Iron Mountain
At a Glance
Industry
Internet, Software, Hardware and Technology Services
Project Type
Sustainability and Energy Management Strategy
Year
2017
Location
Northborough, MA
Annual CO2 Reductions:
50 metric tons
Summary
Ranjit Desai helped Iron Mountain reduce the environmental impact of the company’s transportation and logistics services by transitioning its fleet to alternative fuel vehicles.
Goals
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM), the global leader for storage and information management services, believes that by focusing on environmental stewardship and reducing its carbon footprint they can deliver better results for both its business and the environment. The company has already achieved substantial GHG emission reductions by improved energy efficiency in facilities and significant use of renewable energy options, but still a material amount of GHG emissions come from its fleet of pickup and delivery trucks and vans. Iron Mountain hired EDF Climate Corps fellow Ranjit Desai to analyze and make recommendations for reducing emissions from transportation by adding a pilot fleet of alternative fuel vehicles.
Solutions
Desai focused his attention on logistics, such as door to door pick-up and delivery of documents, data tapes and other critical customer assets, which are key components of Iron Mountain’s customer service and support. Logistics also represents an important aspect of cost as well as environmental impacts of operations. Desai approached the challenge by focusing on two areas:
Technical feasibility. New vehicles have to be reliable and fit existing fleet operations considerations. Working with internal and external stakeholders, Desai assessed available models, suppliers and commercial readiness of available fleet vehicles in several classes as well as likely future developments and trends. This involved a wide variety of option from EVs to other alternative fuels and involved a life cycle assessment view of the impacts of fuel choices.
Financial viability. In addition to detail financial evaluation of different options, Desai evaluated government—federal and state—grants and incentives for all available vehicle options. He then analyzed the potential GHG emissions savings from two pilot fleets and estimated the possible savings if the rest of Iron Mountain’s fleet is transitioned to similar vehicles in the future.
Potential Impact
Desai’s methodology can be scaled to other similar businesses looking to transition their fleet operations. Iron Mountain is planning to invest over a million dollars in the two pilot fleets proposed. The newly added test vehicles are expected to save 48.47 MT of CO2e of GHG emissions in one year. The future fleet changes based on the learnings of the pilot project could result in significant reductions in operating costs and GHG impact Desai’s work was also instrumental in getting Iron Mountain approved as an EPA SmartWay Truck Carrier.