Vol. 3, No. 1. | Summer 1996 |
The Florida Gold Coast Clean Cities Coalition was established by State of Florida Executive Order 93-278 to improve air quality and foster energy independence by replacing traditional octane fuels through the use of alternative fuel vehicles and the infrastructure to support them. The Gold Coast Clean Cities "Market Development and Legislative Initiatives Plan" is the Coalition's strategy to create public/private partnerships necessary to convert fleets and build a sustainable market for vehicle conversions. The I-95 corridor represents the spine of the plan.
The goal is to increase the number of alternative fuel vehicles operating in communities along the corridor, and to facilitate the development of refueling stations at three major points of commerce in the region including Miami, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood and Palm Beach International Airports, and at least every ten miles from North Palm Beach County to Homestead along I-95.
The Florida Legislature, through the Florida Department of Community Affairs Energy Office, appropriated $3.6 million dollars from Federal Oil Overcharge Funds to support an Alternative Fuel Vehicle Revolving Loan Fund and Grant Program through the South Florida Regional Planning Council on behalf of the Coalition. The purpose of the program is to fund alternative fuel vehicle conversions and purchases by local governments and businesses in Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade Counties, with the support of the alternative fuel industries to develop additional refueling sites.
Eligible local governments include cities, counties, special districts, school boards, and airport entities located in the Gold Coast. The Coalition and staff developed the program application materials and process.
In the first phase of the Grant Program which began March 15, 1996, four grant awards totaling $520,928 were made, to the City of Miami Beach, Broward County; the City of Hollywood, and the City of North Bay Village. These projects will displace a total of approximately 152,076 gallons of gasoline per year. The City of Miami Beach grant will support six additional electric 22-passenger vehicles through the Miami Beach Transportation Management Association's Electric Shuttle Program in the South Beach area. Broward County will convert 23 vehicles to compressed natural gas, 7 to propane, and 2 to electricity for use throughout the County services area, including Port Everglades and the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. The City of Hollywood will convert 20 sanitation solid waste and brush collection vehicles from diesel to compressed natural gas, one of the most visible impact on the community's environment in terms of improving air quality. The City of North Bay Village will convert 22 vehicles to compressed natural gas for a variety of public services including law enforcement and utilities. A total of $579,072 will be available in the second phase of the Grant Program.
Of the $2.5 million revolving loan fund, $500,000 has been reserved exclusively for the use of local governments. While the main objective of the grant program is to expand the use of innovative AFVs and special projects considered high risk, the loan program is designed to be driven by current market forces and alternative fuel vehicle projects that may be operating beyond demonstration.
Loans will be made to finance the costs to convert or purchase alternative fuel vehicles. The maximum amount per vehicle is $30,000, and the total loan amount may not exceed $200,000. Applicants must document their ability to repay the loan within a maximum of five years. Loan repayment will be based on the estimated savings when the vehicle is operating on alternative fuel rather than gasoline, with a monthly payback rate based on the estimated fuel and maintenance cost savings. It is anticipated that the pilot loans for local governments and the second phase of the grant program will begin by mid fall.
Based on a recent Coalition survey, there are 68 alternative fuel vehicles operating along the I-95 corridor in Palm Beach County, 374 in Broward County, and 161 in Dade County. There are 3 refueling facilities in Palm Beach County, 9 in Broward County, and 7 in Dade County. Population and compact urban development patterns indicate that Florida's communities--streets and buildings alike--are increasingly changing to energy-efficient orientations. Similarly, the Coalition's survey projects that by the end of 1997, the trend will reflect a doubling in the number of alternative fuel vehicles which will replace 580,000 gallons of gasoline per year, and add at least two new refueling facilities operating along the I-95 corridor in Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade Counties.
The technologies most widely used include natural gas, propane and electricity sources of fuel, and a limited number of special projects such as electric/hydrogen fuel cell. The Coalition, by gaining commitments from stakeholders within the region, continues to promote the benefits of clean-burning, energy-efficient fuels, with the goal of placing 30,000 alternative fuel vehicles on the road and replacing 21.5 million gallons of gasoline.
