Chicago Area Clean Cities Coalition honors propane-powered fleets

The Chicago Area Clean Cities Coalition (CACC), a nonprofit coalition focused on promoting clean energy and clean-air solutions for transportation in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, announced its Green Fleet Leadership Award winners for 2017, among which are two companies committed to using propane autogas.

The Green Fleet Leadership Award winners were named at the coalition’s end-of-the-year meeting. The awards are given annually to commercial or government fleets that take actions to locally reduce petroleum consumption and improve air quality, such as by using cleaner-burning alternative-fuel vehicles, electric vehicles, propane vehicles or other advanced technologies.

This year’s winners include: FedEx Express, ComEd, City of Chicago, City of Elmhurst, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, Waste Management, Peapod, Continental Air Transport, Chicago Transit Authority, Coca-Cola and Watts on Wheels.

Continental Air Transport and Peapod both adopted propane-powered vehicles in their fleets.

Continental Air Transport offers shuttle service to and from Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports under the name GO Airport Express. GO Airport Express operates 52 propane-powered shuttle buses. In 2016, the company’s fleet used nearly 110,000 gasoline-gallon equivalents (GGEs) of propane.

Peapod, a grocery delivery service providing customers with delivery access to fresh and healthy groceries, adopted alternative fuels in its delivery vehicles. The company has 17 clean-burning propane vehicles. According to Chicago Area Clean Cities, in 2016, the company’s propane fleet improved its use of propane by 94 percent (58,009 GGEs).

“The fleets we’re recognizing range from using compressed natural gas to propane to plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles, all with the goals of saving fuel, reducing emissions and saving money,” says John Walton, chair of CACC. “The fleets that we have selected operate in the Chicagoland area and are terrific examples for others to follow to learn about the advantages of clean-vehicle technologies.”

At the awards ceremony, CACC also recognized the American Lung Association as its 2017 Clean Fuels Champion for its work in seeking ways to improve air quality and public health. The Lung Association oversees the Clean Air Choice program throughout the U.S., promoting alternative fuels, partnering with fleets to replace diesel engines and by supporting the clean-air advantages of electric and hybrid vehicles.