Air Hydro Power Ranks in Top 50 Fastest-Growing Louisville Companies

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Air Hydro Power - 50 Fastest AwardBusiness First celebrated the Louisville area’s 50 fastest-growing companies today at their 15th annual Fast 50 awards luncheon. Not only did Air Hydro Power make the TOP 50 list of the fastest growing companies, they are ranked #40 among them! Air Hydro Power participated in the Fast 50 program for the first time in 2013 and were ranked #41.

The Fast 50 is open to independent and privately held companies in the Louisville area. To be eligible, firms had to have an average of at least $1 million in revenue for the three most recent years; be based in Bullitt, Henry, Jefferson, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer or Trimble counties in Kentucky, or Clark, Floyd, Harrison or Washington counties in Indiana; and have a three-year operating sales history.

 

Ryder Signs Its Largest Natural Gas Lease Deal in North America with C.A.T.

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MIAMI, Oct 24, 2014 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Ryder System, Inc. R, -0.41% a leader in commercial fleet management and supply chain solutions, announced today that C.A.T. Inc. (formally Canadian American Transportation, Inc.) has signed a full-service lease agreement for 100 compressed natural gas (CNG) sleeper tractors. This is Ryder’s first natural gas lease customer in Canada and its largest single natural gas vehicle customer to date. C.A.T., a truckload carrier based in Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, Canada, will use the trucks in its delivery fleet that travels from Montreal, Canada to Laredo, Texas. C.A.T. has served the shipping public between Canada and the United States since 1978 and provides transportation services to major corporations within the automotive, food, beverage, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and electronic industries. Ryder will also provide maintenance for the 100 CNG vehicles from Ryder’s Montreal, Canada service facility, which is being upgraded for compliance with natural gas standards.

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First Natural Gas GM Pickups with 5.3L Engines Delivered in Texas

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HOUSTON, Oct 22, 2014 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Nat G CNG Solutions announced today that it has delivered the first natural gas half-ton pickup trucks with General Motors’ 5.3 liter direct injection engine. The 2015 model vehicles were purchased by local Houston company NewTex Plumbing and San Antonio-based Pioneer Energy Services. GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado trucks for each fleet were upgraded to run on either natural gas or gasoline using the new DuraDrive DI natural gas system, supplied by Utah-based AGA Systems.

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TARC’s 40th Anniversary Celebration

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Transit Authority of River City (TARC) celebrated their 40th anniversary on November 10, 2014 at Union Station, 1000 W. Broadway in downtown Louisville at 2 pm. The commemoration included the unveiling of all-electric zero emission buses coming to Louisville. The addition of the new Proterra ZeroBus will replace outdated high polluting trolley vehicles that circulate free of charge through downtown routes.

TARC’s new ZeroBus is a fast-charging, all-electric bus that produces zero emissions, and with 10 new ZeroBus vehicles coming to Louisville, it will be one of the largest fleets in the country of this kind. The ZeroBus is powered by batteries located underneath the floor of the bus and can travel up to two hours while fully recharging on route in less than 10 minutes. An overhead system connected to the bus that links to a charger provides the vehicles with quick and easy charging ability on route.

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Yellow is the New Green in Crittenden County

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It’s not every day you see someone eating popcorn beside a tailpipe, but that’s exactly what Crittenden County Schools lead vehicle mechanic, Wayne Winters, did to demonstrate how clean the propane autogas that fuels their new school buses is. Compared to their diesel counterparts, the propane buses produce no particulate matter and have 98% less nitrogen oxides emissions – pollution that is linked to increased risk of stroke, heart attack, and respiratory problems.

The purchase of the new school buses was made possible by funding through the Kentucky Division for Air Quality’s (DAQ’s) Clean Diesel Grant Program, a competitive grant of federal funding to reduce diesel emissions in the Commonwealth.

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Mammoth Cave Supporting Alternative Fuel Vehicles

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Mammoth Cave National Park is sporting new “flowering flame” alternative fuel vehicle parking signage at the visitor center parking lot!

GM Recalling 3,196 Impco CNG Vans

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General Motors has initialed a safety recall of 3,196 model year 2011-2014 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana Vans converted to dedicated compressed natural gas operation by Impco Automotive.

“Some of these vehicles may have a CNG high pressure regulator that leaks natural gas,” GM told dealers last month. “This could cause an explosion or a fire if an ignition source is present.

“To correct this condition, dealers are to replace the regulator.”

GM and Impco began looking into the matter in March after learning from a fleet customer that a leaking regulator had been replaced on a CNG van in January.

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University of Louisville Brings Kentucky to the Forefront of Workplace Charging Challenge

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The University of Louisville (UofL) has become the first U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Workplace Charging Challenge (WCC) partner in the state of Kentucky. The Workplace Charging Challenge program aims to achieve a tenfold increase in the number of U.S. employers offering workplace charging in the next five years.

Employers involved in the Workplace Charging Challenge range in size, industry, and geography but strive for a common goal to advance the nation’s economic, environmental, and energy security by supporting electric vehicle technology and cutting petroleum use in transportation. Leading Kentucky’s WCC involvement, the University of Louisville, a Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition member, has joined a strong network of employers across the country who help determine best practices of workplace charging and are locally and nationally recognized for their efforts.Workplace Charging Challenge Logo

The University of Louisville’s Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department in the J.B. Speed School of Engineering has purchased 6 GE charging stations of which 4 are installed in the UofL Floyd Street Parking Garage. This important resource not only allows faculty, staff and students access to charging stations for their electric vehicles, but also provides a test bed for research related to the communication between the car, charging station and electric grid.

“What we look forward to doing here at the university is to show the Department of Energy how we are effectively and efficiently utilizing the charging stations, by eliminating any peak demand electric charges from the charging stations,” said John Naber, Associate Chair of the ECE in the University of Louisville’s Speed School if Engineering

ECE doctoral student Nick Jewell has been using an algorithm he has developed to predict the peak demand time of electricity usage on the UofL campus and remotely turn off the charging stations during this critical, cost sensitive time period.

“U of L is not placing a few EV’s and recording mileage, it is providing the hands on data to change the automotive industry,” said Melissa Howell, Executive Director, Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition (KCFC).