The Gold Coast Clean Cities Coalition has a market development program, promoting the use of alternative fuel vehicles to displace traditional octane fuels, and to improve air quality. Through the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Revolving Loan Fund and Grant Program, it is anticipated that more projects, through leveraged public and private sector funds, will emerge along the corridor. High mileage and fuel-consuming vehicles will be targeted that can be serviced around a central facility in and around the airports. A significant level of investment, therefore, will continue to be justified by the large volume of potential public and private fleets to be funded.
The Coalition's public education and outreach efforts are based on public policy issues that can be linked to numerous initiatives in the region, such as Eastward Ho!, Southeast Florida Vision 2025, and the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida Energy Advisory Committee, in terms of the impact on the environmental and economic sustainability of the corridor. Additional resources and incentives will continue to be identified to support alternative fuel vehicles along I-95 and the Gold Coast Clean Cities program.
In an effort to provide up-to-date information for fleet managers considering alternative fuels, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Alternative Fuels Data Center is seeking more private light-duty alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) fleets to contribute data.
To qualify, the fleet must:
The AFVs may be either original equipment or conversions, but new or low-mileage vehicles (fewer than 5,000 miles) are preferable. To minimize the impact of the effort on the fleet's operation, NREL will work with fleet managers to place someone on site to handle the data collection. The data effort will be completed in about one year with each fleet being acknowledged in the database and any resulting reports.
The expression of interest and list of qualifications should include the fleet size, location, vehicle types (model and year), typical annual mileage accumulation, number of AFVs or planned AFVs, type of fuel, any experience with vehicle operation data collection efforts, and a contact name, phone number, fax, and mailing address.
The Green Fleets Project was launched in late 1993, when a number of Canadian, American, and other foreign cities joined together under the auspices of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). The project's purpose is to advance state-of-the-art technology that will assist local governments in tackling the energy and environmental dimensions of urban transportation.
The primary focus of Green Fleets is greenhouse gas reduction. The project encompasses actions that municipalities can present to their internal operations (fleet operation, employee travel, etc.), as well as policies and programs that local governments can implement (involving land use and the urban form). This will lead to reductions in transportation energy consumption, related air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions.
The two-and-a-half year project is developing policies and practices that enable municipalities to assess and implement a variety of measures to reduce local demand for travel and for transportation energy at four different levels:
The initial phase of the project included on-site consultations (for the U.S. cities only), an extensive survey of current practice in the member cities, a week-long international workshop, policy and practices manuals for employee trip reduction programs and municipal fleet management, the development of a research agenda, and a detailed work plan for the next phase of the project. Building on ICLEI's reputation for mounting practical, effective, and innovative programs on urban environmental policies and actions, the Green Fleets Project has already established itself as one of the leading initiatives in North America addressing the difficult nexus of economic and environmental problems surrounding the future of transportation in cities.
In addition to a substantial commitment of time and money from the member cities of the project, funding for the pilot phase has come primarily from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Urban Consortium of Public Technology, Inc. (with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy [DOE]). In addition, there have been contributions for the pilot phase from Superior Propane, Volvo Cars of North America, and the City of Toronto Atmospheric Fund. The workshop, which focused on fleets and fuels, was held in Vancouver in January 1995 and was sponsored by the EPA, Public Technology, Inc. (with funding from the DOE), the Westcoast Group of Companies (including Trillium Alternative Fuels), BC Gas, Ltd., and the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks.
Participating cities include:
From the United States: Chicago, Illinois; Chula Vista, California; Denver, Colorado (as a technical advisor to the project); Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky; Portland, Oregon; Prince George's County, Maryland (adjacent to District of Columbia); San Diego, California; the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and Seattle, Washington.
From Canada: Edmonton, Alberta; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Ontario; Toronto, Ontario; and Vancouver, British Columbia.
From other international cities: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; and Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland.
Now in its two-year implementation phase, a number of key objectives have emerged that will be the focus of research, programming and communications activities:
During the implementation phase, the participating cities will be assisted in developing strategic plans for the implementation of those measures and policies considered most effective in reducing transportation energy consumption and associated emissions. At the same time, work will commence on the modeling research agenda. A communications and outreach strategy will disseminate the findings of the project so that other municipalities will benefit from the research and innovations carried out as part of the project. Eventually, the Green Fleets program will be expanded to encompass many other cities in North America and internationally.
