The objective of this analysis is to assess current levels of emissions and fuel consumption in the Albany-New York City corridor. The analysis is done by a custom-made computer system that processes archival GPS data obtained from private sector partners.
Preliminary results show that:
  • The Capital District MSA is better than the corridor or NYC in terms of fuel consumption and emissions; corridor comes in second, and NYC is the worst. This result is expected due to the heavier traffic found in NYC.
  • There is strong correlation between fuel consumption and pollutant emissions. The more fuel is consumed, the higher the production of emissions.
  • Fuel consumption and emissions also change according to the time of day. At nighttime, there is less traffic, allowing vehicles to be more energy efficient.
Table 1 summarizes emission and fuel consumption rates found for NYC, the corridor and the Capital District.
Table 1: Emissions and Fuel Consumption Rates in the Albany- New York City Corridor
The correlation between fuel consumption and emissions becomes more evident when the analysis is focused on specific truck routes. Figure 1 shows an example of a truck in the Capital District. Note that the cumulative CO2 produced follows an almost identical pattern to the cumulative fuel consumption.
Figure 1 (left): GPS Patterns of Fuel and CO2 Emissions
Figure 1 (right): Cummulative Fuel and CO2 Consumption Paterns
Figure 2 show results of fuel consumption comparing freight vehicles doing deliveries in the regular hours (RHD) with vehicles doing similar delivery route in the off-hours (OHD) show that OHD produces less emissions and consume less fuel.
Figure 2: Fuel Consumption From Delivery Routes in Regular Hours vs Off-Hours