Eco-Smarts
EPA's SmartWay program can save you money.
Tom Berg
Equipment Editor
The government is here to help you. Really. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a program called the SmartWay Transport Partnership that's trying to save you money and clean America's air at the same time.
It links motor carriers, shippers and suppliers in an effort to reduce fuel consumption and pollution.
Cutting exhaust emissions is EPA's primary goal and it reasons that reducing fuel consumption is one way to do it. (Another, of course, is creating increasingly stringent emissions-reduction regulations.) The American Trucking Assns. has signed up for SmartWay.
Through SmartWay, EPA is offering technical advice to fleets and lining them up with shippers who believe in the cause. EPA says 133 fleets have signed up so far, among them Swift, Schneider National, United Parcel Service, and FedEx Express. Fleets of any size can participate, the agency emphasizes. Some of the biggest shippers have signed up, including Dell, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola and HEB (the Texas-based grocery chain). Many of them also run trucks.
The agency has what it calls the Fleet Performance Model that helps managers track costs, then set up procedures and plan the use of equipment that saves fuel. Every operation is different, so each plan is customized, EPA says. Key elements include training drivers to save fuel through progressive shifting and smooth operation, and improved freight logistics planning by cutting empty miles with better routing and scheduling of pickups and deliveries.
Recommended vehicle equipment includes choosing aerodynamic truck models and using air fairings - which most over-the-road operators already do - and aero improvers for trailers - something that most operators ignore. Single wide tires reduce tare weight and rolling resistance, and can fuel consumption by 2% or more, EPA says. Automatic tire-inflation systems cut fuel use and tire wear, and can pay for themselves in less than two years, the agency contends. Low-viscosity lubricants in a line-haul tractor can save nearly 500 gallons of fuel a year and eliminate five metric tons of CO2 compared to conventional engine and gearbox lubes. Hybrid powertrains on local trucks can provide $2,000 in fuel savings and reduce CO2 by up to 12 metric tons.
Reducing highway speeds is a fuel saver documented over and over by industry tests and experiences, and EPA concurs. Cutting top speed of a line-haul tractor from 70 to 65 miles per hour would save more than $1,500 a year in fuel, as well as cut down on brake and tire wear, and eliminate 10 metric tons of CO2. Using railroad intermodal services instead of highway-only operations reduces fuel use and pollution by 65%, the agency says.
As you'd expect, SmartWay discourages truck-engine idling. Idling consumes a gallon of fuel an hour, which spews 19 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air and costs the typical owner nearly $3,000 per year, EPA says. With increased fuel prices, the bill is even higher. Cutting unnecessary idling would save fuel and money and reduce pollution. The agency boosts use of automatic engine shut-offs and auxiliary heaters, coolers, power units and shore-power wiring on trucks. It also promotes "electrification" of truckstops.
SmartWay participants sign an agreement and promise to help each other cut fuel use and pollution. Truckers agree to adopt some of the above methods and keep track of their cost savings. Shippers promise to send their freight via SmartWay trucking companies and give them preferential treatment at loading docks. This includes adherence to pick-up and delivery appointments and in general, reducing truck waiting times as much as possible.
How do you participate? Call EPA at (734) 214-4767, or get details on the Web at www.epa.gov/smartway and download an agreement form. Fill it out and fax it to EPA. Then download the Fleet Performance Model, complete that and e-mail it back to the agency, which will send you further materials.
Good luck and good savings.