Impressed with the results and the process of the initial phase of the Green Fleets Project, the EPA has committed additional funding to support the implementation phase. Additional funding is also expected from Public Technology, Inc. These funds are provided to support only the participating U.S. cities. Private sponsors have also expressed interest in supporting the project and additional corporate funding was obtained to support the first workshop of the implementation phase, held in Vancouver in early 1995. Additional funding is required to undertake the ambitious research and policy and practices development agenda that will provide municipalities with the analytical and decisionmaking tools they need to implement sustainable transportation initiatives.
School bus fleet managers now have the opportunity to use a new compressed natural gas (CNG) school bus engine that can provide performance as well as emissions benefits. Working in an alliance with Deere Power Systems Group, Blue Bird Corporation, and the CNG Cylinder Company, engineers at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) recently developed a fully electronically controlled bus engine that runs on natural gas. The new engine design is one aspect of a research and development contract funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to develop an ultra-safe, low-emission school bus.
According to John Kubesh, a Senior Research Engineer for SwRI's Engine and Vehicle Research Division, "School buses are ideal vehicles for natural gas use because routes are generally well defined and the fuel requirements and refueling intervals are well known." Kubesh further explained that "natural gas engines can be operated at very lean conditions, which translates into low emissions and high efficiency."
One school district has already tested the new John Deere Power Tech 6081 8.1-liter engine in the Blue Bird school bus chassis. "This is the first 250-horsepower CNG engine that anyone can specify and saves money over diesel," said Kenneth McCoy, Chief Executive Officer of southern California's Antelope Valley School District. "It has as much or more power than anything else in my fleet. Antelope Valley has put more than 10,000 miles on the bus this year.
The Blue Bird bus manufacturer is also impressed. "It's an amazing engine," said Richard Earl, a Blue Bird bus engineer. "Its adaptive air/fuel ratio ensures that it is always operating optimally. The fuel mileage and performance is unique."
Representatives from both of Florida's Clean Cities Coalitions traveled to Atlanta for the Second National Clean Cities Conference, held June 18-21 at the Waverly Renaissance Galleria. The Goldcoast Coalition was well represented by Carolyn Dekle and Coalition Coordinator Sheryl Snyder. Among the Goldcoast Coalition attendees were Bob Suggs, Mike Sweeney, and Jackie Thomas from Florida Power and Light; Marco Perez and Tony Averbuch from Alternative Fuel Technologies in North Miami Beach; Melvin Shifke, Fleet Service Manager for Anthony Abraham Chevrolet; and representatives of the Broward County Public Works Department.
Gary Brosch, Director of the University of South Florida's Center for Urban Transportation Research and Florida Suncoast Coalition Chair, and John Bradley, Suncoast Coordinator, represented the Suncoast Coalition. Other Suncoast Coalition attendees were Kevin Held of the City of Tampa, John Sayre and Mike Laplaute of IMPCO Technologies, and Dave Bruderly of Bruderly Engineering.
Jan Rickey from the Florida Department of Community Affairs/Florida Energy Office and J. Keith Gruetzmacher from Peoples Gas System represented both the Goldcoast and Suncoast Coalitions, as did employees of Future Fuels of Jacksonville and Apopka's Rutherford Equipment.
On Tuesday, participants of the conference were given a tour of the Centennial Olympic Village in an electric shuttle and visited the brand new MARTA (Atlanta's transit agency) compressed natural gas bus refueling facility, which was followed by a downtown reception and a Braves game. Local area travel for conference participants was courtesy of MARTA aboard some of their CNG-powered transit buses.
Exhibits on display during the conference included the bi-fuel Ford Taurus, gaseous-fuel AFVs from Ford, Chrysler, Honda, and GM. Electric vehicles (EVs) from GM (the EV1), Toyota's RAV4-EV, S-10 pickup, Geo Metro from Solectria, and an Olympic Village electric shuttle were also displayed. Florida Power & Light was present in the Southern Coalition for Advanced Transportation (SCAT) booth, Lakeland's NOPEC was a major participant in the Biodiesel display, and the Suncoast and Goldcoast Coalitions had adjoining booths.
Friday's session was of special interest to the Florida contingent since it presented the international reach of the Clean Cities concept and included reports on Canadian, Mexican, and Chilean Clean Cities sites. Many vehicle conversions done by Goldcoast stakeholders are for export to Latin America or the Caribbean.
Alternative energy car racers--here's your chance to shine. The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) is calling all cars for the fifth annual SunDay Challenge, a 70-mile rally along public roadways from Cocoa to Orlando.
