EBR Converting Vehicles to Natural Gas
On June 12, 2012 word began to spread that East Baton Rouge City Parish is planning to convert its fleet of Government vehicles to CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). The reasoning behind the move was to save money on fuel and reduce the amount of harmful emissions produced (see previous post WHO Declares Diesel Fumes Cancerous). More accurately – the City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge wants to investigate the potential of converting its over 1000 vehicle fleet to the use of Compressed Natural Gas. The vehicles they are considering converting are the DPW’s and City Administrative vehicles. The City/Parish determined they would like use the State Statue 33:4547 for Energy Efficiency Performance Contracting (EEPC) as the mechanism to convert their fleet. This Statue was designed primarily for improving energy efficiencies and related dollar savings in buildings, but this will be its first initial use as mechanism for CNG facilities and vehicle conversions.
The program is built around Energy Conservation Measures (ECM’s) as the basis of energy and costs savings. The intent of the program is for EEPC proposers to provide both CNG fueling facilities and vehicle conversions at no costs to the City/Parish while also providing a guaranteed annual savings over the life of the project based on the potential fuel costs savings due to use of CNG. The first step of the process was for the City/Parish to retain a Third-party Independent Consultant for Evaluation Services in conjunction with the selection of an Energy Service Company that will provide management and energy-related capital, equipment, and/or operational improvement services for the East Baton Rouge Parish DPW motor vehicle fleet.
The City/Parish advertised for consultants and selected Professional Engineering Consultants as the firm to serve as the Third part Independent Consultant. The firm’s scope of services to perform the duties of the “Third-party Evaluation Consultant” as provided in Louisiana Revised Statute 33:4547.1 et.seq., included:
- Work with the DPW Engineering office to review the DPW vehicle inventory, fuel usage records, fuel distribution facilities and assist in the development of a list of possible Energy Conservation Measures that can be included in a Request for Proposals (RFP). The selection of a Performance-Based energy Efficiency Contractor is to provide the design, installation, subsequent measurement and verification measures for reduction of fuel consumption in the estimated 2000 road and off road DPW‘s vehicle fleet.
- Review and evaluation of all proposals that may be submitted in response to the RFP.
- Assist the RFP selection committee in their review and evaluation of all proposals that may be submitted in response to the RFP.
- Submission of the results from our evaluation in an open meeting with the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council Capitol Improvement Committee.
- Attend the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council meeting to respond to questions or comments related to our evaluation.
- Assist the Department of Public Works in the negotiation process with the selected Contractor during the preparation of various performance estimates, monitoring and verification plans and other technical aspects of the contract, schedules and attachments.
The Contract is estimated to take over over 18 months for the first phase of construction of fueling facilities and vehicle conversions.
Related articles
- EBR converting vehicles to natural gas | Home | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA.
- East Baton Rouge is attempting to introduce natural gas vehicles (USGasVehicles.com)
