Trucking industry needs to get in gear with the times.

• Author: Kawai, Hiroko

You drink sustainably harvested coffee and eat only local produce. You bicycle to work, and walk to the farmers' market.

But even if you consider yourself a very conscientious citizen, your life is still touched by trucking. The trucking industry transports about 70 percent of all the goods in America today, moving nearly $24 billion in value in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Yet despite their ubiquity, for 50 years long haul tractor-trailer designs have remained fundamentally unchanged. Most only average six miles to the gallon and their structure is still, in the words of Andrew Smith, CEO of ATDynamics Inc., "the worst shape to move down the highway at 55 miles per hour ... a big rectangular box."

In April, Smith and 40 other trucking industry players--including manufacturers, component suppliers, engineering design firms and state and federal level policy makers--met to try and bust the "efficiency barrier" confounding the trucking sector today.

Convened by Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org), the event launched a partnership between RMI, the Environmental Protection Agency and the industry to provide practical ways to save fuel and increase fuel efficiency.

Fuel prices are trucking's Achilles heel, accounting for nearly one-third of owner-operator costs. For years, as oil prices remained low, controlling energy costs was unimportant for most trucking firms. But when prices surged last year, driving fuel expenses higher than some salaries, trucking companies--and their shareholders--began demanding a better way to manage their fuel costs.

While prices have remained steady this year, the trucking industry remains at the mercy of fuel-price volatility--which are then eventually passed on to the consumer as higher prices at the retailer, the restaurant and the grocery store.

Despite accounting for less than half of the nation's fleet, long haul, heavy-duty trucks account for almost 80 percent of fuel consumption. Their size, speed and poor aerodynamics mean they are laden with "low-hanging fruit" in terms of cost-effective efficiency and retrofitting opportunities.

Making them more like a Japanese bullet train--a rounded and aerodynamic design; eliminating the gap between the tractor and the trailer; and adding "skirts" to better distribute air flow--will go a long way to conserving fuel.

A more streamlined shape then allows for a smaller and more optimized engine, one that can pull the same freight load...