In Business Las Vegas, August 31st, 2007
The city of
Las Vegas
got a little greener this month when it incorporated two hydrogen-powered buses into its downtown fleet.
The buses, which will be used on the route to and from the Las Vegas Premium Outlets, were leased through a public-private partnership with Ford Motor Co.
The cost of the $500,000 lease will be covered by a U.S. Energy Department grant.
"These new buses are another example of the city's continuing commitment to using innovative alternative fuels,"
Mayor
Oscar
Goodman
said in a statement. "The city will continue to be leaders when it comes to finding new ways to be environmentally friendly through conservation and cutting edge technology."
The buses join a whole slew of alternative-energy city vehicles. Nearly 90 percent of the city's 1,200-vehicle fleet are hybrids or are powered by environmentally friendly fuels.
The
Las Vegas
fleet includes two fuel cell buses, 10 trucks that run off of a Hydrogen and compressed natural gas blend, 600 biodiesel vehicles, 85 hybrids and 168 natural gas vehicles.
The city is also eagerly awaiting the availability of plug-in hybrids.
"When you combine all that together you have quite a diversified fleet that operates on a wide variety of fuels," said
city fleet Manager
Dan
Hyde
. "The city is well-known nationally and internationally for its aggressive nature in pursuing renewable energy, for getting itself off of foreign oil and helping ourselves."
Las Vegas
began greening its fleet in 1993, following the Energy Act of 2002 that required governments to shrink air polution levels. The city was in nonattainment for certain pollutants like carbon dioxide and particulates and was required to make changes to its fleets.
The city pursued grants to help offset the cost of the changes and was so successful that it even built a first-of-its kind municipal alternative fueling station.
The station not only distributes several kinds of alternative fuels, it generates its own electricity and even returns some to the grid.
It has since hosted nearly 100 tours for visiting city representatives from around the globe.
"The city decided, as we got more actively involved, to do more than what was required,"
Hyde
said. "Because we were attracting grants — we've attracted nearly $13 million in federal and private grants since 1993 — we were able to do things no one else has done."
