“…it could be said that the advances in mathematics that have enabled more efficient routing of vehicles among numerous points are possibly one of the most potent environmental technologies of the last decade. This is not a technology normally recognized by environmentalists and environmental regulators.”

     –Braden Allenby, Reconstructing Earth, 2005

(I’m taking this a little out of context [Allenby was talking about the “green” benefits of e-commerce] but I think I’m remaining pretty faithful to his original intent.)

“Whether increasing the efficiency of fleet vehicles by optimizing standard routes and subsequently reducing fuel consumption or determining the optimum location for a wind farm to produce energy with minimal pollution,” Jim Baumann writes in the introduction to the forthcoming ESRI e-book GIS is a Green Technology, “GIS provides the quantified information and analytical capabilities necessary to make decisions that can both support growth and reduce consumption.”