The city's fleet service's campaign to reduce emissions has put it into some rarified air.
The division earned a silver rating in the Fraser Basin Council's E3 Fleet program - making the city one of only three municipalities in the province to achieve the designation.
What's more, the level was reached on the program's first audit of the city.
"It's very uncommon when you get into your first audit to receive such a high designation," fleet services manager Scott Bone said. "The reason we got our silver was because of the many action plans and things that we've done."
The city signed on to the program in 2007, and since then has developed and implemented initiatives focused on greenhouse gas emissions, idling reduction, vehicle purchasing, alternative fuels and driver training.
"We've been using biodiesel in our fleet for the last four years. We now have two full-hydrid units in our fleet; we have a fully-integrated fuel management system, so that we can monitor and manage our fuel from the point it's been delivered to the point it's been used," Bone noted.
Perhaps the most relevant achievement from the taxpayer's point of view is that the division's $1.3-million fuel bill was reduced by $75,000 this past year.
"And that reduction was principally through our anti-idling program," Bone said.
The award was presented to fleet services employees during a noon-hour celebration last week.
The next step is to work towards gold and then platinum levels.
"Driver efficiency" will be a major goal in that effort, said Bone. "How people drive vehicles to save fuel, how people drive to minimize accidents and improve safety to them and the residents," he said.
