Monday, October 19, 2009

A Great Idea for Sustainable Communities

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Lake Jackson, Texas, has begun replacing its light-duty and heavy-duty diesel trucks with vehicles powered by compressed natural gas (CNG).The City currently has 15 light-duty pick-up trucks, two rear-loader refuse trucks for residential garbage collection, and one roll-off refuse truck for commercial garbage collection. In addition, the city has a CNG forklift. For the light-duty trucks, the city pays approximately $4,000 more than it would for diesel trucks. The City has, however, received some small rebates from the Department of Energy to help cover the cost. The city pays an incremental cost of $55,000 to $60,000 for new CNG vs. new diesel heavy-duty refuse trucks. A federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement grant covers 20 percent of the incremental cost. It is estimated that the total fuel cost savings will be $130,000 in 2009. The city has also expanded its CNG program to include three CNG Honda Civics, which are operated by the state health inspectors. (Report from the National League of Cities)


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