Shopping Online: Greener Than Buying Local?
By Chris Baskind in Environment
Shopping locally may not always be the greenest option. A new study by Carnegie Mellon University’s Green Design Institute gives a thumbs-up to buying online.
So you’re ready to make a purchase. Should you head across town and buy local? Or does it make better environmental sense to surf over to your favorite online shopping site and spend your money there?
The answer isn’t always simple. But a new study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University’s Green Design Institute suggests that purchases made from home may result in 35 percent less energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions than traditional shopping. The research used data supplied by Buy.com, a Green Design Institute partner which has been developing more efficient ways to package and deliver online goods.
Researchers found that the greatest areas of impact for local shopping were from shoppers driving to and from retail locations. With online shopping, the greatest amounts of energy use and carbon dioxide emissions resulted from packaging and “last mile” customer delivery. But there was a hidden area of impact with traditional bricks-and-mortar retail: Most goods sold in local stores pass through one or more tiers of regional distribution centers and warehouses before getting to the customer. Online merchants which streamline this process are able to substantially reduce its environmental footprint.
The full study, “Life Cycle Comparison of Traditional Retail and E-Commerce Logistics for Electronic Products: A Case Study of Buy.com,” can be read here. (1.4 MB PDF download)
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i'm not sure how accurate this is. I'd like to see this research done more rigorously comparing a range of internet-based stores (not just one) and a range of products (not just 1 electronic product). Also a BIG failure of the report is that it doesn't recognise that not everyone owns a car: not everyone drives to a store to go shopping - what about walking / public transport? most people buy more than one product on a shopping trip too.
It's pretty clearly a thought experiment to weight the vendor's new distribution model. We've had quite a bit of discussion around this article on Twitter and Friendfeed. There's no way buying a fresh, locally produced good like food from the corner store is less green than even the most efficient drop shipping. But they've probably raised an interesting point about mass-produced goods sold in chain stores. Here, online shopping might make sense.
I do a lot of shopping on a bike, so I feel good about buying whatever I can load in the panniers.
It's pretty clearly a thought experiment to weight the vendor's new distribution model. We've had quite a bit of discussion around this article on Twitter and Friendfeed. There's no way buying a fresh, locally produced good like food from the corner store is less green than even the most efficient drop shipping. But they've probably raised an interesting point about mass-produced goods sold in chain stores. Here, online shopping might make sense.
I do a lot of shopping on a bike, so I feel good about buying whatever I can load in the panniers.
I do a lot of shopping on a bike, so I feel good about buying whatever I can load in the panniers.