Green optimisation for LRP problem using a genetic algorithm and a dynamic island model

Abstract

It has grown quite conspicuous that no company is immune to the increase in fuel prices and energy sources used for air conditioning, refrigeration and heating, as well as traffic congestion and the degradation of road infrastructures. It is for this reason that companies are increasingly concerned about energy and environmental issues and are, therefore, more aware of the need to revise their logistics for the purpose of reducing costs and increasing competitiveness. In order to minimise the energy costs associated with transportation, it is sensical to consider a two-echelon location routing problem (2E-LRP) where two distribution levels are composed of three disjoint sets of nodes corresponding to the depots, the distribution centres and the customers, respectively. For this, we propose a mathematical model, a genetic algorithm, and a dynamic island model to optimise the assignment and the routing of freight. Eventual results show a minimisation of energy cost and CO2 rate.