Nearly 225 Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) flexible fuel vehicles now are using E85. TDOT’s Region One Complex Office now offers the clean burning product.

According to the TDOT website, the group has been using biodiesel in heavy duty state vehicles since 2005 as part of a continued initiative to reduce petroleum use. As in an earlier post, TDOT missed their goal of reducing their petroleum use by 20 percent by Jan. 1 of this year.

“A major strategy for meeting TDOT’s petroleum reduction goals is increased availability and use of biofuels,” said Commissioner Gerald Nicely. “This is an important step in achieving a 20 percent reduction in fuel use and I’ve encouraged all TDOT employees who operate flex fuel and diesel vehicles to use the cleaner burning biofuels whenever they travel.”

“This is an exciting time for our region, as we continue to explore new ways to decrease our dependency on oil and reduce our carbon footprint,” Region One Director Steve Borden said as he pumped E85 fuel into a state vehicle. “We are using significantly less petroleum every time we fill up our gas tanks.”