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The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina revealed several truths about our country’s preparedness for disasters, the gap between
rich and poor, and the generosity of the American people. Secondarily, it brought home the fact that the country is much too reliant on gas for everyday activities. This reliance on gas has been a crucial topic for several years among grounds professionals and the country’s recent fuel shortage brought home the importance of alternative fuels as several PGMS members relayed stories of their mowing operations being completely shut down by state mandates to conserve fuel.

Alternative fuels are substantially non-petroleum and yield energy security and environmental benefits. The Department of Energy (DOE) currently recognizes the following as alternative fuels: methanol and denatured ethanol as alcohol fuels (alcohol mixtures that contain no less than 70% of the alcohol fuel), natural gas (compressed or liquefied), liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, coal-derived liquid fuels, fuels derived from biological materials, and electricity (including solar energy).

While a large number of grounds managers across the country are in the process of researching the possibility of using alternative fuels for their fleets, several PGMS members have been employing alternatives for several years. For instance, Joe Jackson, CGM of Duke University says the school’s grounds program has been utilizing compressed natural gas (CNG) since 1997. The University received $54,000 in 1998 from North Carolina’s Division of Air Quality Mobile Source Emission Reduction Grant program to purchase CNG vehicles and build a slow-fill CNG station.

Since that time, the program has expanded to include 20 CNG vehicles (19 bifuel trucks and vans and one Honda Civic GX). In addition, Duke spent more than $95,000 from its operating budget to construct a fast-fill CNG station in 2001. The University has procedures in place to insure that staff members understand how to fuel the CNG vehicles and boasts an 80% natural gas fill rate.

The major benefit has been reduced air emissions. The vehicles running on CNG are emitting 80% less combined carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides than if they were running on gasoline. Such environmental benefits fed the University’s desire to serve as a leader in environmental responsibility. CNG was a logical choice because it offers high environmental benefits and is already available on campus at a low cost.

Jim Jauron, maintenance supervisor at the Reno/Tahoe International Airport also has embraced alternative fuels, namely reformulated gas and B-5 biodiesel. This year he plans on making the move from B-5 to B-20 biodiesel. B-20 is a blend of 80% regular diesel fuel and 20% biodiesel.

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