Fueling a Cleaner, Happier Fort Wayne
B20 Club Member Spotlight: City of Fort Wayne
Delivering a better quality of life for residents. Reducing costs. Providing reliable services. For the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Director of Fleet Operations, Larry Campbell, the objectives of running a city fall right in line with the benefits of biodiesel. That’s why they started their transition to B20 and beyond almost two decades ago.
“When I came to the city, the mayor was very into green initiatives and wanted to lower our carbon footprint,” says Campbell. “So we started experimenting with biodiesel in June 2003 and were full bore into B20 by January 2004.”
Today Fort Wayne runs 380 pieces of equipment on B20, including fire trucks, snowplow trucks, specialist trucks like sewer cleaners, sewer jetters, excavators, backhoes, pavers and all kinds of construction equipment.
Campbell says that because biodiesel can be used in any diesel engine, the transition was easy. “Biodiesel is a drop-in replacement for petroleum diesel. It’s simple to do and needs no costly modifications,” reports Campbell.
One of the key drivers in the decision to make the switch to biodiesel was to reduce emissions and help create better air quality for the residents of Fort Wayne.
“Biodiesel is the easiest thing we can do to reduce emissions,” Campbell notes. “It is a liquid petroleum that has the lowest exhaust and tailpipe emissions. We have a rural area around us, and [cleaner air] benefits farmers and our local economy.”
And when you’re talking city operations, budget is always a top priority. So the City of Fort Wayne relies on biodiesel to help them provide necessary services within their means.
“As a municipality we want to be one of the leaders moving forward but within our limited budget”, says Campbell. “We want to make the best alternative fuel choices for the dollars. B20 is the same price or lower than diesel fuel. Makes it a no-brainer for me as a fleet director.”
The decision to join the B20 Club was an equally simple decision for Campbell.
“B20 Club puts us in that leadership position. We want to be leaders when it comes to air quality and running our city the right way. And the B20 Club helps us do that.”
For those thinking about making the transition to biodiesel, Campbell advises that you don’t have to jump into B20 right away. You can implement biodiesel through a phased approach.
“You don’t have to go full B100 or even B20 right away. You can start with B5, then step up to B10 and then ramp up to B20.”
Learn more about how B20 helps the City of Fort Wayne reach their operational goals.
