Greg Decker isn't out to save the world, but he's at least willing to do his part.
Along with his wife Dannelle, he's been environmentally conscious for a number of years. A quick glance around their home reveals a number of simple, green friendly choices like low-flush toilets, low-energy light bulbs in any socket that'll take them, window sealer, and a programmable thermostat, to name just a few.
The green bug has carried over into Decker's owner-operator business, where he's made a number of changes to his truck and trailer to reduce his carbon footprint out on the road. He didn't have a lot of capital to invest in big changes, but he's found that a bunch of relatively cheap purchases can add up and help save a bit of money, along with helping the environment.
"Trying to improve without major dollars is difficult. As much as I'd like to do, it all comes down to dollars and cents,” says Decker. "Each individual [change], you can measure and it'll be, say, 1/10 or 2/10 off the mileage, but all the little things add up. My worst tanks of fuel this winter were better than my best last winter and this winter was much worse to drive in.”
Decker's one-truck operation - Triple Decker Transport - is based just 15 minutes north of Calgary in Airdrie, Alta. and he's been leased to Caneda Transport for 11 years. He's typically on the road for 10 days and home for three, traveling mostly to the east coast of the U.S. hauling LTL loads with his reefer.
As part of his effort to go green, he enrolled in the U.S. EPA SmartWay program in June 2008. He has a rating of 1.25, which is as high as he can get, and is now required to show a 5% improvement from year-to-year. There wasn't a cost to join the SmartWay program and Decker says it's provided him with a good starting point for finding methods and vendors to improve his operation.
Really, his only regret is that our federal government isn't doing more to help out with environmental measures, especially with the little guys.
Seeing Red
Decker's current rig is a purple 2008 Volvo 780 500-hp truck. He bought it in August 2007 and added a RigMaster APU as part of the sale, which was installed before he took possession.
Decker then applied to join Transport Canada's ecoFreight program, part of the department's ecoTransport program, which aims to help the freight transportation sector limit the emission of greenhouse gases and other air contaminants.
As part of the program, companies could be eligible for grants equaling 50% of the purchase cost for fuel-reducing technologies. But, as it turns out, Decker wasn't eligible.
"Dannelle and I were on the truck's first trip when they called us back. The lady who called said it was the best application they had seen and wanted to know when we were going to put it on the truck,” Decker tells highwaySTAR, referring to the APU. "I said it was already on and they said we couldn't get any money because they had to approve the application first.”
Decker figures the application process would have taken eight to 10 months and since he took possession of the truck in August that would have spanned the entire winter.
"Imagine how much fuel you'd waste during that time, especially over winter,” quips Dannelle.
"We have a 7% idle time on that truck,” adds Decker. "I wasn't willing to wait. The little guys can't afford to wait. If you're buying a new truck and you want to put a genset on it, that's the only time you can do it.”
In the latest round of funding for the ecoFreight program, a $25,000 floor has been put on the grants. The grants are being provided by the federal government as part of a study to see how much impact these technologies will have. According to Transport Canada, a minimum threshold of $25,000 for federal money is necessary because projects of at least $50,000 in scope are best suited to meet program objectives and provide broader scale emissions impacts in the sector. This doesn't sit well with Decker either.
"We're paying our tax dollars and there's a $25,000 floor on it, so the little guy is shut out to even buy an APU,” remarks Decker. "All the upgrades I want to put on a new trailer don't even come to that. It shuts the one-truck guy out on the spot.”
It's too bad because the trailer Decker plans on purchasing in 18 months (Dannelle knocks on wood) is a beauty.
Decker has his eye on a Utility trailer with a ThermoKing hybrid reefer, trailer skirts, a lift axle, and rims to go with wide-based singles (which might find their way onto the truck as well). All in, Decker figures it will run a total of about $75,000.
"With ecoFreight they'll only look at the upgrades, which are only about $10,000, which is under the $25,000 floor,” Decker says candidly. "My tax money is subsidizing my competition.”
Going Green
Despite how frustrated Decker is with how the federal government is handling environmental grants in the trucking industry, he's not going to let it stop him from making some green adjustments where he can afford it.
Aside from the APU, Decker had extensions added to the sleeper to close the gap between tractor and trailer. He's installed Eco-Flaps on both truck and trailer, which cost a little more than $100 for the set. He bought Airtabs as well, which cost $4.20 each and it takes about 80 of them to outfit the truck and trailer.
"The stability the AirTabs add in windy conditions is absolutely incredible,” says Decker. "I will never again own a truck and trailer without them installed. To me they are as big a safety device as the VEST (vehicle enhanced stability technology) installed standard in my current 2008 Volvo.”
The Volvo's truck tires are FuelTech retreads from Bandag and Decker is in the midst of putting Michelin XT-1s on the trailer to get the rolling resistance down as much as possible. Sticking with the tires, there's also Balance Masters on all the wheels to reduce tire wear, and a tire inflation system.
Decker also runs with synthetic oil and synthetic fluid in the diffs and tranny, and runs a laptop in the cab with ALK CoPilot 11 to reduce miles.
Since all the little changes have been made - September 2008 to April 2009 - the truck has gotten 5.74 mpg. From September 2007 to April 2008, the truck was getting 5.58 mpg.
"As you know, the weather this winter was a lot worse than last year, so I think it would be safe to say my improvement has been three-tenths, or possibly better,” adds Decker. "We should be doing better than we are. You have to do what you can afford because every little bit will help.
"All the little changes to the equipment are done. We're into big money projects now and it's not going to happen.”
But he wasn't out to save the world anyway, just doing his part, and a good job he did, too.
Source: http://www.highwaystarmagazine.com/yourjobfeature.cfm?ID=455