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 The Township of Montclair recently took another step “on the road” toward sustainability by incorporating a renewable fuel into our mobile fleet, to reduce air pollution emissions and cut our global warming “footprint” while reducing our reliance on foreign fuels.
Beginning this month, our entire truck fleet of approximately seventy vehicles and other off-road equipment is now using a fuel blended with Biodiesel, a clean-burning, non-petroleum, renewable resource. The fuel product is called B20, which is a diesel fuel blended with twenty per cent (20%) biodiesel.
The biodiesel is made from a vegetable oil derived from soy grown in the southeast of the United States. Biodiesel is made for diesel engines from a more efficient manufacturing process than corn-derived ethanol, which is made for gasoline engines.
By using biodiesel in our trucks, we are dramatically reducing the emissions of the tiny particles of soot which cause ground-level ozone, or smog, which in turn contributes to asthma and other respiratory diseases. We are also immediately and significantly lowering our carbon emissions and cutting our use of petroleum.
A Little Help From Our Friends
The B20 biodiesel blend we are using is a more expensive fuel than pure diesel. However, earlier this year Montclair’s Department of Administration, Code Enforcement and Environmental Affairs applied to the NJ Office of Clean Energy at the NJ Board of Public Utilities (NJ BPU) for their “BioDiesel Fuel Rebate Program”. We were successful in that application, and Montclair was awarded a $28,000 grant that will make up the incremental cost increase for the B20 fuel.
Therefore, Montclair’s Department of Community Services – which houses the vehicles and the fuel tanks, and which purchases the fuel – will not pay one penny extra for this preferable product, making the switch a perfect example of the sustainability policy toward which we are continually working to adhere. Sustainability means incorporating the three components of economics, environment, and social benefits, all of which are personified in this upgrade.
The Township of Montclair is thankful for the financial incentives provided by the BPU’s Office of Clean Energy, and salutes them for their innovative programs. Montclair taxpayers have also benefited from the Clean Energy Program’s rebates we used for acquiring our clean-burning Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-fueled Honda Civic GX cars in 2002, and our 2004 upgrade to Light-Emitting Diodes (LED’s) for our municipal traffic signals which saves 90% of the energy for those lights and saves us $10,000 annually.
Montclair also participates in the Clean Power Choice Partnership (CPCP). All residents – even apartment dwellers – may easily choose clean, renewable sources of energy. By signing on to CPCP, more renewable energy sources are purchased by PSE&G to meet our electricity needs. Nothing has to be installed at your home, and you get the same service from PSE&G.
Now township residents also benefit from the BPU’s Change a Light/Change the World Program. Every bulb changed saves 75% of the energy needed for the light, and saves the resident approximately $30 over the life of the bulb. Any Montclair resident pledging to change five (5) lightbulbs in their home from standard incandescent bulbs to the new energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs can receive a free bulb from the Montclair Dept. of Environmental Affairs simply by calling (973) 509-5721.
Montclair was honored to have been the recipient of the first-ever New Jersey Clean Energy Leadership Award in 2005.
Just Breathe
Diesel pollution is a major source of asthma, cancer, cardiac and other respiratory disease, which increases health care costs and lost workdays. Unfortunately, New Jersey has the nation’s 2nd highest cancer risk from diesel exhaust.
Diesel-powered engines, such as those found in trucks and buses, are responsible for a significant amount of the particulate pollution in New Jersey, especially in areas of high traffic and population. Essex County is one of those areas.
“There are more premature deaths from particulate pollution than there are homicides or traffic fatalities in the state,” the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) has pointed out.
The Clean Air Council report states that only smoking and obesity outrank particulate matter in the estimated number of premature deaths caused every year!
Diesel soot not only exacerbates asthma and emphysema, it also degrades the immune system, interferes with our hormones, causes serious and permanent impairment of the nervous system, and induces allergic reactions (not limited to asthma) that cause children to miss thousands of school-days.
In fact, children, the elderly, and people with asthma, cardiopulmonary, lung and chronic heart diseases are all particularly susceptible to the effects of diesel exhaust.
Think Globally, Act Locally
We will be using 20% less petroleum in our tanks, but because the growing and processing of soy uses petroleum, we don’t get a straight 20% reduction in our carbon “footprint”. Pure biodiesel reduces greenhouse-gas emissions by about 50 – 60% compared with fossil fuels. Since we are blending in 20% biodiesel, we can conservatively calculate that we will cut our carbon footprint from our entire truck fleet by 10-12 percent – a very significant amount!
Governor Corzine has mandated that our state reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2020. Montclair has immediately started achieving that goal.
The global warming benefits go further than just the reduction in petroleum and the associated carbon emissions. Some top NASA scientists have said that soot, mostly from diesel engines, is blocking snow and ice from reflecting sunlight, which contributes to “near worldwide melting of ice” and as much as a quarter of all observed global warming.
If you have any further questions about Montclair’s initiatives to choose and use clean, “green” energy, contact the Office of Environmental Affairs at (973) 509-5721. | 