LAS VEGAS — There are few truckers that don’t want to be greener. The problem, made clear by many carriers at the American Trucking Associations’ conference in Las Vegas yesterday, is balancing environmental responsibility with the price tag.

"Sustainability" can only work for the environment if it works for your bottom line too, agreed a quartette of fleet owners who have had great success implementing a myriad of environmentally friendly programs and made a few bucks along the way.

Speaking to a packed auditorium of ATA carriers and delegates, Douglas Duncan, president and CEO of FedEx Freight, admitted that there’s no such thing as a one-green-truck-fits-all approach. His company had to test more than a handful of technologies and programs before settling on a green strategies package that worked for FedEx.

Or, as he put it, "you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince."

Still, environmental royalty is notoriously high maintenance and pricey. So is it all worth it? There’s no question about it, says Duncan, as long as a particular green roadmap fits into a company’s culture and applications.

FedEx has saved millions of dollars in fuel by spec’ing anti-idling systems, aerodynamic devices like fairings and roof deflectors, and wide-base single tires. 

At the shop, FedEx uses solar panels to harvest energy during the day, which is used to power facilities at night — the time when they’re most active. 

Everyone wants to go green, until
they’re presented with the bill

The company is also a leader in testing new alternative energy equipment. Duncan says current hybrids don’t cut it in over-the-road applications, but emerging "plug-and-play" hybrids look more promising. 

As well, engineering prospects in natural gas and hydrogen fuel cells look very promising. He admits the lack of fuel infrastructure is an ongoing roadblock, but when a technology’s largest emissions output is water, there’s plenty of ROI potential in this sector. 

Doug Stotlar, president and CEO of Con-way, has researched and implemented many of the same technologies at his LTL fleet. He also has his trailers "remanufactured" and once they’re truly at the end of their life cycle, dismantles them and recycles the aluminum and other materials. 

Meanwhile, he says many customers are starting to ask for details on the carrier’s green strategies in the RFP process. "To date, many are unwilling to pay for this," he said, inviting chuckles from around the room, "but, more often, it amounts to table stakes (in securing) contracts."

Patrick Quinn’s Tennessee-based U.S. Xpress has somewhat of a homefield advantage in uncovering the most innovative fuel saving technologies and practices, he explained. 

The University of Chattanooga’s SimCenter partners with the carrier in studying — with NASA and military computer models and simulators — the newest developments in aerodynamics and green engineering. 

Quinn said that fuel-efficient equipment and devices are vital these days because newer 2007 engines — although they’ve all but eliminated particulate matter — gave up some fuel economy. "The key is to get back what we lost and then go beyond that," he said.

During question period, one delegate in the audience brought the discussion back to the shipper, arguing that for most smaller fleets to be able to go green they need buy in, literally, from customers too.

The panelists generally agreed, but, as Duncan argued, eventually truckers will have to step up on their own just like they have done with industry benchmarks of the past.

"We used to have this same argument about safety. Do you want to be safe or efficient? Well, (the industry) wanted to be both and we did it, making us more competitive globally in the (long-run)."