Abstract:The port is an important node in logistics, and its energy consumption constitutes a considerable proportion of the transportation industry. In port logistics, not only does the energy consumption generate carbon emissions, but other business activities do as well. This paper firstly characterizes the sources of carbon emissions and the basic elements in the port system, and proposes the concept of a port-integrated logistics system. Secondly, a case study of The Port of Shenzhen is conducted and a method is provided to measure the carbon emissions in the port-integrated logistics system. This paper then suggests two approaches to reducing carbon emissions, and their economic and environmental benefits are compared. Finally, some policies are put forward to reduce carbon emissions, such as improving the efficiency of loading and unloading, and replacing the heavy fuel oil by low sulfur fuel oil and shore power. The proposed method of carbon emission reduction for port-integrated logistics systems can be generalized for the analysis of various types of ports.

The increasing demand for urban distribution increases the number of transportation vehicles which intensifies the congestion of urban traffic and leads to a lot of carbon emissions. This paper focuses on carbon emission reduction in urban distribution, taking perishable foods as the object. It carries out optimization analysis of urban distribution routes to explore the impact of low carbon policy on urban distribution routes planning. On the basis of analysis of the cost components and corresponding constraints of urban distribution, two optimization models of urban distribution routes with and without carbon emissions cost are constructed. Fuel quantity related to cost and carbon emissions in the model is calculated based on traffic speed, vehicle fuel quantity and passable time period of distribution. Then an improved algorithm which combines genetic algorithm and tabu search algorithm is designed to solve models. Moreover, an analysis of the influence of carbon tax price is also carried out. It is concluded that in the process of urban distribution based on the actual network information, path optimization considering the low carbon factor can effectively reduce the distribution process of CO 2 , and reduce the total cost of the enterprise and society, thus achieving greater social benefits at a lower cost. In addition, the government can encourage low-carbon distribution by rationally adjusting the price of carbon tax to achieve a higher social benefit.

Telemedicine is an effective way to alleviate the congestion of hospitals and improve the utilization of medical resources. In this paper, we develop a stylized queue model to study whether the hospital should adopt telemedicine service and in which form (the gatekeeper system or dual-channel service system) the hospital should provide telemedicine service. Patients’ delay sensitivity and transportation cost are also considered in our model. Our main results follow. First, in most cases, telemedicine service can help to reduce the total cost of the healthcare system, and patients treated online or offline can both benefit from the adoption of telemedicine. Second, the dual-channel healthcare system is more flexible than the traditional outpatient system and the gatekeeper system. There exists an optimal market segmentation of the two channels in the dual-channel healthcare system. Finally, we find that the hospital should implement the telemedicine when the transportation cost is high or patients have a large gap between online and offline waiting sensitivity.

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