SAN DIEGO–The San Diego Regional Clean Cities Coalition today awarded the City with the Green Fleet Leadership Award.
The award recognizes the City for reducing petroleum consumption by using renewable fuels, alternative fuel vehicles, green policies and trainings. The local coalition supports the U.S. Department of Energy Clean Cities Program aiming to cut petroleum use nationwide by 2.5 billion gallons per year by 2020.
“This recognition shows how San Diego continues to lead by example in finding cost-effective and innovative ways to reduce pollution from city vehicles,” said Mayor Kevin Faulconer. “We’re making investments to upgrade our vehicle fleet and expand the use of renewable fuel sources as we push forward to meet our ambitious climate goals and leave a cleaner San Diego than the one we inherited.”
The new award recognized the City for its exemplary use of alternative and renewable fuels, idle-reduction measures, fuel economy improvements and emerging transportation technologies.
These include:
- Using renewable diesel on its 1,125 diesel-powered vehicle fleet, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions;
- Converting refuse and recycling collection trucks from diesel fuel to compressed natural gas (CNG);
- Constructing a new CNG fueling station; and
- Replacing retired vehicles and equipment with more cost-effective and environmentally friendly solutions.
These measures support the City’s Climate Action Plan, which calls for the City to cut half of all greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.
“This recognition reflects the hard work of the incredibly driven staff we have and affirms that the City’s sustainability goals are on the right track,” said Fleet Operations Department Director Alia Khouri.