DALLAS - The City of Tulsa, Okla., is currently developing its first-ever sustainability plan, Mayor Dewey Bartlett announced during his opening speech at the Green Fleet Conference today.

The City is working with an independent contractor to analyze operations and find energy conservation ideas to recommend efficiencies and cut costs. The plan is expected to be delivered to the mayor by the end of October.

In the meantime, a series of efficiency studies have already been conducted on several operations within City departments, including fleet services. The fleet consultant, CST Fleet Services, is completing its analysis of the vehicle fleet. CST said the City can achieve a 23-percent reduction in the carbon footprint over eight years, from 2008 to 2015, by reducing fleet size and gradually conversion to compressed natural gas (CNG) as vehicles are replaced. This is important to a City like Tulsa, which recently exceeded air quality standards.

“With Tulsa walking on a fine line to avoid the dirty air list, estimates from CST Fleet Services indicate that the City of Tulsa, through a reduction in fleet and transition to CNG and other fuels, will reduce its emissions by more than 20 percent over an eight-year period from 2008 to 2015,” Mayor Bartlett said. “In addition, the transition from gasoline and diesel to the lower CNG prices reduces our fleet costs.”

The City has identified about 500 candidate vehicles to be sold or reassigned to motor pools, about 22 percent of the fleet. In addition, the City has converted its own refuse fleet to CNG and has acquired 137 alternative-fuel vehicles, including hybrids and 20 CNG vehicles. The study provides a plan for making more reductions and diversifying fuel consumption.

For more information on Tulsa’s fleet sustainability efforts, click here.