Cleaner Air — One Community at a Time

The collaboration of a community makes a big difference when it comes to improving air quality. A year ago, we talked about how you can get involved and make a difference in your community’s sustainability initiatives. For even more opportunities to get involved with your community, check out the community page at Green Source DFW.

There’s more good news: You and your community do not have to work alone to improve air quality. Several North Texas entities are taking the initiative to give back to their communities and improve air quality by converting and switching to alternative fuels in their fleet vehicles. Kimberlin To, NCTCOG’s DFW Clean Cities intern, tells us about how these organizations are making a difference in your backyard and beyond.

DFW Clean Cities Community Success
Kimberlin To, North Central Texas Council of Governments

From the City of Dallas to Frito-Lay to Mansfield Independent School District, the region is transitioning to alternative fuels and reducing its petroleum consumption, nitrogen oxides and greenhouse gas emissions. The use of alternative fuels such as electricity, biodiesel, ethanol, compressed natural gas and propane, as well as some hybrids, has eased the breathing for residents of North Texas.  Switching from costly diesel to a cleaner alternative also benefits a company or organization’s bottom line.  

The Dallas-Fort Worth Clean Cities Coalition promotes funding and incentive opportunities and raises awareness about clean vehicles and clean fuels.   In North Texas, the majority of ozone-causing pollution comes from vehicles; therefore, the Clean Cities program is especially important as the region strives to meet Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards.

Grants and funding have been created to encourage different groups to take on the challenge of helping out the DFW community in providing clean, breathable air for its residents and guests. DFW Clean Cities is working on several projects with different cities and companies.

For example, North Texas school districts have taken the initiative to provide quieter rides for their students.

The Mansfield Independent School District (MISD) currently has 42 school buses running on compressed natural gas (CNG) and two refueling compressors that power dozens of hoses. The cost per mile for each bus is one third of its diesel counterpart, and in return, taxpayers in Mansfield will be paying less money toward costly diesel fuel. Additionally, Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) was awarded funds to cover partial costs of their hybrid-electric school buses.

Like Mansfield, FWISD is aiming for quieter rides and improving air quality for its students and community. The school district estimates that the new buses will save over 12,000 gallons of diesel each year and reduce emissions by 30 percent.

Frito-Lay, a national Clean Fleets Partner headquartered in Plano, is also utilizing grants to reduce petroleum use and pollution.

Through the North Central Texas Alternative Fuel and Advanced Technologies Investments project, the company is slated to place five heavy-duty electric vehicles and four heavy-duty compressed natural gas vehicles into the company’s fleet and construct one private-access electric recharging facility in Fort Worth.

Public transportation agencies, such as Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T), have been converting and investing in CNG because of its cheaper fueling costs and lower emissions. DART has a contract for CNG fuels and vehicles worth nearly $300 million and is also working on installing new CNG refueling stations. Meanwhile, The T operates 183 CNG buses, a large fleet of vans used in their vanpool program and various utility vehicles – all of which total 98 percent for CNG use.

The two major airports in North Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Love Field Airport, have also been long-time adopters of alternative fuels and advanced-technology vehicles. Taxi and shuttle companies have worked with the airport to power different transportation vehicles. Hybrids and CNG-powered taxis and shuttles have provided visitors to the Dallas-Fort Worth area with cleaner air and quieter rides. This helps the community by assisting in maintaining and improving air quality and reducing petroleum usage for the North Texas region.

Cities have also looked to alternative fuels to improve the air quality for residents and reduce the ozone pollution problem in North Texas.

The City of Dallas currently has approximately 1,015 natural gas-fueled vehicles, 83 hybrids and 30 electric vehicles in its fleet. The City of Denton runs its fleet on biodiesel, an alternative fuel that will hopefully reduce the dependence on foreign oil and strengthen the local economy with the production of biodiesel.

The City of Fort Worth is focusing on the use of propane as well as the use of ethanol fuel with the purchase of an E85 refueling station.

For more information, read other success stories on the DFW Clean Cities website or check out this CleanCities TV video that highlights how local stakeholders and national fleets are working together to improve air quality and reduce dependence on imported petroleum by providing natural gas refueling infrastructure and vehicle conversion solutions.  

More DFW Clean Cities Success Stories >>>

Portrait of a North Texas Teen for Clean Air

Ananya, a 14-year-old Plano student, wanted to give us all a few wise words about why air quality is important and how we can give back to the community and environment. When asked about what motivated her to write an article for Clean Air Mail, she told us:

I wanted to get the message out to more people about going green. I saw the Clean Air Mail as a great venue for doing so, and it was also a great learning opportunity for me.

In addition, Ananya’s family has taken great steps to do their part for cleaner air. They recently installed a high-efficiency air conditioning system that uses much less energy than the average one, they recycle as much as they can, and whenever it's possible, they always try to walk or carpool.

With young North Texas residents like Ananya behind the cause for clean air, our region’s future is bright. See what she has to say about improving our air.

Giving Back to Mother Nature to Improve Our Air

Giving back. That phrase is coined with many different meanings, each applying to different circumstances and resulting in different actions. To some people, the expression might mean giving back to their community, while for others, it might symbolize giving back to their friends and family. For now, we are here to talk about giving back to our environment.

Plant a Tree Each year, one person in the United States uses more than 700 pounds of paper. As a result, the United States uses around 68 million trees annually to make this paper for us.

This is a perfect opportunity to give back to Mother Nature. What is it that you can do? Plant a tree! Although planting a tree definitely seems like a messy task, it really is not. However, if it does seem like a bit too much work, there are plenty of local organizations that can plant it for you.  Planting a tree is not only something that can be done to make up for all the paper used, but it also helps improve our air quality. And nothing is better than cleaner air!

Give Your Car a Break How about the gift of walking? Instead of driving a car, why not walk or ride your bike? This will prevent the fumes from getting into the atmosphere, thus keeping our air cleaner. In fact, not only does this help our environment, it helps you too!

Now that fall is here, temperatures shouldn’t be quite as high as they were during the summer. This means that although the air conditioning is running, it doesn’t need to do as much work as it did before.

There’s an even more environmentally friendly way to keep cool—use a fan! They help keep your rooms cool and use less energy than air conditioners, which saves you money!

Reduce Your Packaging

Another thing you can do to help is to select products with less packaging. Packaging generates harmful volatile organic compounds when it’s printed, consumes energy when it’s made and generates greenhouse gases when it’s thrown away in a landfill. By just choosing a product with less packaging, imagine how much you’re helping the environment!

With these few tips, we can help give back to our environment what it has given to us and improve air quality for all. These suggestions are just the beginning. Hopefully this will trigger some ideas for your own ”gifts.”!

Just do one green thing today—it will lead to many more.

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Learn how North Texas companies are improving air quality and the environment

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Giving gifts that give twice -- to your recipient and to the environment