With thousands of new trucks hitting the road each month, environmental agencies and trucking officials are mindful of the need for cleaner engines.
“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made $9 million in grant funding available for clean diesel projects to reduce diesel pollution and emissions exposure from the nation’s existing fleet of diesel engines,” reports TruckingInfo.com. “The funding comes from EPA’s Diesel Emission Reduction Program, targeting what the agency says are the most cost-effective projects and fleets operating in areas designated as poor air quality areas.
Under this funding, EPA anticipates awarding between 10 and 20 assistance agreements.
Various strategies are eligible for achieving diesel emission reductions, such as installing verified exhaust control and idle reduction devices, and vehicle and engine replacement. Projects may include school buses, transit buses, heavy-duty diesel trucks, marine engines, locomotives, and other diesel engines.
The EPA claims since the start of the DERA program in 2008, it has improved air quality and provided critical health benefits by reducing hundreds of thousands of tons of air pollution and saving millions of gallons of fuel. EPA estimates that clean diesel funding generates up to $13 of public health benefit for every $1 spent on diesel projects.
“EPA says it has awarded over 600 DERA grants across the U.S. and reduced more than 250,000 tons of nitrogen oxides and more than 14,000 tons of particulate matter,” TruckingInfo.com reports. “Many of these projects fund cleaner diesel engines that operate in economically disadvantaged communities whose residents suffer from higher-than-average instances of asthma, heart, and lung disease, according to the agency.
There has never been a more important time to be focused on cleaner engines than now as the trucking industry continues to face a growing demand for shipping. While that demand means a need for cleaner engines, it also means more opportunities for jobseekers with professional CDL training.
Some carriers are also considering compressed natural gas trucks as a way to cut fuel costs and pollution. TruckingInfo.com recently reported that a new fast-fill compressed natural gas station located in Orlando has recently opened its doors.
“The station is located at Lewis Petroleum’s Silver Star Fuelman in the Princeton Industrial Park, just two blocks from Frito-Lay North America’s Orlando plant,” Trucking Info reported. “Frito-Lay selected Trillium CNG to build natural gas infrastructure to fuel its fleet of CNG tractor-trailers.”
The article went on to say that the CNG station will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “It will have two dual-hose dispensers, allowing two semitrailers to fuel at the same time. The station also features Trillium CNG’s 10 GGE per minute fast-fill hydraulic intensifier compressor.”
Natural gas has been growing in popularity among some commercial truck carriers, but its use in the trucking industry could be poised to explode, especially as cities across the country are installing their own CNG fueling stations that could put a nationwide system of natural gas fueling stations in place.
According to a TruckingInfo.com article from last year, the city of Columbus “plans to build a second compressed natural gas fueling station scheduled to open in March of 2014. The new station will service the City’s northern refuse fleet operation, which has more than 65 vehicles, its Planning & Operations Division, which has more than 45 vehicles, and other City divisions. Construction on the station is set to begin in August 2013.
The biggest news in the trucking industry continues to be the fact that carriers all across the country are in need of professionally trained CDL drivers. The growth of the industry, along with the shortage of quality drivers, makes this a great time for students of Hamrick.
The need for more professionally trained truck drivers will only continue to grow across the country and that means carriers will continue to look for applicants who have professional CDL training from a quality school like Hamrick. If you are looking for a new career, then now is the perfect time to complete a CDL training program in order to become a professional truck driver.