The State of North Carolina has exceeded its goals for displacing petroleum for FY 2011 and 2012, having avoided using more than 5.2 million gallons of gasoline and diesel. According to the report from North Carolina State University’s North Carolina Solar Center, 36 State agencies that operate a combined total of more than 27,800 vehicles were able to exceed the State’s goal through a mix of alternative-fuel vehicle use and fuel-efficiency and conservation measures. The fleet size actually increased slightly between FY-2004/2005 and FY-2011/2012, from 27,288 to 27,855.

The State legislature had passed a special budget provision in FY-2005/2005 that required State agencies to reduce petroleum fuel use by 20% by 2016. The State’s original goal was to displace 4.6 million gallons during FY-2011/2012. The State was able to reach a goal of displacing 19.2% compared to the 2004/2005 baseline, well ahead of the 2016 goal. According to the report, the 10 largest fleets in the State accounted for 96.5% of the total reported fuel use and the majority (96.9%) of the petroleum fuel displacement.

As to how State agencies achieved this, to start, reducing the number of miles driven, vehicle replacement and reassignment, and driver training saved approximately 2.5 million gallons of fuel. This represents more than $8 million in savings to the State.

Next, a total of 18 State agencies used more than 7.4 million gallons of B20 (20% biodiesel plus gasoline) fuel. The State has more than 100 B20 fueling sites. In addition, the State achieved 5% of its petroleum displacement goal by using E10 (10% ethanol plus gasoline). The State also operates more than 7,600 E85-capable flex fuel vehicles. Those vehicles used 418,000 gallons of E85 during FY-2011/2012. The State also displaced 0.01% of gasoline through the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) and 0.49% through the use of E85.