Healthier Cities For the Golden State

In California, the transportation sector accounts for a large percentage of greenhouse gas emissions and petroleum usage. The Sacramento Clean Cities Coalition works with stakeholders and local fleets to help implement alternative fuel vehicles and alternative fuels in order to reach the overarching goal of reducing our nation’s dependence on imported petroleum and help clean up the air from harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
A Step in the Right Direction
California’s governor Jerry Brown announced three important goals to be reached by 2030: increase the amount of electricity the state derives from renewable sources from one-third to 50 percent, reduce petroleum use in cars and trucks by up to 50 percent, double the efficiency of existing buildings and make heating fuels cleaner. Attending the pre-sessions and concurrent sessions included at the Green California Summit will help you become more prepared to assist California in reaching these goals.
Farm to Fork to Fuel to Farm  
In Sacramento, Clean Cities is at the forefront of new technology that is helping to reduce petroleum consumption in the transportation sector. Sacramento is the first city in the nation to turn food waste into renewable natural gas using CleanWorld’s anaerobic digester.

Sacramento’s anaerobic digester turns waste into fuel for the city’s fleet.
The City of Sacramento is fueling a fleet of their city trucks and street sweepers with the renewable natural gas created from food waste in the anaerobic digester. Two to three tons of food waste going through the process can be transformed into the equivalent of 50 diesel gallons. It is estimated that the city will save $1 million dollars each year by eliminating diesel as fuel for their vehicles.
In this process that has been coined “farm to fork to fuel to farm,” Sacramento is closing the loop on valuable materials that have previously been going to a landfill.

One of the City of Sacramento’s many LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) refuse haulers. 
Fleet Efficiency and Reduced Fuel Costs
Recognized in 2013 with the #1 Government Green Fleet Award, the City of Sacramento is considered one of the most progressive and efficient government fleets operating. The City of Sacramento Department of General Services, under the leadership of fleet manager Keith Leech, took a series of steps in order to improve their fleet efficiency and green technology. Leech has recently retired from the City of Sacramento and taken a position as Chief of the Fleet Division and Parking Enterprise for Sacramento County.

Keith Leech accepted the #1 Government Green Fleet award for the city of Sacramento in 2013.
The city began by upgrading to the newest version of AssetWork’s FleetFocus fleet management software in order to make data-driven decisions. The next step was to integrate NAPA Auto Parts from Intelligent Business Solutions (IBS) with FleetFocus which had a projected cost savings of $1.8 million annually, with the fleet seeing savings in the areas of purchase order costs, shop productivity, parts costs, rebates, and inventory and vendor management.
Sacramento also adopted a sustainability plan to implement electric vehicles and was the first public agency to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Workplace Charging Challenge in 2013 which saw 100 charging stations installed in Sacramento. The city also invested in CNG heavy duty vehicles such as asphalt, garbage and sweeper trucks to switch to a sustainable energy source and further reduce greenhouse emissions.
As the most progressive fleet in the nation, the City of Sacramento has learned that greening their fleet doesn’t only help achieve sustainability goals but it also produces a direct impact on reducing costs. Keith Leech, fleet manager of the City of Sacramento, will serve as one of four panelists in the “Clean Transporation Efficiencies Forum,” a pre-summit workshop on April 7, 2015 at the Green California Summit. This will be an opportunity to benchmark, compare and confirm the operational excellence of your own fleet. The daylong event will also include a clean heavy-duty vehicle ride and drive featuring as many as 10-20 vehicles.
In addition, the Sacramento and East Bay Clean Cities groups are partnering to present a series of concurrent sessions on April 8 that will cover EVs and EV infrastructure, the coming generation of fuel cell vehicles and more.
Grand Opening of Sacramento’s Hydrogen Station
In compliance with Sacramento Clean Cities and Green California Summit’s goal of reducing petroleum consumption, California’s 10^th hydrogen station opened in West Sacramento on December 10^th, 2014. The station is made for fuel cell vehicles that are able to convert the hydrogen into electricity in order to power the vehicle.

Grand Opening: West Sacramento Hydrogen Station
California's zero-emission vehicle goal is to get 1.5 million hydrogen, battery electric and plug-in electric vehicles on the roadway by 2025 as part of its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality and lower dependence on petroleum. Ten stations are currently in operation in California, with 49 stations in development. The California Energy Commission has a goal of creating a 100-station network in the state. Many of the largest auto makers are introducing fuel cell vehicles into the market, making hydrogen stations a priority in the goal of reducing the use of petroleum.
Green California Summit
The Sacramento Clean Cities Coalition and the East Bay Clean Cities Coalition are excited to be co-sponsoring the Green California Summit, happening on April 7-8, 2015 at the Sacramento Convention Center. The Green California Summit is an annual opportunity for stakeholders from the public and private sectors to share innovations in policy, practice and technology that can help the Golden state attain its environmental and economic goals.
Sacramento Clean Cities shares these goals with the Green California Summit, as we work with vehicle fleets, fuel providers, community leaders, and other stakeholders to reduce petroleum use in the transportation sector. The pre-summit workshops, summit activities, and education sessions are the next step in becoming a part of all this good work that is helping to reduce our nation’s dependence on imported petroleum and helping to clean up the air from harmful greenhouse gas emissions.  

Kasey Thomas is the Communications and Outreach intern for the Sacramento Clean Cities Coalition. (She is a student at Sacramento State University, working towards her Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Studies, with an emphasis in Public Relations. She has been working with the Sacramento Clean Cities Coalition since August 2014). 

Source:http://www.green-technology.org/

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