Traffic app scoops sustainable city award
A new company working with Earls Court and Tesco to cut freight congestion and air pollution in London has been recognised in the city's annual sustainability awards
Carbon Voyage was last night (27 March 2014) awarded the commercial entrepreneurship award at the 2014 sustainable city awards for its innovative smartphone application. The app, which is described as an “air traffic control system for trucks”, aims to reduce the amount of time heavy goods vehicles spend queuing in central London by 100,000 hours.
Transport for London, Tesco and the Earls Court and Kensington Olympia exhibition venues are among the organisations already working with Carbon Voyage to use the app. It is currently being trialled at two sites in London, enabling drivers to book arrival slots to avoid congestion and ensure that lorries are fully loaded, as well as helping firms to cut fuel costs. This improves traffic flows and air pollution levels in the areas around the sites.
Carbon Voyage firm was one of 13 organisations rewarded by the city of London for their sustainability efforts last night. Fiona Woolf, Lord Mayor of the city of London, said: “By 2050 nine billion people will populate our planet with 70% living in cities, creating massive strains on our resources. It is essential that we best ensure our future and set about how the city can promote and enable long-term value creation. There is no better way to do this than through sustainable practice.”
Now in their 14th year, the sustainable city awards recognise the efforts of organisations in London for across a range of sectors, and focus on issues like sustainable resource use, waste management and air quality.
This year London Zoological Society scooped two awards for cutting to just 2% the amount of waste it sends to landfill, and for reducing water consumption across by half over the past 10 years.
Other winners were United House, which was presented with the sustainable building award for designing the first scheme in the UK to use the energy stored in river water to provide thermal energy for homes and a hotel on the banks of the Thames, and Napak Plastics, for its sustainability efforts, which include designing a new milk bottle that has helped to save 34,000 tonnes of carbon each year and becoming zero waste to landfill.