County of Ventura Vehicle Fleet Now Sustainable-Accredited!

The County of Ventura, CA is reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its fleet of vehicles, and lowering costs, by participating in NAFA's Sustainable Fleet Accreditation Program. The fleet earned its accreditation in early-January and has been recognized on the NAFA website for its achievement.

This program is designed to analyze and certify actions taken by fleets to positively affect the environment by improving air quality.

Fleet Services, a division of the General Services Agency, is overseeing the program for the County. They are proactively taking steps to monitor reductions in emissions and fuel usage while establishing benchmarks to track efficiency improvements.

"Recognition by NAFA for our sustainability efforts ensures we are headed in the right direction," said Peter Bednar, Ventura County Fleet Manager. "We are committed to ongoing improvements in our fleet such as the addition of more environmentally-friendly vehicles like the PHEV Volt from Chevrolet and the EV Ford Focus. Future improvements will involve telematics tracking to reduce fleet mileage and fuel consumption."

Maintaining a sustainable fleet is a comprehensive process. It includes training drivers to be more selective in their routes and drive at optimum speeds. Carefully scheduled maintenance ensures the County's vehicles are performing at peak efficiency, and new procedures such as an anti-idling policy will help to reduce emissions and fuel usage.

"NAFA's Sustainable Fleet Accreditation Program brings clarity, definition, and recognition to what sustainability means for our fleet," said Bednar. "The program is now the national standard for recognizing concrete improvements in air quality and their third-party oversight of what we're doing here will keep us a leader in improving our environment locally."

For more information on the NAFA Sustainable Fleet Accreditation Program, visit: www.NAFASustainable.org.