June 25th Duke Energy Lunch & Learn

If you're hoping to reduce emissions, improve fuel economy, and diminish maintenance costs, consider adopting an electric vehicle fleet! On July 25th, CCFC and Duke Energy will host a Lunch & Learn event surrounding the advantages and challenges of electric vehicle fleets.

City of Greensboro Swapping Out Gas-guzzling Trash Trucks for CNG

TJCOG's Lacey Jane Wolfe in front of the city's CNG refuse haulers

On a bright sunny morning, the City of Greensboro's mayor, Robbie Perkins, officiated a solid turn out for a grand opening event on June 29, 2012 to celebrate the launch of a CNG station and two CNG refuse trucks. The event took place at the city's Equipment Services campus. The $800,000 project  funded in part through Triangle "J" Council of Government's Carolina Blues Initiative, is a substantial investment in the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) to fuel the city's refuse trucks. Steve Simpson, city management consultant for the project, estimates 60 percent fuel savings by switching to CNG. City officials are looking forward to lower and less harmful emissions.
For more information, contact Jerry Gunter with the city at 336-373-4196.

Regional CNG Partnership to Improve Air Quality

courtesy of Mission Health

Land of Sky Regional Council, the City of Asheville and Mission Health celebrated the delivery of new natural gas vehicles to their fleets at the newly expanded City of Asheville Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Fueling Station at 45 McCormick Place on June 27, 2012. Recently, the City of Asheville added 23 new CNG vehicles to its existing CNG fleet, and Mission Health added five vehicles, including two shuttle buses.

The CNG station expansion, the new CNG vehicles, and more than forty other alternative fuel vehicle projects across North and South Carolina, were funded in part with grants through the “Carolina Blue Skies and Green Jobs Initiative.”  More information here.

Cleaner Refuse Hauling Under Carolina Blue Skies

In the greater Charlotte region, two organizations have established themselves as leaders in bringing CNG-powered vehicles into their refuse hauling fleets. City of Charlotte Solid Waste Services and Gold Bless the USA, Inc. (GBUSA) have and continue to set the pace for making the waste collection process cleaner and more cost efficient while decreasing petroleum consumption in the greater Charlotte region. Both entities have accessed funding through the Carolina Blue Skies & Green Jobs Initiative to facilitate the intergration.

Bluer Skies Coming to Greensboro

The City of Greensboro will be seeing bluer skies this spring thanks to a significant move towards the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) by the city's fleet services department. The city will soon deploy two rear loading CNG refuse trucks, which will be 'wrapped' in public service messaging promoting the air quality benefits of using CNG. Fueling the city's move to CNG - and the trucks - is a newly installed CNG pumping station at the fleet department's premises. The two trucks will each average about 520 gallons of gasoline equivalent (GGE) of CNG per month.

City of Greensboro's new CNG station

The installed station is a slow-fill system accommodating two trucks, each taking 4 hours to fill. This can easily be accomplished in the evening after refuse hauling is complete. The station was installed with expansion capability - the city will be able to install another similar slow-fill compressor, or move towards a fast fill system. In either case, Steve Simpson, who was formerly Equipment Services Division Manager for the city but is now serving as management consultant until the project is deployed, couldn't be more pleased with the fuel savings benefits:

"Over the past few years, the increased cost of using diesel fuel has had a negative effect on Greensboro's operating budget. The fuel savings from using CNG in our two new class 8 trucks should equate to $10,000 per truck annually, a 50% fuel cost reduction."

Guilford County is currently a non-attainment area for air quality standards. The use of a cleaner burning fuel like natural gas will help reduce some of the pollutants contributing to poor air quality in the Triad. Greensboro's CNG project was funded by the Triangle Clean Cities Program through the Carolina Blue Skies, Green Jobs Initiative (U.S. DOE ARRA), which Clean Transportation Program has been managing for close to two years. The city will host a ribbon cutting and public media event this summer to heighten awareness of this important and valuable investment.

Raleigh Police Deploy LPG Patrol Cars, Adding More

In May 2011, the Raleigh Police Department put ten 2011 Crown Victoria bi-fuel (gasoline/propane--LPG) patrol cars into service at their North District Head Quarters on Six Forks Road. Over approximately nine months, the program has displaced 16,500 gallons of gasoline with a positive impact on the environment, as well as their budget. While in use, the vehicles are operating 90-95% of the time on LPG. The department and officers are extremely pleased with integration and performance of these vehicles. As a result, they have ten additional LPG patrol cars on order. All current vehicles have seen daily use since deployment. The only down time has been due to vehicle wrecks occurring in the line of duty which is common for the entire police patrol fleet. The incidents and severe duty cycle usage in the patrol environment have served as a good durability test. There have been no safety incidents or compromise of the propane systems, as a result of the incidents or in regular duty service. The vehicles are fueled via an onsite storage tank and pump. The equipment was provided at no charge from the propane supplier, Blossom Gas.

The Raleigh Police Department LPG project was funded in part through Carolina Blue Skies & Green Jobs, an initiative of Triangle Clean Cites/Triangle J Council of Governments with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds provided by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program.

President Obama Visited Mount Holly

On Wednesday, March 7 President Obama visited the Daimler Trucks North America Manufacturing plant in Mount Holly. During his 20 minute speech to a crowd of several hundred gathered inside on the manufacturing plant floor, he addressed the adoption of an “all-of-the-above” approach to American energy. The president also focused his address on American fuel sources and reducing dependence on imported petroleum.

“If we are going to control our energy future, then we’ve got to have an all-of-the-above strategy,” President Obama said. “We’ve got to develop every source of American energy -- not just oil and gas, but wind power and solar power, nuclear power, biofuels. We need to invest in the technology that will help us use less oil in our cars and our trucks, in our buildings, in our factories. That’s the only solution to the challenge.”

