Fayetteville is switching its 300-vehicle fleet… from garbage trucks to city maintenance pickups… to biodiesel. This article from the Northwest Arkansas Times explains the city will get a two-fold benefit… more freedom from foreign oil and a cleaner burning diesel:
“We’ve always been a very environmentally conscious and responsible community,” said David Bragg, fleet manager for the city.
The plan is to convert all diesel use to a 20-percent blend of biodiesel and 80-percent petroleum diesel, which is the highest ratio approved by most engine manufacturers, Bragg said.
“It is renewable, ” he said. “ It is produced within the continental United States in its entirety. It burns cleaner. It does not have the noxious smoke commonly associated with diesel engines.”
The city plans to start using the biodiesel when it starts pumping from a new fuel station expected to be finished in April.