Every year, goverment agencies are to report on their use of alternative fuels per the EPAct. However, this other report from the GSA on federal vehicles has more detail: 82 pages on the government’s cars, trucks, SUVs, ambulances, and passenger vans. This even includes the military. There is good news in both reports.
In 2006, even though miles driven went up, gallons used went down. In other words, even government employees driving around on our dime will drive more efficiently when gas prices are high. And that becomes a lot of fuel: Five billion miles were driven. Almost 350 million gallons of gasoline (or for alternative fuels, what is known as the Common Gas Equivalent) were burned by these vehicles.
Also, the federal fleet is getting older. The average age of their SUVs is 5 years. This should mean that as the fleet gets replaced, more fuel efficient and more alternative fuel cars will be purchased. Most of the alternative fuel vehicles are E85 (that is can use a fuel mixture that is either 85% ethanol or standard gasoline). And 3.2 million gallons of gasoline were replaced by E85. That is a lot of gas. But it is not the 288 million gallons of gasoline used by the rest of the fleet.
Ironically, Homeland Security has the most light SUVS at around 12,000. I wonder how those reduce our dependence on foreign oil. I am sure there are other interesting facts in this report and I recommend it to anyone who wants to become an energy wonk.
