UPS Goes Green
Check out a recent press release UPS I found on CSRwire (2/17/06): UPS Expands ‘Green Fleet’ with 50 Hybrid Electric Vehicles; 4,100 Low-Emission Vehicles Also Being Acquired in 2006
I’ve been waiting to hear news like this for some time and think that it is wonderful that UPS is moving forward with a bigger investment in “green” vehicles.
“The first of the 50 HEVs will be deployed in Dallas this June and will join more than 10,000 low emission and alternative-fuel vehicles already in use. The UPS alternative fuel fleet — at 1,500 vehicles one of the largest in the United States — currently includes trucks powered by compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane, electricity and hydrogen. Research also is underway with the Environmental Protection Agency on a hydraulic hybrid drivetrain.”
Lest you think UPS is purely motivated by environmental factors, check out the potential savings with these more efficient vehicles.
“The 50 HEV delivery trucks collectively are expected to reduce fuel consumption by roughly 44,000 gallons over the course of a year compared to a normal diesel truck. The hybrids also should reduce by 457 metric tons the amount of CO2 gases released into the atmosphere over the course of a year. The 4,100 low emission vehicles offer a 15 percent improvement in fuel economy over the vehicles that will be retired. These vehicles will save roughly 1.5 million gallons of fuel over the course of a year, emitting 16,000 fewer tons of CO2.”
At some point, all freight companies are going to have to transition their fleets over as legislation, available technology, environmental momentum and limited fuel supplies will make it difficult, if not impossible, to continue with ‘business as usual’. In other words, UPS’ long-term goal to, “minimize dependence on fossil fuels… [by] deploying a wide variety of new automotive technologies in [their] fleet” has as much to do with money and the bottom line as it does with CSR. Even so, I think what they are doing is commendable and is setting a very good example for other heavily fossil fuel-dependent companies.
TAGS: This entry was posted on Monday, February 20th, 2006 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Corporate Social Responsibility, Interesting News, Social Enterprise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.