Patent ID: 8175795

Claim:
A route search apparatus comprising: a calculation unit configured to calculate a carbon dioxide discharge amount discharged from an internal combustion engine of a vehicle per section in a route from a start place to a destination; a carbon-conscious routing unit configured to search a carbon-minimum route that minimizes the carbon dioxide discharge amount in the route from the start place to the destination based on a calculation by the calculation unit; and a memory unit configured to memorize altitude information that represents an altitude difference between both ends of each section in the route, the calculation unit is further configured to determine for each section a slope coefficient that reflects a slope condition of each section based on the altitude difference of the memory unit, variably identify the carbon dioxide discharge amount for each section by multiplying a section distance of each section by the slope coefficient, variably identify the carbon dioxide discharge amount based on a travel time of the vehicle in each section, and variably identify the carbon dioxide discharge amount based on an index that changes according to a number of stops in each section, determine the carbon dioxide discharge amount for each section based on a fuel consumption amount, Q, that is defined as Q=aT+bD+cAEE, wherein a is a fuel type-displacement coefficient, T represents the travel time of each section, b is a road slope condition reflecting index, D represents the section distance, c is vehicle weight coefficient, and AEE represents an acceleration energy, and calculate a total carbon dioxide discharge amount for each section by adding each of identified carbon dioxide discharge amounts.