The President explained his approach is about reclaiming energy security, facilitate economic development, and igniting innovation. By using American energy sources and increasing research, development, and production of related advanced technologies, the president said jobs and economic opportunity can be created in communities, and in greater Charlotte region.

Jason Wager and Emily Parker (Co-Coordinators of the Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition) were invited and attended the event at the Daimler plant, as local representatives of the Clean Cities program. Many Centralina project partners and stakeholders were involved with the set up, security, and planning of the event.

More information on energy initiatives can be found here.

Biogen Idec Installs 10 Charging Stations in RTP

On February 7, 2012 Biogen Idec, a biotech firm in RTP, held a ribbon cutting for 10 electric vehicle charging stations to help their employees use more sustainable transportation options. The charging stations were purchased with support from the Carolina Blue Skies Initiative. The ability to charge an electric car at work has been recognized as a critical factor in an individual's decision to purchase an electric vehicle and is expected to encourage early adopters. Employees are able to charge their cars at Biogen Idec at no cost to them as a company-provided benefit. "Biogen Idec is proud to be on the leading edge of encouraging adoption of environmentally-friendly forms of transportation for our employees. By providing these charging stations at no cost to employees, we're pleased to be part of the larger effort to build out the necessary infrastructure for electric vehicles," said Hector Rodriguez, Director of Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability for Biogen Idec.

For Those New to Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels...

Are you new to electric vehicles (EVs) and not sure what’s available? PlugInCars.com has an excellent and thorough list of all EVs available in the market, as well as concept cars that we may see in the future. http://www.plugincars.com/cars

Are you new to alternative fuels and not sure the difference between fuel types? The Alternative Fuels & Advanced Vehicles Data Center (http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/ ) has an extensive online knowledge base for all alternative fuels: propane, natural gas, ethanol, hydrogen, biodiesel, and electricity.

Are you considering purchasing an electric vehicle, but not sure which is best for you? The US Department of Energy has a side-by-side comparison tool to evaluate up to 4 vehicles at one time. You can compare MPG, fueling costs, tank size, average fuel costs per year and much more. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbsSelect

City of Asheville’s CNG Station Upgrade Completed

Asheville, NC – The City of Asheville’s CNG station’s new compressor package and storage spheres are in place and the station is now open to the public and is available 24/7.

This upgrade effectively doubles the CNG compression and storage capacity to support the city's 27 new CNG vehicles on order. Additionally, other fleet users are AT&T, Mission Health Services and Mountain Mobility.

Funding for the upgrade was provided through the Carolina Blue Skies and Green Jobs Initiative supported by a grant from the US Department of Energy's Clean Cities Program.

See the City’s press release here.

Vehicle Exhaust Linked to Brain Damage

Researchers at Columbia University have linked exposure to pollutants in the womb to mental impacts in children later in life. “Recent studies show that breathing street-level fumes for just 30 minutes can intensify electrical activity in brain regions responsible for behavior, personality and decision-making, changes that are suggestive of stress, scientists in the Netherlands recently discovered.” (1) Some other startling facts include:

- Children in areas affected by high levels of emissions, on average, scored more poorly on intelligence tests and were more prone to depression, anxiety and attention problems than children growing up in cleaner air

- Older men and women long exposed to higher levels of traffic-related particles and ozone had memory and reasoning problems that effectively added five years to their mental age

- Children born to mothers living within 1,000 feet of a major road or freeway in Los Angeles, San Francisco or Sacramento were twice as likely to have autism, independent of gender, ethnicity and education level, as well as maternal age, exposure to tobacco smoke or other factors

- In New Jersey, premature births, a risk factor for cognitive delays, in areas around highway toll plazas dropped 10.8% after the introduction of E-ZPass, which eased traffic congestion and reduced exhaust fumes, according to reports published in scientific journals this year and in 2009

These findings are great incentives to continue to reduce idling whenever possible. Also, we should see this as an incentive to decrease traffic congestion as city planners develop new roads and highways.
(1) Hotz, Robert Lee. (Nov 8, 2011). The Hidden Tolls of Traffic Jams. The Wall Street Journal. Retrevide from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203733504577024000381790904.html?KEYWORDS=Scientists+increasingly+link+vehicle+exhaust+with+brain-cell+damage+higher+rateKEYWORDS%3DScientists+increasingly+link+vehicle+exhaust+with+brain-cell+damage+higher+rate

Mooresville, NC Possible EVSE Fire - Follow Up

To follow up from this blog a few weeks ago discussing a fire at a Mooresville, North Carolina home, it has been determined the fire was not related to an electric vehicle charging station error. Garland Cloer, the chief deputy fire marshal in the county of the house fire said this about the fire, “It’s still under investigation… It’s probably going to be the first of the year [2012] before we have a report.” (1) Duke Energy stated “it appears neither the plug-in car nor its plugged-in charger was to blame.” (2) A Chevrolet Volt was charging in the garage of the home when the fire took place. Until the cause of the fire had been determined, General Motors was offering a free loaner car to anyone who has concerns about their Chevy Volt.

(1) No Author Listed. (Nov 28, 2011). GM Offering Loaner Cars for Volt Owners Until Fire Cause Determined. WSOC Television. Retrieved from http://www.wsoctv.com/news/29872639/detail.html

(2) No Author Listed. (Dec 1, 2011). House Fire Investigators Say Chevy Volt Charger Not to Blame in North Carolina Blaze. Detroit Free Press. Retrieved from http://www.freep.com/article/20111201/BUSINESS0101/111201066/1330