The department of Natural Resources research revealed that the commercial truck fleets are not adopting environmentally-friendly practices, even though they have been offered federal grants of $250,000..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the government identified transportation as a significant greenhouse gas emitter, responsible for 22% of all emissions..“Use of government funding programs for fleet retrofits is not widespread,” said a report..“Specifically, 5% of respondents said their company had participated in a government funding program.”.The department last Dec. 12 launched a Green Freight Program on an offer to pay 50% grants up to a quarter million to refit diesel trucks to improve fuel efficiency and lower emissions..Only 18% of trucking executives surveyed heard of the program, said the report Green Freight Program Survey on the Freight Industry..The researchers found the trucking industry is mainly small and medium-sized businesses..“The most common barrier identified by companies is cost,” said Green Freight..“An important finding is that most companies have not implemented any retrofits to their fleet in recent years,” wrote researchers..“For a number of these companies, the cost associated with implementing retrofits is considered as a main barrier.”.This year, the federal government budgeted the Green Freight Program at $34.8 million..“The specific research objectives included determining whether companies have implemented retrofits,” said the report..Findings were based on questionnaires with 300 trucking executives nationwide..The natural resources department paid $78,553 for the survey by Phoenix Strategic Perspectives Inc..“Nearly three-quarters of the companies surveyed, 74%, have not implemented any retrofits to the trucks in their fleet in the past three years,” wrote researchers..The findings “will be used to enhance the department’s understanding of inflection points and potential federal funding assistance needs to increase the uptake of zero-emission vehicle purchases and retrofits.”.Based on official estimates, transportation emissions have increased by 27% since 1990. In 2021, the latest data available, freight trucks were responsible for emitting 37 million tonnes of greenhouse gases. Light trucks emitted 52 million tonnes, while cars emitted 25 million tonnes of greenhouse gases..“While there has been continual improvement in the fuel efficiency of both passenger cars and light trucks over the last few decades, these improvements were not sufficient to offset the increases in emissions,” according to a department of Environment report Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
