EcoTransIT (Link: http://www.ecotransit.org)

How eco-friendly is your business? How to operate transports preferable environmentally compatible? These questions get more important in the face of increasing freight traffic and thereby rising envirnmental impact. A answer gives "EcoTransIT" (Ecological Transport Information Tool) (Link: http://www.ecotransit.org). The free accesssible internet-tool enables the exakt calculation of envirnmental impact of freigt transports within Europe and this overall transport types.

EcoTransIT compares the energy consumption and pollutant emissions of transports with train, lorry, ship and air plane. Thereby it also relates combined traffic and different technical standards of the vehicles into its calculation. In that way companies can easily determine with which route and what means of transportation they will pollute the environment at least.

Calculation basis
- GIS-based europe-wide net work for the determination of the distance for each transportation type
- Transport mode and cargo type
- Energy mix (railway) and topography

Environmental evaluation
- Primary energy consumption
- Carbon dioxide (CO2)
- Sulphur dioxide (SO2)
- Nitrogen oxides (NOX)
- Non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC)
- Total dust and particulate soot

Currently EcoTransIT is financed by five european railway companies (Railion AG, SBB, Greencargo, Trenitalia, SNCF) und will expand in near future. Thus there will be a larger coverage and the development of new features enabled. The environmental evaluation is based on founded scientific fundamentals. The calculation method was developed at the independent ifeu-institute from Heidelberg and the underlying emission factors are updated regular.

You will find the internet portal of EcoTransIT at http://www.ecotransit.org