The Southeast Propane Autogas Development Program is an initiative focused on converting public and private fleet vehicles from gasoline to propane autogas in the Southeastern

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. It is the largest

Clean Cities The Clean Cities Coalition Network is a coordinated group of nearly 100 coalitions in the United States working in communities across the country to advance affordable, domestic transportation fuels, energy efficient mobility systems, and other fue ...

alternative fuel vehicle conversion deployment program in history. The program is partially funded by the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

of 2009 (ARRA) through the

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Clean Cities Coalition.

Overview

The Program is converting approximately 1,100 vehicles from

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

propane Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used a ...

autogas Autogas or LPG is liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used as a fuel in internal combustion engines in vehicles as well as in stationary applications such as generators. It is a mixture of propane and butane. Autogas is widely used as a "green" ...

and implementing more than twenty propane autogas fueling stations. The program is administered by Virginia Clean Cities and the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, and is partially funded by an $8.6 million grant from the ARRA. The Program's website states that "under this large-scale initiative, public and private fleet vehicles in Washington D.C. and nine southeast states ... will be converted to propane autogas in order to reduce vehicle emissions, displace gasoline consumption and create American jobs."

Program goals

The Program's stated goals include: * The displacement of an "estimated 15.7 million gallons of gasoline" * Elimination of an "estimated 16,000 tons or more of airborne

pollutants A pollutant or novel entity is a substance or energy introduced into the environment that has undesired effects, or adversely affects the usefulness of a resource. These can be both naturally forming (i.e. minerals or extracted compounds like oi ...

" * The creation of "dozens of jobs" in the region The program has several types of public and private

fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet *Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles *Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada *Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beach, ...

participants, including law enforcement, municipal, and transportation service fleets, that are converting anywhere between 5 and 300 of their fleet vehicles to propane autogas. The vehicles are equipped with the PRINS VSI system and are bi-fuel vehicles, meaning they can switch from propane autogas to gasoline. Some fleets estimate they will save more than $100,000 in fuel costs annually with propane autogas. Additionally, autogas is a cleaner-burning transportation fuel and up to 90 percent of the U.S. supply is domestically produced.

Cost share requirement

This program, as well as other Clean Cities projects funded by ARRA grants, had a strict 50 percent cost-share requirement from the grant recipient and partners. AutoGas was selected by the program administrators to provide vehicle conversion equipment and to supply autogas fueling to fleet participants. The cost share provided by Alliance AutoGas and other program partners is estimated to be over $11 million.

Leadership

The program was conceived under the Virginia Clean Cities leadership of Chelsea Jenkins. It was later lead primarily by the program director, Peter Denbigh, and the assistant program director, Jamison Walker.

References

{{Reflist Sustainable energy Environmental organizations based in the United States Propane