The FSEC and the Florida Energy Office, of the Florida Department of Community Affairs, invite alternative racers from around the country to enter their vehicles in this road rally and vie for the top award in each class. SunDay Challenge is designed to promote the use of vehicles powered by alternative energy to meet the energy and environmental needs of the future.
This non-gas guzzling "alternative" to Florida's Daytona 500 is scheduled for Saturday through Monday, September 21-23, 1996. The rally travels west through cities and rural areas of Florida, allowing drivers to demonstrate vehicle handling, acceleration, viability, and energy-efficiency.
The rally will start at the new location of the FSEC in Cocoa. The vehicles will travel across country to Walt Disney World in Orlando, where this exciting racing event will conclude at Epcot Center. Through this national race, SunDay Challenge provides alternative racers the opportunity to showcase the technology and designs they have used to develop their innovative vehicles.
"Sunday Challenge provides the public with an up close opportunity to see some of the latest technological designs for alternative transportation and demonstrate the viability of practical alternative powered cars," said Bill Young, a research engineer at the Florida Solar Energy Center. Vehicles built by students, private individuals, and entrepreneurs are entered in one of four classes (limit of 10 vehicles per class):
To ensure that all participants comply with rally requirements, each vehicle must pass inspection for class qualifications, technical design, safety features and road worthiness. Inspections begin Friday, September 20. Drivers must provide proof of proper vehicle registration and insurance as well as a valid driver's license. Because the rally encompasses about 70 miles of public roads, drivers must observe Florida highway laws at all times.
Individuals or groups wishing to participate in the SunDay Challenge must submit an entry form and a registration fee, per vehicle, to FSEC by September 6, 1996, or a late fee will be charged. Rally participation is limited to 50 vehicles (ten per class) and entries will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register your vehicle early because all entry forms and fees will be returned after each class is filled. Participants may fax entries and mail the entry fee.
The weekend of September 20-23 features an exciting round of activities that include the one-day SunDay Challenge road rally, exhibits, and parades of participating vehicles, as well as Junior Solar Sprint races.
FSEC events include:
Epcot events include:
Awards will be presented to the winners in each class as well as for various levels of vehicle design. Winner will be announced in the Solar Collector, a newsletter published by FSEC.
"A Guide to the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program," USDOT, Federal Highway Administration. Publication No. FHWA-PD-94-008 (now available with 1996 updates).
"Innovations in Transportation & Air Quality--Twelve Exemplary Projects," USDOT, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. Publication No. FHWA-PD-96-016.
"Alternative Fueled Vehicles for State Government and Fuel Provider Fleets" and "Guide to Alternative Fuel Vehicle Incentives & Laws," USDOE, available from the Clean Cities Hotline, 1-800-CCITIES.
"Alternative Fuels: A Case Study Report," National Conference of State Legislatures, 1560 Broadway - Suite 700, Denver CO 80202. March 1996. Item #4116. $20.00.
"Alternatives to Traditional Transportation Fuels 1994: Volume 1. Energy Information Administration," available from the Government Printing Office, (202) 512-1800, Stock #061-003-00952-2.
"Compressed Natural Gas and Liquefied Petroleum Gas Conversions: The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Experience," USDOE Publication No. NREL/SP-425-20514 DE96000538, April 1996.
The following list is some great new Web sites for exploring alternative fuels:
CCAR-Greenlink (TM)-- http://www.ccar-greenlink.org
Voyage Publishing's Clean Air Index-- http://www.voyagepub.com/publish/stories/air.htm
West Virginia University's National Alternative Fuel Training Program-- http://www.cira.wvu.edu/afvtp/welcome.html
North American EV & Infrastructure Conf. Dec. 11-13 in San Diego, CA-- http://www.evaa.org/naevi96/naevi.html
Georgia Tech's "Alternative Fuels--A Brief Introduction"-- http://www.gatech.edu/3020.new/smog/af
Alternative Fuel Data Center (AFDC) newsletters-- http://www.afdc.doe.gov/demoproj/newsletters.html
State of Utah Clean Fuels Loan Program-- http://energy.aste.usu.edu/docs/trans.html
John Deere Alternative Fuel Power Systems-- http://www.deere.com/jdpower/engines/alternative.htm
NGV Resource Center-- http://www.ngv.igt.org
