Secretary Steven Chu with Kellie Walsh and Cris Dorman of Greater Indiana Clean Cities at the Green Truck Summit in Indianapolis, IN, in front of a display describing the coalition's Recovery Act-supported project. | Photo by Trish Cozart, NREL.
The National Clean Fleets Partnership continues to grow, with four new partners announced yesterday by Secretary Chu at the Green Truck Summit in Indianapolis.
An initiative of Clean Cities, the Vehicle Technologies Program’s deployment arm, the Partnership is dedicated to helping very large fleets across the country adopt more alternative fuels, advanced vehicles and fuel saving measures to reduce their petroleum use. Even though President Obama originally announced it only one year ago, the Partnership has already added 13 new members. Over the next few days, we will be highlighting our newest members.
Best Buy
Although many people are familiar with Best Buy as a place to buy electronics, most have never reflected on their transportation practices. But with more than 20,000 Geek Squad tech support agents, Best Buy closely manages their fleet of approximately 5,000 vehicles. Since 2009, Best Buy has successfully reduced its carbon emissions from fuel use by 21%. The reduction was achieved through decreased engine sizes, deployment of the smallest, most fuel-efficient vehicles for the job, and elimination of underutilized assets. Currently, Best Buy is testing both electric and propane vehicles and has piloted telematics technology to help further reduce fuel use. Best Buy joined the partnership in March 2012.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
As they work to supply their Northern California service area with power, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is also constantly looking for ways to minimize their fleet’s environmental and social impact. With more than 3,100 on-road alternative fuel and high efficiency vehicles, PG&E operates one of the greenest utility fleets in the nation. Since 1995, PG&E’s alternative fuel fleet has displaced nearly 7 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel and helped prevent more than 25,000 metric tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. In 2007, PG&E was the first utility to demonstrate the ability of electric vehicles to supply homes and businesses with power. PG&E joined the partnership in March 2012.
