Mayor Luke Ravenstahl today announced that he will be introducing legislation to City Council tomorrow to make City refuse trucks “greener” thanks to a pilot partnership with EQT Corporation and the receipt of a $500,000 grant from the State’s Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority ( PEDA ). The grant will assist the City in purchasing four new refuse trucks that will run on energy-efficient and clean burning compressed natural gas ( CNG ). City workers will fuel-up at EQT’s recently opened, public-access CNG fueling station located at Smallman Street.
“This partnership is a win-win for the environment and for taxpayers,” Ravenstahl said. “Switching the trucks to natural gas will improve local air quality, decrease the region’s reliance on imported fuel and reduce the City’s operating costs by nearly 40,000 dollars per year. In addition, this pilot project will continue our efforts to reduce the City’s greenhouse gas emissions, and will allow us to see how effective this change in fuel could be for the City’s remaining refuse trucks.”
Two of the four trucks will be purchased with grant funds at a cost of $500,000, and the other two will be purchased by matching funds provided by the City. Pittsburgh’s partnership with EQT is one of 12 projects across the state selected by PEDA to receive a share of $3.7 million to develop and implement clean energy projects. Each grant recipient will provide matching funds of various amounts.
“These innovative projects now have the funding to be implemented,” DEP Secretary Mike Krancer said. “They will bring measurable energy efficiency and decreased air emissions; and some, like Pittsburgh’s natural gas-powered waste-hauling trucks, will serve as a model for other cities and states looking to implement cleaner-burning fuels.”
The Mayor has also sought the use of bio-diesel fuel to make the City’s fleet more environmentlaly friendly, and 80 refuse trucks currently run on five percent biodiesel fuel. In addition, the City in partnership with Fossil-Free Fuel and Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities is currently working on converting all public work’s dump trucks to 100 percent biodiesel. To accommodate that conversion, public works division 2 plans to install a bio-diesel tank at their facilities.
THE BENEFITS OF COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS ( CNG ):
For more than half a decade, CNG users have benefited from the price spread between oil and natural gas. At today’s market prices, switching from diesel to CNG will cut fueling expense by more than 50%. Additionally, noise pollution will be reduced by as much as 90%, allowing for quieter curb-side services for Pittsburgh’s residents. Furthermore, according to EPA estimates, natural gas produces approximately 20% less CO2 than diesel. Natural gas also reduces nitrogen oxide ( NOx ) emissions by up to 60% and emits virtually no particulate matter, which in significant quantities can present a health hazard.
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This article was first published
by the
Media newswire
on Monday, October 24, 2011
Article source: http://www.cngnow.com/News/Post.aspx?ID=508