MNN.COM›Lifestyle›

Responsible Living

Shopping online: Greener than buying local?

Shopping locally may not always be the greenest option. A new study by Carnegie Mellon University's Green Design Institute gives a thumbs-up to buying online.
By Chris BaskindFri, Mar 26 2010 at 2:03 PM EST  8 Comments

Photo: boviate/Flickr
So you're ready to make a purchase. Should you head across town and buy local? Or does it make better environmental sense to surf over to your favorite online shopping site and spend your money there?
 
The answer isn't always simple. But a new study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University's Green Design Institute suggests that purchases made from home may result in 35 percent less energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions than traditional shopping. The research used data supplied by Buy.com, a Green Design Institute partner which has been developing more efficient ways to package and deliver online goods.
 
Researchers found that the greatest areas of impact for local shopping were from shoppers driving to and from retail locations. With online shopping, the greatest amounts of energy use and carbon dioxide emissions resulted from packaging and "last mile" customer delivery. But there was a hidden area of impact with traditional bricks-and-mortar retail: most goods sold in local stores pass through one or more tiers of regional distribution centers and warehouses before getting to the customer. Online merchants which streamline this process are able to substantially reduce its environmental footprint.
 
The full study, "Life Cycle Comparison of Traditional Retail and E-Commerce Logistics for Electronic Products: A Case Study of Buy.com," can be read here. (1.4 MB PDF download)
 
Copyright Lighter Footstep 2009
 
CLOSE link:
Related Links
Related Topics
  • Buy Local
  • Emissions
  • Lighter Footstep
  • Save Money

    • Comments

    Add your comment
    View:

    good on online greener than buying local

    Posted By deepy ahuja - Thu, Sep 02 2010 at 9:25 AM EST

    interesting on good on online greener than buying local i like it. it was quite nice information. Can you guide some sites which can provide best deal save my time and money in buying goods online.
    http://itemsave.com

    cheap emu boots,discount emu boots

    Posted By cheap emu boot - Mon, Jul 19 2010 at 3:34 AM EST

    The full study, "Life Cycle Comparison of Traditional Retail and E-Commerce Logistics for Electronic Products: A Case Study of Buy.com," can be read here.

    Shopping Online

    Posted By Kavita - Thu, Jul 08 2010 at 7:05 AM EST

    Shopping online is the greatest way to save money as well as time. This type of shopping is definitely a greener choice than online shopping. I always prefer to do shopping at http://www.wholesalepages.co.uk/

    Shopping online is green

    Posted By Shopping - Wed, Apr 07 2010 at 9:59 PM EST

    Green is another topic for online shopping in addition to convenience, budget, varieties. And another good sales points for online shopping websites like ebay, ishoppingonline.com.au, myshopping.com.au

    online shopping

    Posted By Anna Herman - Thu, Apr 01 2010 at 10:55 AM EST

    Of course it depends on what you buy . Clothes are a high carbon foot print purchase. Not only do they go to the retail store but they go from field or chemical plant (Polyester) to cutters to dye house , to sewing factoies.Stick in another middle man shoot up the price some more,etc. It would be better to use organic cotton grown in the south with a mill next door, then made in the same location. Someday that may happen. At Herman's ECO INC. We quit wholesaling and sell dirrectly to the.... More

    Online

    Posted By acc - Thu, Apr 01 2010 at 10:52 AM EST

    as long as you're not buying one item from several different places all the time, making everything come to you in multiple different boxes, i think online shopping can be pretty green. (but i hate not being able to try stuff on...)

    Online shops can do more to be greener

    Posted By Katarina - Mon, Mar 29 2010 at 9:00 PM EST

    Online shopping can definitely be a greener choice, the company I work for implements good environmental business practices. www.natureshop.com is for example offsetting its carbon emission and is a carbon neutral company certified by CarboNZero. Also, we use bio degradable courier bags for all our shipments, we also recycle, reuse or give away our waste to a Funky Junk depot. Even the products are following the.... More

    Online shopping

    Posted By Andy - Fri, Mar 26 2010 at 7:14 PM EST

    I couldn't agree more with this article. I prefer online shopping because of the seemingly endless choices and the fact that I don't have fight crowds. As a matter of fact, I just finished doing my Easter shopping from Google Products and Onewayshopping.com. This accounted for 85% of my shopping.

    ADD YOUR COMMENT

    To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
    You can’t fool Mother Nature
    This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
    Image CAPTCHA
    Notify me with an email when other people comment on this article.
    Used only for emailed comments and will not be displayed with your post
    WorldShares lets you earn donations for your favorite nonprofit. Earn up to 20 points now.
    Learn More
    Earn points, claim WorldShares, save the planet and win prizes!
    Learn More Join Now

    ADVERTISEMENT

    MNN ORIGINALS

    Not sure which green way is best? Get answers from our experts.

    We've got a new contest coming soon.

    Government data you need to know, in a way you can understand.

    Check out eco-photos of the week, top 10 lists and more.

    Learn more about everything from acid rain to wildlife.