12-18-08 by dugan
We ought to be past the time when fueling a truck fleet on a biodiesel blend that’s good for any diesel engine merits a back-slapping news conference. But it’s still worth mentioning that Safeway pledged today to convert all of its big delivery trucks to B-20, I presume blended with low-emission regular diesel.
The reduction of these trucks’ lethal particulate and greenhouse emissions is good news across the board. But it’s especially good for the people, mostly in low-income neighborhoods, who live next to Safeway truck yards. In California, supermarket trucks are already forbidden to idle their engines while in the yard, and the fuel change will further clean the air around these big industrial facilities.
Given the tight profit margins of supermarkets, Safeway also must have figured out that it will either save money or stay financially even by using B20.
Fleets, because they have their own fueling stations, can make the switch more easily than ordinary consumers, who still con’t find B-20 at branded corner gas stations. None of the major brands sells its own B-20 (or E-85 ethanol for cars that run on either ethanol or gasoline, though that’s another sorry petroleum story).
So here’s a clap to Safeway and to the cities across the nation (particularly San Francisco) that are also switching, sometimes with a big logistical struggle, to biodiesel for municipal fleets.