Summary:
Scientists at the University of Michigan found that grocery shopping yourself produces more greenhouse gas emissions than using a grocery delivery service.
Kroger and Walmart are testing delivery drones which have the least emissions for orders that are only a single item. Sidewalk robots have the least emissions for large orders, but this service isn’t widely available at the moment.
Shoppers outside of the delivery range can reduce emissions considerably by using curbside pickup and even more so in electric vehicles. It was found that using curbside pickup combined with other errands, or “trip chaining,” dropped emissions along with stocking up in order to buy groceries less often.
Analysis:
Grocery delivery services booming in the start of the COVID-19 pandemic turned out to be not only reducing exposure to the virus, but also reducing emissions. It’s not surprising that electric vehicles are leading in grocery pickup with reducing emissions along with robotic and drone delivery services leading overall.
I think this is an additional benefit to using grocery pickup and delivery services. These new services were designed to implement care as they were helpful to people during the start of the pandemic. They’ve also continued to be helpful to people by saving time, and the earth by reducing our carbon footprint.
Source:
Publisher: MLive
Author: Sheri McWhirter
Date: August 12, 2022
