Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News

Link: http://www.edf.org/pressrelease.cfm?contentID=10765

Companies with vehicle fleets can cut costs and carbon pollution by following a few simple steps as outlined in a video from Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) released February 1, 2010. The video, titled The Power of Scale, visually depicts how small actions done by many can result in big changes for the corporate bottom line and the health of the planet.

"Companies need clear and compelling tools to help 'green' their operations," said Jason Mathers, project manager at EDF. "Innovation is a cornerstone of our work at EDF, and we're constantly working on new ways to help companies move towards sustainability. With this new video, we're able to communicate a complex message in a creative way and bring the notion of 'green fleets' to life."

Fleet efficiency has become an increasingly important issue for corporations as they look for opportunities to reduce their environmental impact. Currently, there are over 3 million corporate fleet vehicles in the United States emitting 45 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. The Power of Scale demonstrates that companies can reduce their corporate fleet emissions by 6 million metric tons per year and collectively save over 2 billion dollars.

The Power of Scale video was produced by stresslimitdesign, a digital development agency specializing in interactive design, branding and marketing. The video uses stop-motion animation of models, combined with real-life time-lapse photography, leveraging sophisticated, innovative techniques for video production.

"Our goal was to present the core message around fleet efficiency in a meaningful, impactful way," says Justin Evans, founder at stresslimitdesign. "We want people to watch this video and have a better sense of the steps they can take – as professionals or consumers – to incorporate sustainability into their everyday lives."

The video is accessible at EDF's website: http://edf.org/greenfleet
A PDF describing Greenfleet is avaiable at http://edf.org/documents/8697_GreenFleet_edf.pdf

On December 3, 2009 the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) highlighted three companies for their innovative greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction strategies that help to lessen fleet emissions. There are three million vehicles in corporate fleets. On average, each vehicle emits over 15 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. EDF has identified Carrier, Novo Nordisk and Poland Spring as pioneers in executing innovative emission reduction best practices that corporations across America can emulate.

These distinctly different companies have implemented strategies that fit with their business needs, have encouraged employees to adopt better long-term driving habits and have resulted in real emissions reductions.

Highlights from the case studies include:

•Carrier, a global manufacturer with more than 40,000 employees, is a world leader in air conditioning, heating and refrigeration systems. As part of Carrier's parent company United Technologies Corp.'s promise to reduce its global GHG emissions by 12% by 2010 (from a 2006 baseline), Carrier embarked on a systematic analysis of its fleet of trucks and cars. Through a variety of strategies, including gathering data from telematics equipment and reducing vehicle weights, Carrier has reduced its fleet emissions by 30% and is saving $1 million each year in fuel costs. In addition speeding across the entire service fleet was reduced by more than 40% from March 2008 to today. Another significant payoff: At-fault accidents as a result of rear-end collisions fell by nearly 45% from 2008 to 2009, with accidents per million miles dropping to 7.0, which is below the industry average of 8.4 accidents per million miles. The average mile per gallon of the service fleet has increased by nearly 7% from April 2008 to August 2009.

•Novo Nordisk, a global healthcare company, is a world leader in the treatment of diabetes. In 2007, the company instituted a goal of reducing emissions by five percent per year, each year through 2012. By offering incentives for fuel-smart vehicle choices and training drivers to operate vehicles more efficiently, the company noticed a 24% decrease in CO2 emissions for the first six months of 2009. ... They have saved 15,689,033 lbs. of CO2 over the 2007 numbers ... and used 858,787 less gallons of gas

•Poland Spring water has been bottled in Maine since 1845. In part because its roots in the state are so deep, the company wants to be thought of as a good neighbor. The company uses non-food based biofuels, has reduced top speeds by two miles per hour and reduced idling time by 70% from 2007 to 2009, to further reduce its truck fleet emissions. In 2007 Poland Spring started to use a biodiesel blend known as B5 for its trucks. The blend mixes conventional diesel fuel with biodiesel made from “non-food-based and non-irrigated soybean and animal fat” such as leftovers from a dogfood plant. “For the 17-month period before Poland Spring began using B5, the composite fuel economy was 5.71 miles per gallon and for the same number of months after beginning B5, their fuel economy increased 0.1 mpg. Along with the slight increase in fuel economy, the company saved about 5 to 12 cents per gallon by using B5 instead of conventional biodiesel. To see which of the company’s 65 driver were racking up the most idling time, Poland Spring put together a ranking. All they did was talk to them about it, and put a list up in the break room. To sweeten the deal, the ten drivers who had the lowest idling time got a gift card for fuel they could use for their own cars. Year over year, idling time dropped from 1,400 hours in February 2007 to 1,000 hours in February 2008 to just 380 hours in February 2009. Cutting idling time has reduced the fleet’s fuel consumption by 8,000 gallons and greenhouse gas emissions by about 77 tons per year. Depending on fuel costs, cutting idling time has saved the company roughly $20,000 in 2008.

Abbott Laboratories reduce CO2 emissions 10 percent below 2004 levels by 2010, normalized by sales. Abbott established a greenhouse gas baseline and incorporated more efficient vehicles into its fleet. To encourage the switch to more environmentally friendly vehicles, Abbott offered upgrade incentives such as satellite radios and sunroofs. The company also clearly communicated with drivers about the environmental impacts of their choices. As a result, the most recent fleet selection saw about 20 percent of drivers opting for more fuel-efficient vehicles, improving fuel economy, reducing per vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing projected per vehicle operating costs.

Infinity, a nonstandard personal auto insurer, Infinity has developed a greenhouse gas baseline and replaced its entire fleet of approximately 400 sport utility vehicles with more fuel efficient Jeep Compasses. Infinity expects this change to:
* reduce annual fleet operating costs by approximately 10 percent,
* improve fuel economy by 25 percent, and
* reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 16 percent.

Case studies are available at http://edf.org/greenfleet.

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) www.EDF.org