John Ivany, City of Moncton Fleet Manager - Municipal Fleet Challenges
John Ivany spoke to the New Brunswick Climate Change Advisory Committee November 28, 2007, on the challenges facing municipal fleet operators working towards developing and maintaining vehicle use and fuel inventories. The following article presents his perspective and experience as fleet manager for the City of Moncton, New Brunswick. After pointing out that not all municipalities have the resources that larger centres such as Fredericton and Moncton have, Mr. Ivany discussed various issues facing fleets of all sizes. He described what needs to be taken into consideration when developing and implementing fleet management plans to increase fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, from driver education and training to purchasing and maintaining vehicles. He outlined some specific actions taken by the City of Moncton, as well as providing the bigger picture= on a number of issues.
Moncton has been very active on issues of fuel efficiency and GHG emissions reduction since establishing a fleet management system in 2001. Some of the environmentally friendly= projects and initiatives undertaken by the City of Moncton municipal fleet include:
$ Staff education lunch and learns= presenting information on why drivers should strive to drive efficiently to decrease fuel use and GHG emissions. For example, to maximize compliance, drivers need to understand the reasons behind an anti-idling policy. Topics range from fuel economy to global issues (for example, lunch and learns have included showing of the film An Inconvenient Truth= on the global impacts of rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations).
$ Tire management - recognizing that proper tire inflation maximizes fuel efficiency
$ Life cycling - factoring in all of the costs of running and maintaining a vehicle throughout its projected life cycle= and budgeting to replace the vehicle at the optimal time (based on a mathematical model)
$ Benchmarking
$ collecting data on fleet vehicles (numbers and types), fuel consumption, etc. (i.e. developing an inventory)
$ establishing a baseline for comparison of incoming data
$ establishing performance indicators
$ comparing baseline data and subsequent data within the fleet. Key points are:
$ comparisons must be made within one’s own fleet over time
$ comparisons among different fleets cannot be made or are extremely difficult because each fleet is subject to unique road and weather conditions, types and conditions of use; also, even within a particular vehicle class, there are differences among vehicles that preclude comparison
$ Anti-idling policies
$ Use of alternative fuels
$ Purchase and use of fuel-efficient diesel Smart Cars
$ Smart driving training
$ Practicing smart driving
Why do all this?
The adverse effects of human activities on the environment and the increasing certainty of the role of human contribution to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and their relationship to observed climate change and global warming, strongly indicate the need for energy conservation and actions to reduce emissions of CO2 and other GHGs. According to the National Geographic (October 2007), the burning of fossil fuels accounts for approximately 80% of the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere (petroleum, 42%; coal, 38%; and natural gas, 20%). Most of the remainder results from land use changes, such as slashing and burning of tropical forests for agriculture and timber harvesting.
Putting municipal fleets into perspective, although transportation is a significant source of CO2 emissions, it is not the major one. It is ranked third, tied with agriculture, each of them accounting for 13.5% of emissions. Their contributions are less than those of electricity generation (24.6%) and land use change (18.2%) (National Geographic, October 2007).
Still, taking action at the municipal level can play a significant role. The major steps are establishing goals, setting up an inventory and monitoring system, gathering and analyzing data, and continuing education on an on-going basis.
A. Data Gathering and Performance Indicators
When establishing goals, setting up a monitoring system and gathering data, it is important to think about how one will be able to tell whether policies are working. For example, how can one determine whether an anti-idling policy is working or whether lower fuel consumption is the result of a low snow winter? Often this will not be possible, at least not in the short term). For similar reasons, it is difficult to compare fleets in different locations across the country or even within New Brunswick.
Several types of data are required for a good inventory:
1. Fuel use by equipment class. Fuel use will vary depending on the following factors:
$ Type of equipment – a municipal fleet is diverse, with many types of equipment that are multi-purpose and multi-function (a fleet of 250 vehicles may have 240 different applications)
$ Season - fuel consumption will vary by season due to weather conditions and applications
$ Age of equipment
2. Fuel type: gas, diesel or other
3. Hours in use or kilometres traveled
4. Idling times
5. Preventative maintenance and repairs
6. Life cycling: managing and budgeting for vehicle/fleet replacement (based on a mathematical model) taking into account:
$ vehicle cost
$ depreciation = (purchase price - resale value)
$ use cost = (cumulative maintenance - fuel, etc.)
$ these data indicate the best time to replace a vehicle (the optimum economic life cycle)
B. Data Gathering and Management
There are a number of challenges facing municipal and other fleets, in addition to the tasks of gathering and maintaining the data described above.
$ Commitment is required from all levels - from council and administrative staff, to managers and operators.
$ Resources must be made available (financial and other).
$ Often large amounts of money are involved and with ever-competing budget demands and pressures on the tax rate, replacing vehicles is not something the elector tends to deem as a priority. Hence, the challenge of gaining support for this initiative.
$ A fleet management system is needed that is designed for the specific needs of the users and particular characteristics of the fleet.
$ A plan must be developed with achievable goals that can be translated into policy.
$ Staff members need to be involved.
$ Training/Education/Knowledge: operators and managers must know why they are working to help the environment and how to do it.
$ Education, education, education, implementation, follow-up - on-going training and more education and more follow-up are required (to ensure procedures are being followed correctly).
