Capital District October 22, 2008
Clean Communities
Capital District Clean Communities
September 18, 2008 Meeting
Meeting Notes
Attendance
David Ardman, Barton & Loguidice
Noah Bond, NPB Computers
David Brown, Premiere Limo
Jen Ceponis, CDTC Staff
Frank Continetti—Leonard Bus Sales
Lawrence D’Arco—NYS
Department of Environmental Conservation
Steve Iachetta, Albany County Airport Authority
Paul Patterson, City of Oneonta
Pete Rea, NYSDOT R-1
Adam Rudar, NYSERDA
Karin Silvernale, NYS Office of General Services
Deborah Stacey, CDTC Staff, CDCC Coordinator
Ted Thompson, Retired NYSDOT employee
Glenn Young, John Ray & Sons
SUMMARY NOTES: Geoff Hoffman from American
Alternative Fuel was invited to provide information on propane vehicles. American Alternative Fuel (http://www.americanaltfuel.com/)
does conversions to hybrid propane using a variety of gasoline and diesel
vehicles. The limousine industry is one
market that American Alternative Fuel has great success with. Premiere Limo, based in Albany, has
converted 8 limousines to propane/gasoline and has realized a huge savings in
the price of fuel. The conversion cost
is approximately $4000 per vehicle. Any vehicle with electronic fuel injection
can be converted into a propane/gasoline hybrid.
Geoff reported
that propane vehicles realize a slight decrease in fuel economy compared to
pure gasoline vehicles. Engine
maintenance costs decrease due to reduced maintenance requirements; propane
vehicles have lower emissions than their gasoline counterparts. The price of fuel is very advantageous, given
the $.50/gallon federal tax credit.
There are over 3000 LPG fueling stations located throughout the
country. If the hybrid propane/gasoline
vehicle runs out of propane, the engine automatically switches over to run on
gasoline.
Subsequent to Geoff’s
presentation, attention was then drawn to the next items on the agenda:
1. NYSERDA
a. NYSERDA has several Project Opportunity Notices
(PONS) available that might be of interest to the CDCC. Proposals under NYSERDA’s Clean Air School Bus
Program which pays for 100% of the cost to retrofit diesel buses with diesel oxidation
catalysts and particulate filters are due in a month. Round 8 of the Clean
Cities Challenge program will be released this fall. NYSERDA received 75 applications for bio-fuel
retail stations. Several E-85 stations
are coming on-line in the area with the help of this grant program.
2. CDTC:
a. CDTC staff has been working with Leonard Bus in preparing for a Hybrid Electric Bus and Truck seminar. The seminar will showcase HEV school buses,
CDTA’s HEV bus, and HEV heavy duty trucks.
The event is free to attend and will be held at the City of Saratoga
Springs School bus garage on Wednesday September 24th. All Clean Communities coalition members are encouraged
to attend.
b. CDTC staff has been pursing Transportation
Demand Management activities with the help of CDTA. The conversion of the Commuter Register to
“ipool2” is mainly complete. iPool2 is a
free site that allows people to find carpool matches and contains information
about park and ride lots and transit routes. The iPool2 website offers many
impressive features that the Commuter Register did not offer. iPool2 is GIS based and more private that the Commuter
Register. iPool2 also offers an employer
module which is free to area employers.
This module allows employers to register for the program, customize an
employee “home page”, offer incentives to their employees and track emissions
reductions statistics. Albany Med,
Empire State College and the Rensselaer Tech Park have indicated their interest in signing up
for the employer module. A press event
will be held once the conversion is complete and the new software is thoroughly
tested. CDTC has seen a marked increase
in resident’s interest in carpooling since the price of fuel reached the $4.00
mark.
3. Albany County Airport
Authority:
a. Projects progressed under
both VALE grant are complete. Some of
the vehicles could not be retrofit with Diesel Particulate Filters because
engine temperature thresholds could not be met.
b. The ACAA and CDTA are
participating in a hydrogen fueled vehicle demonstration project. The ACAA will receive and test two Silverado’s;
CDTA will test two Ford Escapes. The
vehicles should be delivered to the properties within the next month or
so. The fueling skid will be housed on
ACAA property.
4. OTHER NEWS:
a. NYS OGS: Model year 2009
Electric vehicles are now on state contract.
Additional AFV’s will be added by the end of the month.
b. Jon Ray
& Sons: Provides Propane
to companies such as Premiere Limo. Also
sells bio-diesel and bio-heat. The
market for bio-fuels is steadily increasing.
Next Meeting
This group will meet again on Thursday December 11, 2008 from
10:00
am to noon at CDTC's offices.