Tools

Here's one for you: How can you tell if a vehicle at Little Rock National Airport is green? The answer: You can't.

In 2004, the airport received a $175,000 federal grant to install a compressed natural gas filling station on their property and purchase 13 dual-fuel vehicles to run on the stuff. Five years later, the CNG trucks are still going strong.

"It's great. We've gotten great service out of them," said Pat Sellars, the airport's fleet manager. "There are even opportunities to buy other CNG vehicles, and we're looking at going back and converting some of our gasoline vehicles, too."

Sellars says the vehicles sound, act and drive just like their gas-only counterparts but burn cleaner. And during times when gas prices soared, the vehicles saved the airport thousands.

Green transportation doesn't have to be relegated to some futuristic Jetsonian era of time, the airport being a quintessential example. No matter if you are a business mogul, the owner a mom-and-pop shop or just the owner one or more vehicles for work or pleasure, you can make green improvements to your vehicles immediately.

"We're not talking about science fiction anymore. These are vehicles that are here today," said Tommy Foltz, executive director of the Arkansas Clean Transportation Partnership, an advocate in green vehicle measures in the state.

 

Why You Should

YOUR ENVIRONMENT

Transportation energy is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, one gallon of gasoline equals 25 pounds of carbon dioxide. A quick crunching of numbers shows that 60 billion pounds of CO2 is emitted into the air every year in our state alone, according to the Arkansas Energy Office.

 

"We've got global climate change, and a local air quality issue, so from a broad perspective, people should go green because it's the right thing to do," Foltz said.

Environmental activists always cite concerns for the planet's health, but greenhouse-gas emissions from vehicles can also harm you and your employees. One study from the Puget Sound revealed that motor vehicles account for approximately 85 percent to 95 percent of potential cancer risks from toxic chemicals in ambient air. Other projected health impacts from global warming in Arkansas include heat and disease-related illness and increased death and injury from extreme weather disasters.

 

YOUR BUSINESS

Through various methods of greening vehicles, you stand to save money, if not immediately, then after a period of time. For example, buying five new gas-powered vehicles would cost roughly $100,000, about twice the cost of new electric vehicles from Electric Transportation of Arkansas, according to David Bevins, owner of the state's only electric-vehicle dealer.

"Then when you take into consideration the extremely low maintenance cost associated with electric vehicles, there is no doubt that you come out way ahead of the game," he said. Additionally, he says a full-charge for an electric vehicle costs only 80 cents, far less than even a gallon of gas.

Here's another example: The City of Seattle found replacing meter vehicles with electrically-powered scooters, Segways, saved the city more than $8,000 per year and increased staff efficiency, allowing more meters to be read in one day.

Additional financial implications are less apparent but just as meaningful. Public awareness of industry interaction with the environment is steadily increasing, and your bottom line can take a hit if consumers frown upon your poor environmental track record, Bevins said.

"Businesses can benefit from incorporating electric vehicles into their fleet by showing the public they are progressive and not just concerned about the environment, but actually taking steps to improve it," Bevins said.

Finally, consider potential penalties. Because fleet vehicles represent the greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions, fleet managers and business owners can expect their departments to get much attention when state and federal agencies move to address these emissions. One already impending crackdown: Most diesel fuel engines will be required to neutralize nitrogen oxide emissions, likely through a mixture of urea and water injections, by 2010.

How You Can

Greening your fleet can encompass a variety of strategies from purchasing new alternative-energy vehicles to retrofitting your old ones, even to changing driving habits. Availability and feasibility of green methods change depending on your vehicle needs and where you live or work in Arkansas. Only you can decide which strategy best suits your individual needs and your current or projected budget.

Officials identify three primary ways to green your fleet:

1) Purchase and use greener vehicles, including flex-fuel vehicles, which can use two or more types or fuel; hybrid vehicles, which switch between two or more energy sources; or dedicated fuel vehicles, which use only one energy source, like electric.

Hundreds of thousands of people have flex-fuel vehicles and don't even know it, so check your owner's manual to see. Greening your fleet could be that easy.

"It's not a tough choice anymore," Foltz said. "There's nothing special that a fleet operator has to do if he has a flex-fuel vehicle."

2) Use cleaner burning fuels. Often, older vehicles can be retrofitted to use alternative energy. While the process can sometimes be expensive, the payoff in the long-run can be great. Or instead, simply locate the nearest fueling station that carries biofuels.

"Every diesel vehicle in the world is capable of running on biodiesel at any blend level, today, without any modification," Foltz said. And if your fleet vehicles use regular gasoline, they can be powered with an ethanol blend.

3) Increase the efficiency of the fleet. During the summer months of 2008, we all learned how to go a little farther on a little less. But just because gas prices have retreated some doesn't mean all energy and cost saving tips we mastered have to go out the window.

The quickest, easiest and simplest way to make an impact is by keeping tires properly inflated. You can also practice idle reduction strategies and reduce the number of vehicle miles traveled. Fuel economy can make for a much greener vehicle. The difference between 25 miles per gallon and 20 miles per gallon can amount to the prevention of 10 tons of carbon dioxide over a vehicle's lifetime.

At any level, green transportation efforts can make a difference. Many of them are already in practice here in Arkansas. They can aid your business, your employees and the world we live in.

"When Kennedy launched the space program, he said, we do these things not because they're easy, but because they're hard," Foltz said. "What I say is we're doing this now not because it's easy or hard, but because it's necessary."