The Denver Clean-City Fleets Survey is a 1995 survey of private companies and local governments in the Denver/Boulder area operating 10 or more vehicles. This survey is part of an alternative-fuel vehicle (AFV) data collection program conducted by the Energy Information Administration as mandated by the 1992 Energy Policy Act. AFVs are vehicles that operate on fuels other than gasoline and diesel, such as electricity, ethanol, methanol, natural gas, and propane. Denver has been designated a Clean City by the Department of Energy because it fosters the wider use of AFVs.

The survey produced information about the number of AFVs and identified factors likely to promote the use of AFVs in commercial fleets. For example:

• Five percent of commercial fleets surveyed operated some AFVs. Those vehicles represented 2 percent of the area's fleet vehicles (see figure).

• More than half of the Denver-area fleets purchased their fuel at public stations, while only 8 percent fueled on-site at company facilities. Fleets that use company fueling facilities are considered to be prime targets for conversion to AFVs because there is little public infrastructure for the purchase of alternative fuels.

• Seventy-two percent of the Denver-area fleets used a company site to park most of their vehicles. Only 16 percent of the area fleets parked most of their vehicles at employees' homes. Fleet vehicles that are taken home by employees are not early targets for conversion to alternative-fuel vehicles because of limited public alternative-fuel facilities.

• Fifty-nine percent of gasoline and diesel vehicles were less than 4 years old. High vehicle turnover creates the opportunity for fleet operators to expand the use of AFVs to non-fleet owners, but it also means a shorter time in which to recover the investment cost of AFVs.

For more information about this report, contact Leigh Carleton, Office of Energy Markets and End Use, Energy Information Administration, at 202-586-1132 or via internet e-mail at lcarleto@eia.doe.gov. The report is accessible only via the internet. If you are having technical problems with this site, please contact the EIA Webmaster at wmaster@eia.doe.gov or call 202-586-2753. For general information about energy, contact the National Energy Information Center at 202-586-8800 or via internet e-mail infoctr@eia.doe.gov.

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