Each year an increasing number of businesses turn to alternative fuels to meet environmental standards and reduce their fleets’ pollution output. Finding an alternative-fuel program that is cost effective at the outset and manageable once up and running is vital to ensure long-term success. Steve Russell, fleet superintendent for the city of Keene in New Hampshire, implemented a biodiesel alternative-fuel program in July 2002, after attending a Clean Cities meeting in Keene. He was already familiar with biodiesel as a result of many past conversations with other fleet managers, but after the Clean Cities meeting, he was convinced that biodiesel was the alternative-fuel solution for his fleet. “The Clean Cities meeting really reinforced the importance of alternative fuels and how they positively affect the environment,” Russell said. “I was already familiar with biodiesel, and knew that it was a great alternative fuel that could be used without any engine modifications.” Russell has been a municipal fleet manager for seven years and a corporate fleet manager for 10 years. The city of Keene’s owned fleet consists of 35 light- and medium-duty vehicles - mostly Fords - and a total of 58 pieces of equipment that use biodiesel. All fleet vehicles that have diesel engines use biodiesel, including 48,000 GVW plow trucks, ambulances, and rescue trucks. State Grant Allows Russell to Implement Biodiesel Program
One of the primary benefits of using biodiesel as an alternative fuel is that it requires no equipment modifications for diesel vehicles. “Basically, you can put biodiesel in the vehicles and continue operations,” said Russell. “It made sense to me to use this fuel because of the ease of setup and operation.” However, Russell had to overcome one significant obstacle before implementation. The city of Keene only had one tank, which meant that the city would have to use it in all of their equipment and pay the extra cost in a larger quantity. The city decided it was not prepared to do this because its current fuel budget could not handle the extra cost. Russell was not disappointed for long, as the very next day the governor’s Office of Energy called and asked if Keene was interested in a grant to try biodiesel. After Russell made his final presentations to his department heads, the program was given the green light. “After I gave them all of the facts about biodiesel implementation, and they were completely educated about the process, they gave their full support for the program,” he said. Russell’s presentation included warranty coverage - senior management was thrilled to hear that the engine manufacturer warranties would still be in full force. He also presented success findings from other fleet managers using biodiesel. “Thanks to the National Association of Fleet Administrators (NAFA) network, this was an easy task,” said Russell. Biodiesel implementation began immediately and required no equipment modification costs. “We did not need to do any modifications to the engines,” said Russell. “We just put the fuel in the tanks and ran the equipment.” {+PAGEBREAK+} Biodiesel Reduces City of Keene’s Carbon Exhaust by 30 Percent
After more than two years and over 100,000 gallons of B-20 fuel used in 78 pieces of equipment, Russell has deemed the biodiesel program a success. The program resulted in a significant reduction in carbon exhaust, extended vehicle life due to increased lubricity in the engine, and better health for the equipment operators and mechanics. “These benefits make up for the increased price of biodiesel in the short term,” adds Russell. Carbon exhaust has been reduced by 30 percent since Russell implemented biodiesel into the city’s fleet. Vehicle life has also been extended to 10 years for light-duty equipment and 12 years for heavy-duty equipment. “The best part of using biodiesel is that when a piece of equipment is pulled into the fleet repair facility to be worked on, there is a significant reduction of pollutants, which reduces the health risks to not only city employees, but citizens in the rest of the city,” said Russell. He also added that incidents of headaches from equipment operators and mechanics have reduced significantly. Russell also points out vehicles running on biodiesel were better able to handle severe winter conditions. “The winter of 2003 proved to be one of the coldest in many years, and our trucks ran without any troubles,” he said. “In fact, it was reported to me that many cities burning 100-percent premium diesel had gelling problems.” Russell also reports that using biodiesel has not affected vehicle performance. For fleets considering implementing biodiesel, Russell recommends doing your homework up front and covering all of your bases. Be ready to respond to senior management’s questions and concerns. He also recommends that you stress the environmental benefits of using biodiesel to management. “Getting department buy-in and support from the city council for doing the right thing for the environment goes a long way to get a program off to a good start,” said Russell. “If a community wants to help the environment, with only a nominal added cost, biodiesel is truly the way to go.”