Swedes pioneer greener sat-nav

An eco-friendly satellite-navigation system offering routes to save fuel and minimise greenhouse gas emissions is being developed by Swedish scientists.

Their sat-nav system has reported an average fuel saving of more than eight per cent compared to journeys planned by other methods.

Eva Ericsson, senior lecturer and part of the green development team at Lund University, told CNET.co.uk's sister site silicon.com: "Today there are many IT devices in cars and we thought that some of those ought to be used for decreasing the environmental effect of traffic."

The sat-nav system simulated the most fuel-efficient route for a set of 109 trips in Lund and compared the most eco-friendly way with the route the driver chose spontaneously.

Of the 109 trips, 46 per cent were not the most fuel-efficient and could have saved an average of 8.2 per cent on fuel. This corresponds to an overall fuel-saving of four per cent over all 109 routes.

Ericsson said it is not realistic for the greener sat-nav system to measure fuel consumption on every street in the world, but added a pilot test on a more local scale is planned to see how the system could be used in daily driving.

If everything works out well with the pilot, there is the possibility of examining larger test areas, Ericsson added.