Clean Cities Launches iPhone App for Alternative Fueling Station Locations

Alternative fuel stations in the palm of your hand.

iPhone users now have access to a free app that locates fueling stations offering alternative fuels, including electricity, natural gas, biodiesel, E85, propane, and hydrogen. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed the new app for DOE’s Clean Cities program. It is available for download through Apple’s App Store.

The Alternative Fueling Station Locator app allows iPhone users to select an alternative fuel and find the 20 closest stations within a 30-mile radius. Users can view the locations on a map or as a list containing station addresses, phone numbers, and hours of operation.

“If you drive an electric vehicle, for example, you can now use your iPhone to easily identify, contact, and navigate to the charging station that is most convenient for you,” NREL Project Manager Trish Cozart said. “Generally, people don’t search for a station while they’re sitting at a computer; they need this information while they’re out and about, which makes a mobile application the ideal means to deliver it.”

The app draws information from Clean Cities’ Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC), which houses the most comprehensive, up-to-date database of alternative fueling stations in the United States. The database contains location and contact information for more than 15,000 alternative fueling stations throughout the country.

“The number of alternative fuel vehicles on the road has been increasing steadily over the last two decades,” Cozart said. “Drivers and fleets have an unprecedented array of options to cut or eliminate petroleum use, and this new app serves as one more tool to facilitate these transitions.”

The AFDC is a comprehensive clearinghouse of information about advanced transportation technologies. The site offers unbiased information, data, and tools related to the deployment of alternative fuels and advanced vehicles.

In addition to the iPhone app, the AFDC provides multiple ways to access and use its alternative fueling station data. The Alternative Fueling Station Locator functions as a “widget,” meaning that users can embed the tool onto their own websites. The data are also available via data feeds that developers can access and use in their own mobile and Web applications. Provided through NREL’s developer site, developers can retrieve the data via a Web services API (application programming interface).

Courtesy of Clean Cities
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/news_detail.html?news_id=21037

October 2013 Question of the Month

Question of the Month: How have fleets benefited from alternative fuel use during emergency situations?

Answer: Another hurricane season is upon us. As such, we are reminded of the lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy, which made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey last October. Specifically, alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles were able to provide critical services and assist in recovery efforts when conventional vehicles were taken out of service due to fuel shortages and power outages at fueling stations.

It has been reported that more than 20% of conventional fueling stations had no fuel as many as 11 days after the storm. Meanwhile, alternative fuel fleets were still operating. For example, the compressed natural gas (CNG) Atlantic City Jitney minibuses were assisting with evacuation and the Oyster Bay CNG refuse and dump trucks were helping with clean-up efforts. Because CNG infrastructure is typically fueled by an underground pipeline, these stations are not as dependent on fuel delivery trucks for their supply. Therefore, these fleets were able to jump into action and provide support during a difficult time. CNG was not the only alternative fuel used during the Superstorm Sandy aftermath. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey continued their use of biodiesel blends without fuel supply interruptions. For a video summarizing the use of alternative fuel vehicles after Superstorm Sandy, see the following MotorWeek story: http://www.afdc.energy.gov/case/1323.

Emergency situations can include natural disasters, such as hurricanes, flooding, tornados, earthquakes, and wildfires. However, they also include systems and infrastructure failures, pandemics, and physical or cyber attacks. To that end, the Valley of the Sun Clean Cities Coalition in Phoenix, Arizona is working with the Arizona Department of Emergency Management to encourage fuel diversity in an area of the country that is vulnerable to fuel shortages due to pipeline ruptures.

How can we learn from these experiences?

• Incorporate alternative fuels into emergency planning efforts.

• Energy Assurance Plans. Through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) State Energy Assurance Program provided grants to 48 states to develop or update their Energy Assurance Plans. The goal of these plans is to ensure secure and reliable energy infrastructure that will allow for rapid restoration and recovery in the case of an emergency. As such, many state plans champion fuel diversity and include a shift to alternative transportation fuels to reduce petroleum demand, manage fuel supply, and maintain essential public needs during emergency situations. State energy offices are encouraged to revisit and update their plans frequently. As alternative fuel infrastructure expands in your area, Clean Cities coalitions are encouraged to get in touch with their state energy office to incorporate alternative fuels into their Energy Assurance Plan. For more information, see the DOE State Energy Assurance Program website: http://energy.gov/oe/services/energy-assurance/emergency-preparedness/state-and-local-energy-assurance-planning. The National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) Energy Assurance Planning website (http://www.naseo.org/energyassurance) is also a useful resource.

• Disaster Preparedness Plans. In addition to energy planning, state offices and agencies of emergency management have overarching plans to manage emergency situations. Alternative fuel and advanced vehicles can also play an important role in these strategies. To find your state emergency management office, visit the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) website: http://www.fema.gov/state-offices-and-agencies-emergency-management.

• Work with stakeholders to educate them on the benefits of alternative fuels in emergency situations. Tell them the stories about alternative fuel use during Superstorm Sandy. Utilities, municipal governments, and refuse companies may be particularly interested in these lessons learned.

