Why Green Fleets?
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- Save money.
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Stay ahead of the regulatory curve.
- Reduce air toxic pollution and associated health impacts.
- Increase energy security.
- Enhance your public image and lead by example.
For example:
- The City of Seattle replaced meter vehicles with Segways and saved the City over $8,000 per year and increased staff efficiency, enabling more meters to be read over the course of the work day.
- The State of North Carolina saved over $290,000 in purchasing and fuel costs and over 81,000 gallons of fuel by right-sizing 94 vehicles.
- Economic analyses from the State of Washington show increasing the fuel efficiency of our motor vehicles can save Washington citizens over $2 billion dollars by 2030.
Transportation accounts for over 50% of the Puget Sound region’s total GHG emissions and are likely to increase by approximately 30% by 2020. Similarly, King County estimates county-owned vehicles account for 43% of the organization’s direct emissions. The King County Metro bus fleet accounts for 26% of these emissions, with other fleet vehicles adding another 17% to the total. For background information on global warming, click here. For a discussion of how it is impacting the Puget Sound region specifically, click here. Washington State has a website on climate change that details the expected effects in Washington including an evaluation of economic costs and opportunities.
Since fleet operations represent the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions for many agencies, fleet managers can expect their departments to get much attention when agencies move to address these emissions. Taking action first will put the forward-thinking fleet manager in a better position to control and guide the process when this inevitable attention comes.
Furthermore, some actions that address greenhouse gas emissions, such as using regular vehicle turnover to introduce more fuel-efficient vehicles into the fleet, take time to have significant effects. Fleet managers may be evaluated based on their performance with reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fleet operations.
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency evaluated cancer and non-cancer health risks associated with air toxics in the Central Puget Sound in 2003. The evaluation showed that:
- Motor vehicles account for approximately 85-95% of the potential cancer risks from toxic chemicals in our ambient air.
- Approximately 70 to 85% of this risk is due to diesel soot
As a result, reducing vehicle emissions, such as diesel particulates from public transit, equates to substantial reductions of a key source of air pollution and adverse health impacts in our region.
Currently, the US imports more than 60% of its crude oil and transportation accounts for almost two-thirds of US petroleum consumption. Furthermore, the US transportation sector is approximately 97% dependent on petroleum for energy. Reducing or replacing petroleum use increases our energy security and can allows funds to be spent on businesses within our country and even region.
Fuel prices have varied dramatically over the past year and a half (see chart below) and the US government predicts additional price increases in the future. Insulate your fleet from volatility by reducing your fleet’s dependence on petroleum.
Enhance your public image and lead by example.
Greening your fleet gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your environmental commitment and enhance your public image. As more and more people pay attention to environmental issues and climate change in particular, demonstrating that you are doing everything you can becomes increasingly important. Plus, greening your fleet gives you the opportunity to be a leader and demonstrate to other organizations just what is possible.
There are four main ways to green a fleet:
- Purchase and use greener vehicles.
- Use greener fuels.
- Increase the efficiency of the fleet, regardless of the fuel used.
- Reduce the vehicle miles traveled by the fleet.
