Communications giant AT&T is putting more than 15,000 alternatively-fueled vehicles on the road… a $565 million venture aimed at helping the environment and saving the company gasoline costs.

This story from Bloomberg says Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson figures replacing the company’s cars with electric hybrids and more energy-efficient vehicles will save AT&T 49 million gallons of gas over the next 10 years:

Stephenson said the new vehicles, which would amount to about one-fifth of AT&T’s current fleet, also will produce 25 percent fewer greenhouse-gas emissions — atmospheric gases that overheat the planet. The strategy falls in line with President Barack Obama’s goal of capping emissions to fight global warming.

Company officials say more than half of the vehicles will run on compressed natural gas (CNG), and the move is expected to reduce carbon emissions the equivalent of taking more than 38,600 traditional passenger vehicles off the road for a year.