U.S. and Canada Work Together to Save Fuel for Freight Industry

September 21, 2005

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on September 14th a new partnership with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)—its equivalent to the north—that could save up to 440 million gallons of fuel and avoid emissions of about 5 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. To achieve that goal, EPA and NRCan will coordinate voluntary cross-border projects with the freight industry focusing on idle reduction, deployment of clean technologies, and driver training and awareness. The collaboration brings together the complementary strengths of EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership, which emphasized innovative technologies, and NRCan's FleetSmart, which specializes in driver education and training. See the EPA press release and the Web sites for the EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership and the NRCan FleetSmart program.

According to DOE's Clean Cities program, U.S. trucks consume more than 800 million gallons of diesel fuel each year while left idling. Among the approaches to reduce idling are auxiliary power units that allow truckers to shut down their engines without losing power to their cabins. A similar approach allows truckers to hook up to power systems at truck stops. See the Clean Cities program's Idle Reduction Web page.