• Know where the available fueling infrastructure is. Using the Alternative Fueling Station Locator (http://www.afdc.energy.gov/locator/stations/), you can identify stations in your area and work with those station operators to determine whether they will be available during an emergency situation. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is collecting information from natural gas stations about generator availability, specifically those that could power compressors and other infrastructure during an outage. Initial results indicate that over 50% of planned and existing CNG and liquefied natural gas stations have access to a generator that can operate the station. Please note that information about generator availability at individual stations will not be available through the Fueling Station Locator. However, it will be used to assist DOE and others in developing federal, state, and local energy assurance and emergency preparedness plans that incorporate alternative fuels.

For additional information about the response to Superstorm Sandy and alternative fuel use in emergency situations, please refer to the Webinar on the Role of Alternative Fuel Vehicles in Emergency Preparedness (http://www1.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/toolbox/webinar_emergency_preparedness.html).

Clean Cities Technical Response Service Team
technicalresponse@icfi.com
800-254-6735

August 2013 Question of the Month

Question of the Month: Where can I find case studies and other information about fleets that have successfully adopted alternative fuels and advanced vehicles?

Answer:
Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) Resources
The AFDC Case Studies search is a great resource for examples of what real fleets are doing related to alternative fuels. This page allows the user to search by category or keyword.  Categories include fuels and technologies, such as biodiesel and idle reduction, as well as applications such as law enforcement and public transit. The Case Study search functionality was recently updated to provide a better search experience, so be sure to check it out.

Another useful tool is the AFDC Publications database. The publications database includes more detailed reports and case studies written by the national laboratories and other organizations regarding the implementation of alternative fuels and advanced vehicles in fleets. This page is also searchable by category or keyword.

Clean Cities Resources
The Clean Cities YouTube Channel is one of the newest Clean Cities tools. The channel features more than 200 case study videos, including MotorWeek Clean Cities Success Story segments, and other educational media for fleets. In addition, Clean Cities Now includes a “Fleet Experiences” section in each biannual publication. Each “Fleet Experiences” article contains information about a fleet that has successfully transitioned their fleet to alternative fuels.

Clean Cities coalitions are also great resources for information about the “real world” use of alternative fuels and advanced vehicles at the local and regional level. The Clean Cities Coalition Contacts page provides a list of coalitions and their websites. Some coalitions post stakeholder fleet case studies on their websites or feature success stories in their newsletters.

Industry Associations and Publications
Some industry association websites also contain useful case studies that focus on the use of specific fuel and technology types. For example, the National Biodiesel Board “Market Segments” page provides examples of fleets using biodiesel in different applications, as well as stories on several “feature fleets.” Additionally, fleet publications such as Automotive Fleet and Green Fleet publish articles about fleets that are adopting alternative fuels and advanced vehicles.


Clean Cities Technical Response Service Team
technicalresponse@icfi.com
800-254-6735

CT Clean Cities Future Fuels Update

Greater New Haven Clean Cities was awarded an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant. The grant included $13.1 million in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Energy and $16.6 million in non-federal funds provided by over 30 partner organizations. The collaboration will lead to development and implementation of a state-wide fuel neutral effort that will deploy 267 alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and 5 public access and 5 private fleet access fueling stations as part of the Connecticut Clean Cities Future Fuels Project. You can learn more at the project’s website, http://www.ct-futurefuels.com/.

If you are interested in finding out more about what alternative fuels are best for your fleet visit http://www.afdc.energy.gov/ or email Lee Grannis at grannis@nhcleancities.org.

Below are graphs and charts that illustrate the Connecticut Clean Cities Future Fuel results as of June 30, 2013.

This is total fuel sales from the beginning of the Connecticut Clean Cities Future Fuels Project
Q1 of FY 2011 through Q3 FY 2013.

The project consists of 7 compressed natural gas (CNG) stations of which 4 are public access stations and 3 are fleet only access stations, 1 liquefied natural gas (LNG) with CNG station where the LNG side is fleet only access, but the CNG is public access, 1 fleet only access biodiesel station of B20, and electric charging stations with 4 as public use and 4 for fleet only use.

Fuel sales for natural gas separated into CNG and LNG sales of in-project vehicles and out-of-project vehicles.
Data from the Connecticut Clean Cities Future Fuels Project.

The graph above illustrates how much fuel was used by vehicles that were obtained as part of the project and fuel used by vehicles that companies outside of the project purchased because it made economic sense to do so. This graph shows that businesses are finding it beneficial to switch their fleet from traditional petroleum fuel to alternative fuels. Below are the numbers as to the number and type of vehicles obtained through the project.

Connecticut Clean Cities Future Fuels Project vehicles by type and class.

The graph below gives the number of miles driven by in project vehicles by quarter. Thus far in the project over 20.2 million miles have been driven by these alternative fuel vehicles.

Connecticut Clean Cities Future Fuels Project vehicles cumulative miles driven by quarter.

If you would like to find out more, please visit the project website: http://www.ct-futurefuels.com/index.html. If you are interested in finding out more about what alternative fuels are best for your fleet visit http://www.afdc.energy.gov/.