U.S. EPA Recognizes FPL With Clean Air Excellence Award
(Left to right: NAFA President and FPL Fleet Services Manager Claude Masters, CAFM;
and In-Home Technologies and Electric Vehicles Director Brian Hanrahan; and Janet McCabe, EPA Acting Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation.)
Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) announced on April 9 that it has been selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a 2014 recipient of its Clean Air Excellence Award, which honors innovative programs that benefit communities, the environment, and the economy.
NAFA President and FPL Fleet Services Manager Claude Masters, CAFM; and In-Home Technologies and Electric Vehicles Director Brian Hanrahan accepted the award on FPL’s behalf during the ceremonies held April 2 in Washington, D.C. The EPA recognized FPL's deployment of fuel-efficient vehicle
technology, which is an important part of the utility's overall efforts
to provide electric service to its 4.7 million customers throughout
Florida.
The event took place prior to Masters' announcement of NAFA's Sustainable Fleet Standard program on the opening day of the 2014 I&E in Minneapolis, MN, on April 8. (For more information, see the related article in this issue of NAFAConnection.) However, the serendipitous timing was not lost on NAFA's Chief Executive Officer Phillip Russo, CAE. "It absolutely proves that NAFA is moving in the right direction. The Sustainable Fleet Standard really comes from Claude's vision and the vision of other fleet professionals who not only see sustainability as viable, but essential. That the two (events) should fall so closely together just speaks to recognition of a reality that is in front of the business world, and a position NAFA wants to be at the vanguard of."
The company's typical 1,000-kwh residential customer bill has been the lowest among Florida's fifty-five electric utilities and approximately twenty-five percent below the national average for the past five years straight. At the same time, the company's power plant system continues to be one of the cleanest emissions profiles among utilities nationwide due largely to investments in high-efficiency natural gas-fired generation, emissions-free nuclear power, and large-scale solar energy centers.
Since 2001, FPL states its investments in the efficiency of its power plants have saved customers more than $6.5 billion on fossil fuel costs and avoided more than sixty million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
FPL operates one of the largest clean "green" fleets in the nation with approximately 1,750 biodiesel-powered vehicles and 550 electric and hybrid electric vehicles. In 2013 alone, FPL's clean-vehicle fleet saved 682,000 gallons of petroleum fuel and prevented more than 6,800 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
