Carmel streets department reports 27% per-mile CO2 drop after switching some trucks to B20 biodiesel

At the April 22 Climate Action Advisory Committee meeting, Ryan Mert, project manager for the Street Department, told members the department has purchased six new diesel trucks and moved several medium-duty vehicles back to B20 biodiesel after a prior, short-lived conversion to gasoline. He said the department’s recent sample showed a 27% reduction in CO2 emissions per mile and a roughly 37% improvement in fuel economy compared with the gasoline vehicles they replaced.

Mert said the department’s biodiesel vehicles returned fuel economy in the “17–18” miles-per-gallon range versus about “10–11” mpg for the gasoline models they replaced, and that a large sign truck now averages about “7.3” mpg compared with “5 to 5.5” mpg on the gas engine it replaced. “We got a 27% reduction in c o 2, emissions per mile driven on our biodiesel trucks compared to the gasoline engines that we had, and then, obviously, 37%…