14 Jul 2009
US citizens will soon have their mail delivered by new "green" trucks, courtesy of President Obama's $787bn economic stimulus package.
The US Postal Service has become a key beneficiary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009, and last week announced that it has added a further 1,900 green trucks to its fleet using the new funds.
The new green fleet comprises 1,000 E-85 ethanol-powered and 900 hybrid petrol/electric vehicles. The organisation said the aim was to replace a total of 6,500 aging delivery trucks with greener alternatives.
The Postal Service was already operating more than 41,000 alternative fuel vehicles out of a total fleet of almost 220,000 - the largest civilian fleet in the US - as it seeks to cut petrol consumption 20 per cent over the next five years.
Wayne Corey, vehicle operations manager at the Postal Service, said: "This is a unique opportunity for the Postal Service to continue work on our goals for improved fuel economy, greenhouse gas reductions, and on our position as an environmental leader."
For the first time, the organisation has employed the help of the US General Services Administration (GSA) in its procurement process. The GSA is an independent agency tasked with supporting other government departments in providing value-for-money services.
On 30 March, President Obama directed the GSA to purchase about 17,600 commercially available fuel-efficient vehicles from US car manufacturers by 1 June as part of efforts to cut emissions across the government sector and provide a boost to the troubled car industry.
The White House said that each vehicle had to have a higher miles-per-gallon rating than the model it replaced and the overall aim was to see an increase of at least 10 per cent in fuel efficiency across the entire procurement.
The GSA said it has so far bought about 17,200 vehicles from General Motors, Chrysler and Ford at a cost of $287m.
LATEST STORIES ABOUT SUPPLY CHAIN
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
LATEST JOBS
TODAY'S TOP STORIES
HIGHLIGHT
Solar sector warns proposed cuts to feed-in tariffs would make it impossible for them to deliver promised rates of return
INSIGHT
INSIGHT
The science and practical application of an improved method for the specification of power and cooling infrastructure for data centres
A look at alternative approaches to managing energy for cost and/or sustainability reasons in data centres
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Add your comment
"Field-to-Pump"
Louisiana will create jobs by growing ethanol demand, specifically hydrous ethanol demand, beyond the 10% blend market. Governor Bobby Jindal has signed into law the Advanced Biofuel Industry Development Initiative ("Act 382"), the most comprehensive and far-reaching state legislation in the nation enacted to develop a statewide advanced biofuel industry. Louisiana is the first state to enact alternative transportation fuel legislation that includes a variable blending pump pilot program and a hydrous ethanol pilot program. Field-to-Pump The legislature found that the proper development of an advanced biofuel industry in Louisiana requires implementation of the following comprehensive "Field-to-Pump" strategy developed by Renergie, Inc.: (1) Feedstock other than corn: (a) derived solely from Louisiana harvested crops; (b) capable of an annual yield of at least 600 gallons of ethanol per acre; (c) requiring no more than one-half of the water required to grow corn; (d) tolerant to high temperature and waterlogging; (e) resistant to drought and saline-alkaline soils; (f) capable of being grown in marginal soils, ranging from heavy clay to light sand; (g) requiring no more than one-third of the nitrogen required to grow corn, thereby reducing the risk of contamination of the waters of the state; (h) requiring no more than one-half of the energy necessary to convert corn into ethanol; (2) Decentralized network of small advanced biofuel manufacturing facilities; (3) Variable blending pumps in lieu of splash blending; and (4) Hydrous ethanol. Renergie looks forward to working closely with the Obama-Biden administration to: (a) reduce U.S. dependency on imported oil; (b) repeal the ethanol import tariff; (c) maximize the environmental benefits of ethanol-blended transportation fuels; and (d) create jobs in rural areas of the United States by growing ethanol demand, specifically hydrous ethanol demand, beyond the 10% blend market. Visit Renergie?s weblog (http://tinyurl.com/kjdgs9 ) for more information. ? Brian J. Donovan
Posted by Brian J. Donovan, 14 Jul 2009