Pittsburgh — Evergreen Grease Service, Inc. has installed The Vector System in two of its semi-trucks, reducing carbon emissions from these trucks to near-zero, with plans to convert the whole fleet by 2022. This move is a major step towards Evergreen’s goal of reducing carbon emissions. Evergreen specializes in the collection of cooking oil, grease and waste fats from the commercial cooking and restaurant industry, and its partners process these waste products into biodiesel, a low-carbon alternative to traditional diesel.
The Vector System, designed by Optimus Technologies, is a bolt-on fuel system that allows medium- to heavy-duty vehicles to run on 100% biodiesel (B100) — even in harsh environments and sub-zero temperatures where biodiesel has not been traditionally viable. While most trucks are able to run on a 20% blend of biodiesel, The Vector System enables vehicles to utilize 100% biodiesel, allowing trucks to achieve near-zero carbon emissions. That represents a savings of about 1,500 lbs. of CO2 for every 500 miles driven. The Vector System can be installed on new trucks as they are being built, but also trucks that are already on the road today.
“The decision to use Optimus’ Vector System in our own trucks was an easy one. We have been supplying the Bio market for years and while we know we get back blended Bio at the retail level, we wanted to up our commitment and support of our communities and customers by running B100 in our own trucks. It’s a win-win,” says Paul Dickerson, owner of Evergreen Grease Service. “We run over a half a million miles per year in our small fleet, so when we learned about Optimus and the emissions off-set we could generate coupled with buying back our grease as fuel, it was really a no-brainer. We can’t wait for the whole fleet to be converted. The technology has been flawless.”
Optimus Technologies is a clean energy technology company based in Pittsburgh. Optimus manufactures The Vector System, an advanced fuel system technology that enables diesel engines to operate on 100% biodiesel. For more information, visit www.optimustec.com.
Adrian, Mich.-based Evergreen, which is celebrating its 25th year in business, is a market leader in the used cooking oil and grease collection industry serving Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Evergreen has committed to running its own trucks on 100% biodiesel. For more information, visit www.evergreengrease.com.
SOURCE: Optimus Technologies