PECO, an electric and natural gas utility serving 1.6 million electric and 480,000 natural gas customers in the southeastern Pennsylvania and Philadelphia area, is now running all of its 580 trucks on biodiesel.

This company press release says the move adds to the 43 hybrid SUVs and seven natural gas powered vehicles the utility is already using. In addition, PECO is getting the biodiesel from a local source:

PECO has contracted with the Energy Cooperative, a local non-profit with members throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, to supply the biodiesel. The vegetable oil is blended with petroleum diesel from Sunoco and delivered to PECO sites. “So we continue to use Sunoco-produced diesel fuel and also help a non-profit organization that is dedicated to the use of environmentally friendly fuels,” Flemming said.

Susan Godwin, PECO’s manager of Environmental Safety and Industrial Hygiene, said the bio-diesel contract is just one of the environmental commitments PECO is keeping. “PECO is committed to becoming a model of green operations, which includes fleet energy efficiency,” Godwin said. “PECO is aggressively reducing GHG emissions while meeting our customers’ energy needs.”

Company officials say using biodiesel will reduce carbon emissions by 16 percent for every gallon of B20 used instead of petroleum diesel.