PHILADELPHIA - (Business Wire) PECO is now fueling all of its approximately 580 utility trucks with a biodiesel fuel blend, reducing the amount of carbon dioxide and other emissions released into the atmosphere, all part of the company
’s overall efforts to aggressively seek and implement ways of being more environmentally conscious.
PECO accepted its first delivery of biodiesel recently, and within days, company service building fueling stations were filling PECO trucks with a blend of petroleum diesel and refined vegetable oil. The PECO fleet consumes approximately 15,000 gallons of fuel a week and spends more than $5 million a year on fuel for its fleet.
Currently PECO's transition to a totally green fleet consists of: one prototype hybrid bucket truck, 43 hybrid SUVs and seven natural gas powered vehicles. This combined with the 580 trucks using biodiesel brings PECO's alternative vehicle total to more than 630.
Using a blend of 20 percent soy-based oil and 80 percent diesel fuel results in a net 16 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions for every gallon of biodiesel used over regular petroleum diesel. “This supports PECO’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction strategy,” said Bill Flemming, PECO fleet manager. Using biodiesel instead of straight diesel also reduces carbon monoxide by 20 percent, hydrocarbons by 20 percent and particulates by 12 percent.
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.”
This is all part of PECO’s, and its parent corporation Exelon's, overall environmental efforts to reduce the company's carbon footprint as well as that of our communities. PECO, Exelon and all of its business units has been actively involved in addressing climate change since the mid-1990s as a way to demonstrate that business can begin the transition to a carbon-constrained future today. Exelon established a new voluntary goal to reduce its GHG emissions by eight percent from 2001 levels by the end of 2008, and to work with, and encourage, its suppliers to reduce their GHG emissions.
Based in Philadelphia, PECO is an electric and natural gas utility subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC). PECO serves 1.6 million electric and 480,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania and employs about 2,500 people in the region. PECO delivered 78.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 39.9 billion kilowatt-hours-hours of electricity in 2007. Founded in 1881, PECO is one of the Greater Philadelphia Region's most active corporate citizens, providing leadership, volunteer and financial support to numerous arts and culture, education, environmental, economic development and community programs and organizations.
PECO, Philadelphia
Ted Caddell, 215-841-4508 or 215-841-5555
ted.caddell@peco-energy.com
