Sir Richard Branson's latest push: Efficient trucks

In a career filled with big ambitions that include finding new ways to send people into space, Sir Richard Branson 's latest quest to make the trucking industry more fuel efficient may appear to some as rather mundane.

But what it lacks in sex appeal it more than makes up for in its potential impact on the economy and environment.

Branson and his team at the Carbon War Room, a nonprofit firm that encourages businesses to adopt practices that will reduce their carbon footprints, estimate the North American trucking industry could save up to $40 billion a year if operators share their insight into dozens of new or recently developed technologies.

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From incorporating diesel-fired heaters to reduce idling to the use of new axle configurations to cut weight and improve mileage, there are more than 70 technologies on the market today that operators could tap into to make their fleets more efficient and more profitable.

"It will make a massive difference here in America and around the world," Branson said.

In conjunction with the United Nations Climate Summit, the Carbon War Room is launching Truckingefficiency.org, a website that aims to cut fuel costs for tractor-trailers by more than 30 percent.

Based on Truckinfo.net's estimates that there are 2 million tractor-trailers in the U.S., even a modest reduction in fuel use could have a huge impact.