More than 75 public and private fleets of vehicles reduced their use of petroleum-based fuel by 13.6 million gallons in 2012, according to Western Washington Clean Cities, a coalition of fuel-saving initiatives. By switching to cleaner, alternative fuels and adopting efficiencies, fleets run by government and other public agencies and by businesses cut $38 million from their combined gas bills last year and prevented the emission of more than 93 thousand tons of greenhouse gas air pollution, said Stephanie Meyn, program manager for Western Washington Clean Cities Coalition. The fleet operators took "calculated risks and demonstrated tremendous leadership toward advancing regional goals to sustain the natural beauty, economy and public health of the Pacific Northwest," Meyn said. Members of the coalition include Pierce County, Pierce Transit and Northwest Trek. Western Washington Clean Cities is a not-for-profit membership organization that's one of about 100 such coalitions working to ilncrease the use of alternative fuels and fuel-conserving technology in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities initiative. "We do this by educating (fleet owners) about alternatives such as biofuels, compressed natural gas, propane and electricity, and helping them find the technology and financing partners to help make the switch," Meyn said. More than 10 percent of the fuel savings by the western Washington fleets came from switching to electric vehicles, according to Meyn. "We also noted an increase in propane vehicles,"particularly among police fleets, appliance repair and elevator maintenance companies. she said.
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