C. Specific Policies and Practices Implemented by the City of Moncton=s Municipal Fleet
1. Smart driving and driver awareness training
How a vehicle is driven has a significant impact on fuel economy. Rapid acceleration and braking are to be avoided. Drivers are trained to be aware of traffic flow, traffic light changes, and intersection lane changes so they can adjust speed gradually. For example, it is more efficient to anticipate a traffic light changing to red and to slow down gradually, rather than accelerate only to have to brake heavily when nearing the intersection. Operators are monitored for their vehicle’s fuel consumption before driver awareness training and then afterwards to monitor whether changes in behaviour are taking place. Once drivers actually see the savings in fuel resulting from smart driving= behaviour, they are more willing to adopt these measures.
2. Anti-idling policy: “Idling gets you nowhere.”
No idling for more than one minute is allowed, with exceptions for vehicle maintenance and diagnostic purposes, health and safety of employees (extreme weather conditions), Emergency Response while on scene, transit vehicles while in revenue service (during winter months), and engines required to power auxiliary equipment.
3. Tire management / fuel efficiency
All tires should be visually inspected daily (for cuts, bulges, nail and wear pattern). Tire pressure must be measured weekly/biweekly with a tire gauge (a tire is considered flat if it is 20% below air pressure specification and this cannot be gauged by looking or kicking the tire). Steel valve caps can prevent significant air leaks. Since 25-28 gallons of oil are used in the manufacture of an average radial tire, using recaps (which use 7 gallons of oil) when possible is recommended.
Other non-tire factors also influence fuel efficiency. A non-aerodynamic vehicle has lower fuel efficiency than an aerodynamic one. Wheel alignment and speed also affect efficiency.
4. Choice of vehicle for the job
The vehicle type should be matched with its intended use (avoid using a larger/more powerful vehicle than is necessary). Technologies are constantly changing; therefore, one must remain up to date on what is available. There are hybrids and double-hybrids; some are better than others. One must do the appropriate research before purchasing. For transit buses, this is particularly important as they represent a 25-30 year investment. Therefore, one must stay ahead of the curve and be aware of changing fuel types on the market, as well as the development of hydrogen as a fuel source.
Moncton chose to buy Smart cars for some applications, in part because the car itself, as in this case, is the message, showing citizens that the City is leading by example and taking action on environmental issues.
5. Choice of fuels and fuel additives
One is to be cautioned about performance enhancement additives; most of them do not perform as promised. There are websites providing third party verification of the performance of additives, e.g. ETV Canada (http://www.etvcanada.ca) and EAP (for devices tested; http://search.ftc.gov/query.html?qt=devices+tested+by+EPA&col=hsr&col=news&col=full).
Biofuels and ethanol blends are coming into production. A draft federal plan proposes that by 2012, 2% of diesel fuel used will be biofuel and 5% of gasoline will be ethanol. One can ask whether this is good policy or good politics as there are number of concerns with both of these alternative fuels. First, one has to ask whether we are technically advanced enough to produce fuel from crops without negatively affecting the environment or food production. According to the National Geographic (October 2007), producing corn ethanol uses just about as much fossil fuel as the ethanol itself replaces. The entire US crop of corn and soybean would produce only enough ethanol to replace 12% of the gasoline and 6% of the diesel fuel used in the US. This suggests we may face problems if the Canadian government legislates incorporation of biofuel and ethanol into use without careful examination of the sources and logistics involved. We use 56 billion litres of fuel annually. If legislation requires a 5% average renewable content (such as ethanol) in gasoline and a 2% average biofuel content in diesel fuel and heating oil, we will require almost 3 billion litres of renewable fuels annually. Do we have enough farmland that can be devoted to this?
Despite these concerns, however, biofuels should not necessarily be excluded from our overall fuel strategy. We need to find better ways of producing the fuel (possibly using trees, shrubs or grass). Production of this fuel must be much more efficient. If vehicles with diesel engines will be required to have low or zero emissions by 2010 (as legislated), why add a foreign fuel? Would heating buildings not be a better use for biofuel, consequently freeing up our number two fuel (furnace oil) for diesel engines or other use?
Summary
In summary, although data collection and management are substantial undertakings, requiring support from municipal council, administrators, staff and operators, there is much that can be done. There are lots of “low-hanging fruit”, measures that can be taken at relatively low cost and effort, that can result in substantial savings of fuel and reductions in GHG emissions. For a province like New Brunswick with a small population, networking - exchanging of ideas, best practices, and success stories - is important.
Each municipality has to take into consideration its resources and the particulars of its fleet. It is important to carefully plan a GHG emissions reduction strategy, including deciding what data to collect and how, establishing a baseline, and deciding how to monitor fuel use. Since all fleets are different and operate under different conditions, comparisons between municipalities are difficult, if not impossible. The appropriate comparison is within a given fleet from year to year. Even so, it is difficult to determine the causes of an observed decrease in fuel use. For example, the City of Moncton saw a decrease in fuel use of about 20,000 L over the last year. Is this the result of new more efficient vehicles and best practice initiatives or due to a low snow year or a combination of all? More detailed data gathering, analysis and effort/resources are required.
Many municipalities in New Brunswick, across the country and continent, and around the world are taking action on climate change. As more tools for tracking and analyzing data become available and as municipalities gain experience that can be shared, fleet management for fuel efficiency and GHG emissions reduction becomes more and more feasible and can be an important part of our overall GHG reduction strategy.