Commercial Fleets and Municipalities Show How to Save Fuel, Improve Air in Chicago

The Chicago Area Clean Cities Coalition announced that in 2016 its member fleets displaced nearly 26.5 million gasoline-gallon equivalents (GGEs) of petroleum and reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by 230,000 tons.

This represents a six percent increase in fuel savings over 2015 and a two percent improvement in emissions.

“Our Clean Cities member fleets are going the extra mile when it comes to saving fuel and reducing emissions,” said Samantha Bingham, coordinator, Chicago Area Clean Cities (CACC). “We have fleets throughout the Chicago area using all types of green technologies, including electric, compressed natural gas, propane, hydraulic hybrid, and biodiesel vehicles. Their efforts help the environment and also are providing a solid return on investment.”

Members of CACC include commercial fleets and municipalities throughout the six-county Chicago area. The coalition announced its 2016 fleet-fuel survey results at its annual Green Drives Conference and Expo. At the expo, more than 200 attendees learned about steps they can take to make their fleets cleaner, less reliant on petroleum, and more fuel efficient.

Companies such as United Parcel Service, Ozinga and Alpha Baking Company were featured at the conference as examples of companies that are using cleaner vehicles. Forty environmentally friendly vehicles were showcased at the event, and more than 20 exhibitors featured their green-fleet solutions.

The United States is 92 percent dependent on petroleum to transport our goods, services and people, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2016, the U.S. imported 3.6 billion barrels of oil at a cost of $154 billion.

“The actions of our local fleets make an impact,” said John Walton, chairman, Chicago Area Clean Cities. “When you calculate this nationally, with the efforts of other Clean Cities coalitions around the country, reductions in fuel usage and lowered emissions really add up. The trend towards using more efficient vehicles and alternative fuels continues, despite gas prices being lower than their peak.”

Chicago Area Clean Cities is a voluntary coalition whose mission over the last 23 years has been to support local actions to improve the environmental performance and efficiency of public and private fleets in the six-county Chicago metro area.

Category: Featured, Green