Cardinal Health and the EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership Program Agency

The DOE's National Clean Fleets Partnership initiative complements the EPA’s SmartWay Transport partnership program, which is a program designed to reduce emissions in the freight industry.

As reported in Environmental Leader, the partnership brings together major freight shippers, trucking companies, distribution firms and trade associations in an effort to reduce emissions. The partnership aims to save 1.5 billion gallons of fuel, $3.6 billion in fuel costs, 14.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, 215,000 tons of nitrogen oxides and 8,000 tons of particulate matter.

Cardinal Health is a $99 billion health care services company, it has earned the top score in the SmartWay Carrier Partnership and is in the top five percent of all companies in the Shipper Partnership

“We’re proud to join the SmartWay Transport Partnership and to be recognized by the U.S. EPA for our work in the area of environmental sustainability,” said Frank Macielak, vice president of environment, health and safety for Cardinal Health. “This is an important milestone as we strive to reduce our carbon footprint and improve our overall sustainability efforts.”

As a SmartWay Transport Partner, Cardinal Health has committed to improve its environmental performance by measuring its current environmental performance with the SmartWay Transport FLEET (Fleet Logistics Energy and Environmental Tracking) Performance Model for carriers. They are also creating an action plan for improving the environmental performance of its fleet within three years and reporting to the EPA annually regarding its progress toward achieving its environmental goals.

As an EPA SmartWay Shipper Partner, Cardinal Health has committed to shipping at least 50 percent of its goods using SmartWay Truck Carrier Partners. They are also adopting recommended SmartWay Transport Shipper Strategies, which range from implementing ‘no idling’ policies to incorporating warehouse improvements that reduce emissions.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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The DOE's Public-Private Partnership is Reducing Petroleum Use

Early in July, the DOE announced that six companies have been added to the five charter members involved with the National Clean Fleets Partnership. The initiative is designed to help large companies incorporate electric vehicles, alternative fuels and fuel-saving measures into their fleets. The goal is to reduce US petroleum use by 2.5 billion gallons by 2020.

Collaboration is also part of the Obama administration’s National Clean Fleets Partnership. The public-private partnership promotes a peer-to-peer information exchange, and allows small and large companies to work together to benefit from buying vehicles in bulk.

The program enables companies to use DOE cost calculators, interactive maps, customizable database searches, and mobile applications to compile and analyze essential data. Each company will work with the DOE to develop a comprehensive strategy to reduce petroleum use in their fleets. DOE will also help connect partners with clean fuel providers and equipment manufacturers where their fleets operate.

The partnership was Introduced in April 2011, and is run by the Department of Energy (DOE), it includes charter members AT&T, FedEx, PepsiCo/Frito-Lay, UPS, and Verizon. The five charter members are planning to deploy over 20,000 advanced technology vehicles, and will displace over 7 million gallons of petroleum a year, according to the DOE.

In 2009, ATT announced it would spend up to $565 million to deploy about 15,000 alternative fuel vehicles over the course of a decade. In 2010 the company has avoided the purchase of over one million gallons of gas and diesel fuel. ATT has indicated that it has deployed more than 3,500 alternative fuel vehicles as of March 2011.

In June, FedEx announced that it was adding 4,000 new fuel efficient trucks and cars to its fleet including hybrid and electric vehicles.

Since 2005, PepsiCo has been working on greening its vehcle fleet. As of 2009, the company had 1,250 hybrid vehicles, which amounted to the second largest non-governmental fleet of hybrid vehicles in the US.

In addition to Coca-Cola, Staples, Enterprise Holdings, General Electric, Osram Sylvania, and Ryder Systems inc., are now part of the National Clean Fleets Partnership. Between them they operate nearly a million commercial vehicles.

Coca-Cola has the largest hybrid delivery fleet in North America. Staples says it has increased the fuel economy of its fleet by more than 20 percent since 2007 through fuel-saving steps and the company is also in the process of testing all-electric delivery trucks in Ohio and California. Enterprise Holdings, offers Chevrolet Volts and Nissan Leafs to consumers for rentals. General Electric has committed to convert half of its global vehicle fleet to alternative fuels and to deploy a total of 25,000 electric vehicles by 2015. Osram Sylvania aims to replace 10-12 percent of its fleet annually with more energy-efficient vehicles. Ryder recently opened its first natural gas vehicle maintenance facility, including two liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations, to support hundreds of heavy-duty LNG trucks.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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DOE's EV Oriented Transportation Budget

The 2012 Department of Energy (DOE) budget submitted to Congress includes a 20 page section on Vehicle Technologies (VT), much of which is focused on vehicle electrification. In the 2012 DOE budget, VT finance increases 80 percent from $325 million to $588 million. Charging equipment and energy storage technology are getting the bulk of the financing assistance.

The majority, ($229 million) of the VT budget increase goes towards EV deployment and infrastructure. It will benefit programs like Clean Cities which provides grants for purchasing of EVs and charging equipment. It will also benefit EV charging equipment companies.

Funding increases also include energy storage technology which increased from 94 million in 2010 spending to $188 million in the proposed budget. The VT budget also invests in accelerating cost reduction through more research and manufacturing funding.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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US DOE Supports Electric Vehicles with $184 Million in Grants

Late in 2010 US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced that the U.S. Department of Energy will start accepting applications for grants to accelerate the development and deployment of new efficient vehicle technologies. Up to $184 million in grants is available for a wide variety of EV technologies including advanced materials, combustion research, hybrid electric systems, fleet efficiency, and fuels technology.

"[The DOE] awards will help ensure America leads the world in the development of advanced vehicle technologies that support cost-competitive, convenient, and comfortable fuel-efficient vehicles," said Secretary Chu in the DOE press release. "Investments in the next generation of vehicle technologies are laying the groundwork for a sustainable transportation sector in America that strengthens our economy and improves our economic competitiveness."

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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