Public Sector Fleets:
Fleet’s Carbon Footprint Extends Beyond Vehicles & Equipment

March 24, 2008

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Last November, more than 700 mayors signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in Seattle, committing to reduce carbon emissions in their localities to 7-percent below 1990 levels by 2012. This goal is in line with the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that seeks to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Fleet operations around the U.S. have stepped up to the plate to help accomplish this goal.

One example is Denver Public Works, which has been a pioneer in the greening of its fleet since 1993 when the City created its “Green Fleet” program. Today, Denver’s fleet includes 144 hybrid vehicles and was one of the first cities in the nation to acquire a hybrid-hydraulic trash truck, which is expected to have a 25- to 50-percent increase in mpg.

Denver is also retrofitting all of its on-road and off-road equipment with diesel oxidation catalysts and crankcase ventilation systems to reduce emissions.

Likewise, the state of Colorado powers 16 percent of its fleet on something other than straight gasoline. That number is expected to skyrocket in coming years as Gov. Bill Ritter launches an ambitious “Greening of Government” program to reduce petroleum usage in state vehicles by 25 percent by June 2012.

The City of Seattle has a goal to convert its fleet to 100 percent clean and green vehicles. In 2008, 90 percent of its compact sedan purchases and 50 percent of its small SUV purchases will be clean and green vehicles. In addition, it will transition all non-pursuit, light-duty police vehicles to clean and green vehicles by 2011.

At Maricopa County in Arizona, instead of making purchasing decisions based mostly on financial costs, supervisors now weigh environmental costs before they approve funding of new vehicles. The Maricopa County fleet travels 25 million miles a year and emits more than 30 million lbs. of emissions, both pollutants and greenhouse gases.

Maricopa County officials estimate they could cut that amount by three million to 15 million lbs. a year, depending on how much they can afford spending on more fuel-efficient vehicles, which tend to cost more.

Similarly, a growing number of corporate fleets are implementing green fleet initiatives. Abbott is the first Fortune 500 company that has made the commitment to go “carbon neutral” with its entire U.S. fleet of vehicles. This was a seminal event in the history of fleet management. It is emblematic of a much larger sea change occurring today in fleet management – the proliferation of corporate green fleet initiatives. These initiatives include a variety of strategies ranging from right-sizing vehicles, adding hybrids to the selector, utilizing flex-fuel vehicles, changing engine specifications, altering employee driving habits, and acquiring GHG offsets or credits.

Greening Involves the Entire Fleet Operation

If you want to run a truly green fleet operation, you need to look beyond vehicles and equipment. This broader perspective involves altering internal operations, minimizing waste disposal, and altering user driving habits to minimize the environmental impact of fleet operations. This includes purchasing re-refined oil, recycling all waste oil, recycling drained anti-freeze, and bulk purchasing of recycled anti-freeze. One example is the fleet operations for Contra Costa County in California, which, along with many other fleet operations, has switched to re-refined motor oil, to eliminate 5,500 gallons of motor oil from the waste stream.

At the fleet operations for the City of Oceanside in California, floors are washed with a small electric-powered sweeper that collects waste water, which is disposed in a clarifier prior to entering the sanitary sewer. This same clarifier captures wastewater produced by vehicle washing. In this way, the fleet protects groundwater from contamination either directly from dirty water or indirectly from run-off rainwater over dirty areas.

Here’s another example: “Instead of sending off 60 gallons of dirty cleaning solvent and buying a new supply each month, we re-distill the same mineral spirits each night to provide our staff with clean solvent on a continual basis,” said David Mills, fleet supervisor for the City of Oceanside, Calif. “Each technician’s bay contains a recycle container for cardboard packaging of air and oil filters, as well as parts that arrive in cardboard packages.”

Another example includes work-area lighting. The fleet operations of Arapahoe County in Colorado has installed energy-efficient lighting in its office areas. Likewise, Maricopa County has implemented “green purchasing policies” that require energy-efficient light bulbs, recycled paper, and pens made out of recycled plastic.

You need to sweat the details and look at all areas of opportunity, large and small, to be truly green. Cumulatively, all of these practices, along with modified vehicle specifications, will minimize your contribution to the waste stream and reduce the emission of GHG and other pollutants.

Let me know what you think.

mike.antich@bobit.com