How is UPS doing its part to curb emissions? By letting software show it the way.

The New York Times reports that UPS, whose fleet of 95,000 brown shipping trucks isn't going anywhere anytime soon, looks to "package flow" software to optimize routes and cut down on wasted fuel, which by extension, reduces carbon output.

Why left turns? Because trucks end up idling while waiting for oncoming traffic to clear.

Last year, according to Heather Robinson, a U.P.S. spokeswoman, the software helped the company shave 28.5 million miles off its delivery routes, which has resulted in savings of roughly three million gallons of gas and has reduced CO2 emissions by 31,000 metric tons.

Not too shabby. If software devs don't inherit the Earth, they can sure help save it.