Chicago Area Clean Cities Recognizes Top Green Fleets for 2017

The Chicago Area Clean Cities Coalition has announced its Green Fleet Leadership Award winners for 2017, companies and government agencies that are leading in the adoption of alternative fuels and clean-vehicle technologies for their fleets. The Green Fleet Leadership Award winners were recently named at the coalition’s end of the year meeting.

The awards are given annually to commercial or government fleets that take actions to locally reduce petroleum consumption and improve air quality, such as by using cleaner-burning alternative-fuel vehicles or other advanced technologies.

“The fleets we’re recognizing range from using compressed natural gas to propane to plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles, all with the goals of saving fuel, reducing emissions and saving money,” said John W. Walton, chair of Chicago Area Clean Cities. “The fleets that we have selected operate in the Chicagoland area and are terrific examples for others to follow to learn about the advantages of clean-vehicle technologies.”

Commercial fleets receiving Green Fleet Leadership Awards operating natural gas vehicles include:

Peapod: Peapod is a grocery delivery service providing customers with delivery access to fresh and health groceries. They have shown a large commitment to adopting alternative fuels for their delivery vehicles. Peapod operates two heavy-duty CNG vehicles. Last year the Peapod’s CNG vehicles increased their CNG use by 87 percent (8,268 GGEs).

Waste Management: In 2016, Waste Management’s CNG vehicles displaced more than 1 million GGEs of petroleum-based fuel in the Chicagoland area by using cleaner-burning CNG fuel. Across the U.S., Waste Management’s fleet includes more than 6,000 natural gas trucks, the largest heavy duty truck fleet of its kind in North America.

“We are excited to accept the Green Fleet Leadership award from Chicago Area Clean Cities,” said Scott Zielinski, fleet director for Waste Management of Illinois, Inc. “In the Chicago area, we are utilizing 220 natural-gas vehicles to service our customers with another 20-plus to be added in early 2018. We take a lot of pride in providing solutions that support safer, greener, and cleaner communities.”