Las Vegas City Fleet Leads US with Percentage Alt Fuels
08 March 2007
SustainLane surveyed the largest 50 US cities in 2006 as to the percentage of their city vehicle fleets using alternative fuels including biodiesel, hydrogen, ethanol, compressed and natural gas, as well as electric vehicles, and gas-hybrid vehicles. Slightly greater weighting was awarded for biodiesel, electric and gas-hybrid vehicles.
Las Vegas led the nation with almost 63% of its vehicles using alternative fuels, including 450 vehicles using B20 biodiesel (20%), in addition to using less-polluting compressed natural gas, electric hybrids and zero-polluting hydrogen vehicles.
| Top 10 Alt Fuel City Fleets | |
|---|---|
| City | % |
| Las Vegas, NV | 63% |
| Honolulu, HI | 51% |
| Albuquerque, NM | 42% |
| Dallas, TX | 39% |
| Denver, CO | 31% |
| Phoenix, AZ | 28% |
| Los Angeles, CA | 25% |
| Seattle, WA | 25% |
| Portland, OR | 25% |
Other cities ranking high in alternative fuel use included Honolulu; Kansas City, MO; Albuquerque; and Dallas. Denver, which ranked sixth in alternative fuel use with 31% of its fleet in that category, announced plans in 2006 to convert 100% of its city fleet to alternative fuel by the end of 2007. Albuquerque has set a similar goal of a 100% alternative-fueled city fleet.
Some Midwestern states have long mandated a minimum corn-based ethanol percentages in all gas sold. The city of Portland, Oregon, became in 2006 the first major city in the US to mandate that a minimum percentage of all diesel sold in the city be 5% biodiesel fuel. Portland also mandated that by July 2007, 10% of fuel sold in the city will come from ethanol, which is made from corn, and that official city vehicles run on a minimum of 20% biodiesel fuel.
I'm very surprised that San Francisco didn't make it to the list. Trolleybuses are used in San Francisco and Seattle, the fully electric buses that obtain their power from wires above the street. Over half of SF's Muni buses have a zero-emissions rating. While the resulting wiring is less than pleasing to the eye, the rides on the bus are [mostly!] enjoyable, quiet and environmentally sound. The city also has CNG-powered taxis, and the city fleet has 600+ vehicles using alt fuel.
Posted by: Jon Abbott | 08 March 2007 at 03:11 PM
You can do this with fleets that have yard fueling. California in the 80s tested a fleet of FFV Taurus that ran on methanol. The test was successful and the outcome was no methanol available for cars in the state. Try getting B20 or E85 into a Chevron station when they do not make the biodiesel nor the ethanol. You start to see at least some of the problem may be distribution to the consumer.
Posted by: sjc | 18 March 2007 at 12:16 PM
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Posted by: qyjsl gdvwjnk | 09 August 2007 at 12:52 AM