The Citgo/Fleet Equipment Top Green Shop contest is in full swing. Now is the time to send in your application. It’s easy: just fill out and submit the form found here. (You may also print it out and mail it to Fleet Equipment magazine, 3550 Embassy Parkway, Akron, OH 44333 or fax to 330-670-0874.)
Fleets that enter the Citgo/Fleet Equipment Top Green Shop contest need to write a 300-word statement outlining the ways in which they have made significant strides toward building an environmentally friendly maintenance shop. The panel of judges is looking for multiple examples of ways fleets have reduced and/or recycled waste, complied with government regulations and employed other “green initiatives” that have lowered the fleets’ carbon footprint.
Here is an example of the green initiatives submitted last year by one finalist:
• Shops are built with tilt-wall construction for less maintenance and for better insulating factors and include T5 energy efficient tube lighting and skylights.
• All floors are sealed concrete with mops and floor scrubbers in each shop, no floor-dri allowed.
• Infrared radiant natural heaters, which better direct heat.
• 8-ft. ceiling fans.
• Roofing material is Solar Reflectance Index 80.
• All HVAC is energy efficient.
• Zero use of CFC refrigerants.
• Infrared sensor faucet.
• Automatic flush valves, tank-less and point-of-use water heaters.
• Four-post lifts for PMs.
• All trucks and forklifts have Femo Quick disconnects so oil can be pumped from oil pan to waste oil tank.
• Waste oil, filters and antifreeze picked up by licensed disposal company. All materials recycled.
• Go Rags versus shop rags since no cleaning is involved, just proper disposal.
• Mounted wheel program, no voids for water/mosquitoes.
• Wheel refurbishing program with tire supplier, no spraying of wheels in the shops.
• All oil/water separators pumped on a regular schedule by licensed provider.
• All parts washers cleaned by licensed provider.
• Insulated/electric roll-up doors.
• Rotary screw air compressors for noise abatement and energy efficiency.
• Drive-through truck washer with non-hydrofluoric cleaners and low-pressure nozzles; water conservation electronic eyes on nozzles that divine spray area (save 160-200 gal. per cycle). Chemical pumps are water driven, which reduces size from 50 to 30 HP, and there are sand traps in truck wash that lead to oil/water separator.
• Fuel systems are card lock systems with breakaway hoses.
• All bays are sealed and equipped with spill containment kits.
• Batteries are stored in racks and cycled out by supplier.
• All drums are on spill containment pallets.
• Shops are equipped with CO2 monitoring systems and air make-up units.
The judges are Technology and Maintenance Council members, all of whom have 15+ years of trucking fleet maintenance experience. They look for applications that reflect significant improvements in the way fleets carry out shop maintenance procedures, as described above, which qualify the fleet as an exceptional “green shop.”
