Ohio DOT to Use Alternative Fuels to Power Heavy Equipment and Cars
COLUMBUS, OHIO — After a successful pilot program, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is now fully integrating alternative fuels into its fleet. By executive order, Ohio Governor Bob Taft asked ODOT to use at least 1 million gallons of biodiesel fuel and 30,000 gallons of ethanol per year and to purchase only new cars that are able to run on both unleaded fuel and ethanol.
COLUMBUS, OHIO — After a successful pilot program, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is now fully integrating alternative fuels into its fleet. By executive order, Ohio Governor Bob Taft asked ODOT to use at least 1 million gallons of biodiesel fuel and 30,000 gallons of ethanol per year and to purchase only new cars that are able to run on both unleaded fuel and ethanol. ODOT uses about 4 million gallons of diesel fuel a year to fuel its 4,200 pieces of heavy equipment that can run on biodiesel or diesel fuel. The equipment includes pickup trucks, dump trucks (snow plows), and off-road equipment. In 1999, Taft asked ODOT to develop a pilot program to purchase $1 million worth of alternative fuels for use in the ODOT fleet. Since then, ODOT has used 1.2 million gallons of biodiesel fuel, for a total of about $1.6 million.
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