Drones may be a good thing for the environment according to a recent study. The study says that small packages delivered short distances by drones result in less carbon emission than delivery trucks even if they are electric. While all of this is interesting it’s not going to happen quickly because of all the regulation involved. However, if anyone can get this kind of thing cleared on a large scale basis it’s Amazon and we know they are working on it.



We show that, although drones consume less energy per package-km than delivery trucks, the additional warehouse energy required and the longer distances traveled by drones per package greatly increase the life-cycle impacts. Still, in most cases examined, the impacts of package delivery by small drone are lower than ground-based delivery.

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Drones Could Make the World Better