UPS will deploy two new hydraulic hybrid vehicles (HHV) in Minneapolis during the first quarter of 2009. The additional five HHV’s will be deployed later in 2009 and early 2010.

Millions of last minute shoppers used UPS to get their gifts delivered on time. Even the snow storms did not stop them. On December 22, I skipped the hour long line at the post office, which was open on Sunday, and instead shipped via UPS. I got my gifts to my brother on December 24.

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UPS has been taking steps to go green for years now, but this Christmas season, they’ve taken their fuel-saving efforts to yet another level. In order to keep up with the holiday mailing demand, they continued a program that they tested out last year - using bikes to deliver packages.

Obviously, this can’t be done everywhere, but in locations with seasonally warm weather, this is an option that is saving 17 gallons of fuel per every three bikers on the road. On top of that, they’re saving money on vehicle maintenance costs and cutting down on emissions.

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Ah, reddit. In many ways the cute little bugger is the forgotten genius brother to Digg, and, no matter how hard he tries, his smartness can’t seem to shine above Digg’s trophy-winning varsity jock prowess (if you hung out in the periodical room in high school, you know what I mean). But perhaps this is for the best, because what we’re left with is what civil commentary can look like on the internet when it’s dominated by graduate students, scientists, know-it-alls, and the generally reserved.

And as it turns out, all of those folks enjoy reading Gas 2.0. So, without further adieu:

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FedEx has ordered 10 purpose-built zero tailpipe emissions cargo vans from UK-based electric vehicle manufacturer Modec. The new electric trucks are specifically built for the duty cycles required in stop-start city driving, can go 70 miles on one charge, and can haul up to 2 tonnes (2.2 US tons) of cargo.

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So I came home from work today and saw a woman riding a bike loaded to the gills with cardboard boxes on a heavy duty bike trailer. At first I thought it was just another one of the local crazies that rides their bikes from one side of the town to the other all day long, but I’d never seen her before, and if you’ve lived in my town for as many years as I have, you get to know who our crazies are.

I watched her ride her bike around my neighborhood (it’s a small neighborhood) with a bit of a detached interest as I unloaded things from my car. She stopped every now and then, picked a package out of her clown-car-stuffed trailer and dropped it off at various neighbors’ doors.

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UPS will field two hydraulic hybrids in Minneapolis, MN, in early 2009 and an additional five hydraulic hybrid trucks will be deployed later in 2009 and early 2010. Although this sounds like a tiny fleet, keep in mind that this is the largest scale commercial test of hydraulic hybrids ever conducted.

The UPS hybrid hydraulic truck is a standard-looking 24,000 pound package car, with an EPA-patented diesel series hydraulic hybrid drive attached to the rear axle.

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In a conversation with Justin Brown of First Global Xpress, I began to find out: All the major international shippers use a “hub and spoke” system to distribute packages. In a case of bureaucracy overriding logic, a package sent from New York to Europe may first go to New Jersey, then go several miles in the wrong direction, to Memphis Tennessee, then back overseas, taking in the sights at several major and regional sorting centers until it arrives. Why? It defies logic, in terms of efficiency, ecology, and economy.

And get this: according to Justin, 30% of jet fuel consumed is during take off. So, add up those extraneous miles, plus the fuel consumed each flight, and you’ve got an enormous carbon footprint here, an unnecessary one.

What to do? Enter First Global Xpress.

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UPS, the delivery people, decided to re-structure the delivery routes taken by drivers to eliminate as many left turns as possible. Now that may sound weird, but how long have you sat in a left turn lane waiting for oncoming traffic to pass, and how many times have you dreaded crossing into oncoming traffic?

The results have been dramatic. UPS says its 95,000 vehicles shaved nearly 30 million miles off its deliveries in 2007, saving the cost of 3 million gallons of gasoline and reducing truck emissions by 32,000 metric tons.

Makes sense to me. Sally and I both plan our drives with right-hand turns in mind, rarely adding an inch to the overall length of the drive, and feeling a lot safer.

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UPS has modified their package-flow technology to determine more efficient routes for delivery vehicles called Roadnet Transportation Suite. The suite can eliminate idle-heavy routes such as those including several left-hand turns.

Roadnet uses an underlying map database that can penalise or disable lefthand turns in the route planning process. The system is well suited to the delivery business because drivers can run circular routes, ending up where they started.

Using this technique, Roadnet customers generate surprising savings on fuel and emissions. Collectively, Roadnet clients save an estimated 54.4m gallons of fuel a year and can cut about 85,000 trucks and cars out of their logistics systems.

This technology will also help reduce the number of empty trucks on the road. After goods have been delivered vehicles return empty to their point of origin. Knowing which trucks can take on additional cargo and in what direction they're heading could create opportunities for shipping and delivery partnerships, cutting down the need for overall vehicles and the fuel and emissions associated with them.

Pepsi and Anheuser-Busch are two companies with large delivery fleets that are trying out the software. Other companies that have already made efforts to reduce business-wide emissions include FedEx, which has introduced a number of electric or hybrid vehicles into their delivery fleets.

Via World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD); UPS