By Greentech Lead America: OnTrac, an overnight package
delivery service in the U.S, joined the SmartWay Transport Partnership, an innovative
collaboration between U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and industry
which provides a framework to assess the environmental and energy efficiency of
goods movement supply chains.
“Becoming a SmartWay partner demonstrates our
commitment to operate responsibly by reducing our carbon footprint through
improved fuel efficiencies and emissions reductions,” said Steve Heron
director of Fleet Operations.
OnTrac will contribute to the Partnership’s savings of
1.5 billion gallons of fuel, $3.6 billion in fuel costs, 14.7 MMT of carbon
dioxide (CO2), 215,000 tons of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and 8,000 tons of
particulate matter.
“Our goal is a continuous pursuit to identify
equipment, technologies, and strategies that reduce our fuel consumption and lower
our emissions. Partnering with the EPA will help us ensure optimized operations
and allow us to offer our superior regional service product at a low
cost,” Heron added.
EPA partnered with industry
stakeholders, environmental groups, American Trucking Associations and Business
for Social Responsibility to develop this innovative program. Partners rely
upon SmartWay tools and approaches to track and reduce emissions and fuel use
from goods movement.
“At OnTrac, we’ve taken big steps to go green by
reducing emissions on our fleet of vehicles and optimizing driver routes. We
look forward to doing our part as a responsible corporate citizen, and becoming
a SmartWay partner reaffirms that our organization has a strong commitment to
achieving environmental goals,” said Laura Peterson, vice president of
marketing.
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased 3.2 percent from
2009 to 2010: EPA Report
Recently, EPA reported that The United States’ overall
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have increased 3.2 percent from 2009 to 2010.
This follows two years of emissions reduction by the world’s second largest
emitter. According to the report, the primary reasons for the increase in
emissions include increasing energy demand associated with an expanding economy
and an increase in electricity demand due to air conditioning usage during the
warmer-than-average summer of 2010.