Green Fleets BC gets funding boost
Thursday, December 6th, 2007 - 3:29 pm
The B.C. government is giving $500,000 to the Green Fleets B.C. (GFBC) partnership to reduce vehicle emissions and improve air quality. The provincial government’s clean air and climate change objectives include the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2020. Transportation accounts for 40 per cent of all B.C.’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environment Ministry’s press release.
GFBC is using the provincial grant to offer half-price incentives for its E3Fleet program (Energy Environment Excellence) that promotes a national green fleet rating system.
Green Fleets B.C., a partnership initiative led by the Fraser Basin Council, was born in 2004 as an attempt to emulate the successful LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program for environmentally friendly buildings. GFBC launched in mid-November 2007:
Designed by fleet managers for fleet managers, the program provides managers with services and resources to increase fuel efficiency, reduce emissions, manage expenses, incorporate new technologies and use alternative fuels. The E3 Fleet system has four components: a Green Rating Guide, a points system for determining just how green a fleet is, a third party audit of fleets and the ultimate rating at the Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum level.
E3fleet members get access to software-based services to produce comprehensive reports on fleet performance including:
- Emissions and fuel performance;
- Vehicle utilization and availability;
- Capital asset profile;
- Operational profile;
- Exception reports identifying vehicles that have below average fuel economy, excessive emissions, excessive downtime or are underutilized;
- Average age of fleet, and analysis of vehicle replacement with “best in class vehicles.”
The E3 Fleet’s charter members include Auto-Gas Propane, Novex Courier, Enbridge, University of BC, BC Hydro, District of Maple Ridge, Township of Langley, the cities of Kelowna, Coquitlam, North Vancouver, Vancouver, Whistler, Williams Lake and Hamilton as well as the BC Ministry of Environment. All told, they operate more than 15,000 vehicles. They aim to boost membership from the initial 16 to at least 50 green-rated fleets by 2010, including the Government of B.C. Fleet.
The half-price incentives are available for BC fleets until December 14, 2007. Regular costs are scaled to fleet size within the following ranges:
- $500-$5,000 for E3fleet membership, which includes access to tools and resources including the E3 Fleet Rating Handbook;
- $2,500-$10,000+ for a fleet review including detailed reports on current emissions and performance, and recommendations to improved fleet efficiency;
- $5,000-$10,000+ for a third-party audit and fleet rating for companies that have completed a fleet review. The point-based bronze, silver, gold and platinum ratings use best practicses criteria and must be renewed every two years.
Accredited members typically claim net cost savings of 5-10% after subtracting their investments for fleet training and equipment.
Those interested can get an idea of the program and some of the tools from the E3fleet website. There are backgrounders, example spreadsheet calculators and access to GFBC’s Google Maps tool for finding vendors of “green fuels.” (Sources: E3fleet.com; BC Ministry of the Environment press release; GreenFleets BC; Fraser Basin Council)
