0 Emission: NREL: 375 million gallons of gas saved in 2006 by the Clean Cities Program

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

NREL: 375 million gallons of gas saved in 2006 by the Clean Cities Program

Filed under: Biodiesel, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Hybrid

Most of the world is concentrating on what the new "energy of the future" will be, but until that is found, the Clean Cities Program is trying to slow down our usage of gasoline, the current energy source for most of our transportation needs. In 2005, 250 million gallons of gas were saved by cities that are participating in the program, and that number has increased to 375 million gallons of gas saved in 2006, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. That is a 50 percent increase in gas savings in just one year. The program has stated that their goal is to reduce gasoline usage by 2.5 million gallons by 2020. At the rate that they are moving now, they will exceed their goal by 700 million gallons. Here are some other highlights from the report, which can be found here (warning, pdf):

Seventy-one percent of the 2006 gasoline displacement came from the use of alternative fuels. Thirty percent of that was from the use of compressed natural gas, mostly in heavy-duty vehicles.
The use of E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, grew substantially in 2006, largely because the number of E85 stations doubled - from 436 to 995 - in the year. E85 accounted for 24 percent of gasoline displacement from alternate fuels in 2006.
Coalitions reported acquiring almost 44,000 hybrid electric vehicles in 2006, a 61 percent increase over the 17,100 HEVs purchased in 2005. HEV use accounted for the displacement of approximately 9 million gallons of gasoline.
Idle reduction efforts displaced 8.4 million gallons in 2006, including 1.2 million gallons from truck stop electrification.
Almost 2 million gallons were saved by reducing the number of miles traveled.