and Germantown, Arlington and Eads, etc.) reducing mileage and maximizing fuel already used. Conserving fuel is beneficial to the atmosphere and to our bottom line, and we will continue to find ways reduce fuel needs.
While we can do little about the fuel efficiency of the delivery companies vehicles, we can reduce the number of shipments by consolidating orders. Therefore, we have adopted a policy of bundling all of a week's orders into one Friday mega-order whenever possible. This has resulted in an average of one shipment per week instead of three or four. By improving our inventory control and order accuracy review processes, we hope to eliminate most, if not all, small order Rush deliveries in the next year.
The amount of fossil fuels burned by our vehicles is the single greatest factor in calculating the size of our carbon footprint on Earth. Frankly, we'd prefer to tread lightly. With that goal in mind, in 2006, we initiated a plan to significantly reduce our consumption of petroleum products.
