Lexington Welcomes Quieter, More Efficient Garbage Trucks
Lexington Mayor Jim Gray today welcomed 11 of these trucks to town Tuesday, and displayed the city’s new fueling unit, where there trucks will be gassed up.
Gray thanked Columbia Gas for making the program possible by installing about a mile of gas pipeline back to the fueling unit at Waste Management headquarters off Old Frankfort Pike.
Lexington is the third Kentucky city to use the compressed natural gas trucks, behind Louisville and Princeton.
Although the fueling unit for waste management trucks will not be available to the general public, the city says it is also making plans for a compressed natural gas fueling station that anyone could use. It recently received a $1.25 million from a federal grant for the station, according to the Mayor’s office.
Tracey Thurman, Director of the Division of Waste Management, said when you consider that Waste Management services 96,000 homes and 3,000 businesses each week it’s easy to see how savings can add up. The average savings per year from each compressed natural gas truck is approximately $6,500 in fuel cost and preventive maintenance.
Lexington purchased the vehicles as part of its normal vehicle replacement schedule. The cost was $353,000 per truck, a cost similar to a diesel truck.
Two more trucks are scheduled to arrive in December, and the Mayor’s office says Lexington has budgeted an additional $2.9 million to purchase 10-12 additional trucks over the next twelve months.
The compressed natural gas trucks save on fuel, with the cost of natural gas fuel running $1.50-$2 below the cost of a gallon of diesel. They also save on maintenance, extending the life of a tune-up by 50,000 miles, and an oil change is good for an extra 25,000 miles.
The city says they’re also good for the environment, with a 20%-30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to diesel and gasoline emissions.
Leave a Reply