This month, Green Edge once again focuses its sustainability lens on transportation. In our
February Newsletter we looked at how retail giant IKEA is reducing its transportation carbon footprint. This time, we take a fresh look at how
and why public and private sector organizations are greening their fleets.
In the United States, the transportation sector accounts for nearly one third of aggregate greenhouse gas emissions. Both market forces and regulatory imperatives are helping to stem the growing carbon footprint of this sector. The market forces include rising gas prices and the US's increasingly problematic dependence on foreign oil.
The Public Sector: Policy and Agency Initiatives
From a policy perspective, the federal government has recently taken some important steps toward green transportation. In May of this year, President Obama ordered all federal agencies to lease and purchase only alternative fuel vehicles for their light duty fleets, effective December 31, 2015. In total these fleets include over 600,000 vehicles. Transitioning these fleets to alternative fuel vehicles could easily lead to one million fewer tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year ---- a reduction of about 40 percent from current levels. In addition, federal agencies are being "encouraged" to invest in infrastructure to support alternative fuel vehicles both at federal fueling sites and across the country. This addresses what is often cited as the primary barrier to widespread use of electric, hydrogen, and natural gas vehicles: the absence of supporting infrastructure.
The United States Postal Service (USPS), a federal agency which we featured in our March Newsletter for its green accomplishments, began greening its transportation footprint long before President Obama's alternative fuel directive. Among its green accomplishments are the deployment of over 30,000 flex-fuel vehicles capable of running on E85 ethanol fuel and new delivery routes for walking and bicycling. These initiatives contributed to an 8% reduction in emissions from 2008 levels, the equivalent of removing 200,000 vehicles from the road.Further reduction plans for the USPS include electric retrofits to their existing vehicles and additional route optimization efforts.
Leadership in the Private Sector
Moving to the private sector, a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Fleet Administrators indicates that more than 80 percent of all corporate fleets owners have implemented sustainability initiatives.
In addition to acquiring new alternative fuel vehicles and increasing the number of four-cylinder as opposed to eight-cylinder vehicles, companies are increasingly retrofitting aging vehicles and mandating that their drivers be educated about fuel-efficient driving techniques. According to the Department of Energy, retrofitting fleet trucks with auxiliary power units capable of preventing idling can reduce gas consumption by over 1,000 gallons per year per truck, while behavior modification courses can increase efficiency by anywhere from 10 to 25 percent.
Best Practices at AT&T, PepsiCo and UPS
AT&T, PepsiCo and UPS are good examples of private sector organizations that are transitioning to green transportation. AT&T recently allocated $565 million to introducing 15,000 alternative fuel vehicles to its fleet by 2018, which will allow the company to curtail emissions by more than 200,000 metric tons while saving 49 million gallons of gasoline. PepsiCo meanwhile has plans to phase almost 200 all-electric trucks into its Frito-Lay division by the end of the year. This will make Frito-Lay the largest all-electric commercial fleet in the country, and will have the same effect on emissions as would removing over 500 passenger vehicles from the road.
Shipping giant UPS is testing the CV-23, a plastic body truck that weights 1,000 pounds less and is 40% more fuel efficient than it sheet metal counterpart. Incorporating this truck into its fleet could save over 80 million gallons of fuel annually.
We anticipate that economic and regulatory imperatives will continue to result in opportunities across public and private sector fleets to reduce emissions and improve performance. We look forward to helping your organization reduce its transportation related carbon footprint.
