NS Updates Online Carbon Calculator

Norfolk Southern (NS) has updated its web-based carbon calculator that helps customers make shipping transportation decisions that account for, measure and mitigate emissions.

Users enter the type of commodity they want to transport, and the shipment weight and frequency, and then choose from more than 75,000 origins and destinations in the U.S. The calculator provides data on estimated and avoided emissions, carbon dollars saved, highway miles avoided, trucks and cars taken off the road, and other carbon equivalents.

The calculator, which debuted in 2008, now captures the entire cycle of fuel usage to improve the accuracy of carbon estimates, NS reported on March 14.

“Direct fuel consumption from locomotives is applied to every railcar based on weight and distance traveled,” NS explained. “Additional fuel accounted for includes yard and local operations, equipment repositioning, and fuel expended while handling containers in intermodal operations.” The process is said to generate a rail fuel-efficiency factor for 18 railcar types and 30 commodities, plus intermodal.

With a sample size of more than 7 million shipments, the online calculator “is built on an algorithm that produces results based on actual data to strengthen and improve efficiency estimates,” said NS, which noted that it worked with logistics partners “to ensure the calculations drawn between shipping via truck and rail sectors were accurate.”

“Technology is the fuel accelerating Norfolk Southern’s digital transformation,” NS Chief Sustainability Officer Josh Raglin said. “More than 25% of our customers have set public targets for emission reductions, and our new calculator provides a level of assurance that customers need to both measure and manage supply chain emissions. This tool provides our current and future customers with the data to understand the sustainable advantages of shipping via rail.”

“Railroads move 45% of the country’s long-distance freight but produce only 7% of all freight-related emissions,” NS Chief Marketing Officer Ed Elkins said. “The second-generation carbon calculator is an innovative tool that illustrates the effectiveness of rail to help customers reach their own sustainability goals.”