Animal fat – the nasty gloop that clogs up our arteries, yet makes fried chicken just so scrumptious! – has long been consider a source material to make fuel for diesel-powered cars and trucks, though its typically blended with traditional diesel. Now a company is making engine oil from such fats – but sans petroleum altogether.

Green Earth Technologies (GET) rolled out “G-OIL” late last year (around November to be precise), touted as a totally biodegradable motor oil guaranteed to protect engines – in this case both gasoline and diesel models – just as well as petroleum-based brands, but without the environmental hazards or dependence on foreign oil.

G-OIL is manufactured from tallow – culled from beef and once used to make animal feed and soap – that it buys from American farmers (note the stress on “American” here: they don’t miss a chance to tout that fact). The company uses nanotechnology to convert tallow from a solid raw material into completely biodegradable motor oil – making roughly one barrel of G-OIL from one barrel of animal tallow, as compared to the three barrels of petroleum needed to make one barrel of traditional engine oil.

This “green oil” product is currently undergoing a program of testing being conducted by an independent third party testing facility that uses (reportedly) testing procedures & guidelines established by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Thus far, the company says its product has successfully completed fiterability, ball bearing rust, sulfur, calcium, zinc and phosphorus tests, with the 10W-30 G-OIL’s results so far showing to be comparable to published data for synthetic and crude oil based motor oils.

Obviously, if this stuff works – and that’s a very BIG if … I have not yet found a fleet that uses it, let me stress – it could be a major deal. I mean, the U.S. market for motor oil – cars and trucks combined – is just north of $7 billion a year. Imagine if we didn’t need to use petroleum to make one drop of engine oil, yet get all the wear protection and viscosity a long-haul commercial truck demands?

And imagine also if this stuff congealed into gloop similar to what clogs up our arteries, only in your engine cylinders? That would spell disaster in a hurry. So yes, this stuff needs to be tested as rigorously as any new product, in this case against Society of Automotive Engineer and Technology & Maintenance Council standards.

But still … wouldn’t it be great if this worked? If wasted animal fast could be recycled into engine oil? It’s an enticing possibility. We’ll have to see if it comes to fruition here down the road.

“This is not a must-win situation: This is a football game. Now, World War II, THAT was a must-win situation.” –Marv Levy, former head coach of the Buffalo Bills

There’s a growing discussion of late over the viability of biofuels – ethanol, biodiesel, etc. – and their potential long-range impact on the globe. Some rightfully wonder if we’re trading our problematic dependence on petroleum for a new complex set of issues, with the agricultural needs of our food supply being in direct competition with our fuel supply if we start switching to biofuels en masse.

Ethanol currently relies heavily on corn and water for producing this fuel for example, so until efficient processes come on line to make ethanol from agricultural waste, landfill glob, and other unsavory byproducts, the debate over the future of biofuels will get only more intense.

Which of course misses the whole point. We need SOME sort of fuel to power trucks, cars, planes and the other motorized creations that support life on this planet of six billion souls. And we’ve got to find a way to do that with a fuel that pollutes less than petroleum and divorces at long last from reliance from the Middle East. What to do?

Here’s an example of creative thinking in this direction: the California Secure Transportation Energy Partnership (CalSTEP), launched a year ago this month, outlined a comprehensive set of actions geared toward increasing California’s transportation energy efficiency and alternative fuel use by 2020. Developed over 18 months, the CalSTEP Action Plan aims to grow that state’s economy while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on petroleum at the same time – a tall order, to be sure.

Based on a partnership of industry, government, academic and non-profit leaders from automakers to conservation groups, the plan targets three key areas where the state can take action to secure its energy future: increasing vehicular efficiency; diversifying the state’s fuel supply; and reducing the overall need to drive. One of its overall goals is to reduce petroleum use by 15% percent, while increasing alternative fuel use to 20% over the next 12 years.

Most interesting are the two key facets upon which CalSTEP is based: 1) That no single action is sufficient to address the state’s challenges in transportation energy. 2) That the state can take meaningful action independent of the federal government to buffer itself from the ill effects of excess petroleum consumption.

CalSTEP encourages California state leaders to consider and take actions in three primary and seven supporting area, with those three primary actions accounting for the bulk of the benefits in terms of reducing petroleum use and cutting global warming emissions. They include:

Alternative Fuel Portfolio Standard (AFPS) – a market-based approach for increasing alternative fuel use through fuel blending, dedicated use, and/or credit trading. Goals would be 10% alternative fuels by 2012 and 20% by 2020.

Smart Communities – a program to spark more transportation energy efficient community design and development that sets goals for reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by 10% by 2020 in California’s urban regions and rewards communities who achieve who this goal.

Energy Security Tax Relief and Realignment (ESTRR) – a program to help protect Californians and investors against foreign oil price volatility and gaming that would use a revenue-neutral foreign oil security fee coupled with a rebate to all taxpayers to encourage the long-term production of and investment in efficient vehicle technologies.

Supporting efforts include expanding alternative fueling stations and vehicles, fund and commit the state’s fleets to setting the standard for the use of efficient vehicles and alternative fuels, spur the development and deployment of more efficient vehicles, technologies, and fuels, help communities plan for transportation energy efficiency, and offer rewards to motorists who choose to drive less.

What’s most intriguing to me about this plan is how comprehensive it is: look at the way it suggests managing overall energy and transportation use, to the point of offering monetary rewards for less consumption. That “carrot” approach could spur a lot of change with the public, especially when compared to the rise on gasoline and diesel prices of late. And when you look at projected petroleum consumption figures for the Golden State – 23 billion gasoline gallon equivalents (BGGE) for all on-road vehicles by 2020 – it’s easy to see how large fuel costs could become if a new direction isn’t taken.

Will this plan succeed? That’s a tough question. But at least it’s start – at least transportation and energy needs are now out on the table in clear view with potential, if not ultimately practical, solutions. That’s the first critical step in getting a handle on our future energy and transportation needs, before they start controlling us.

No business can survive without profits, of course, but boy is it hard to be profitable in trucking these days. I mean, take a look a Van Buren, AR-based truckload carrier USA Truck: they made a net profit of $120,000 for ALL of 2007, on earnings of $391.2 million, due in large part of rising costs and increased competition for less freight, meaning rates took a hit.

“A challenging freight environment characterized by the continued imbalance between freight demand and industry capacity constrained revenue volume,” said Cliff Beckham, the carrier’s president and CEO. “Much of [our] improved operational efficiency was offset by intense competition in the marketplace that drove our trucking revenue per loaded mile down 2.8%. Overall, base revenue per tractor per week improved, but not enough to overcome increased costs.”

Controlling costs is in many ways the big hurdle for trucking today – high fuel prices, rising equipment costs, the need to boost wages and benefits to attract and keep drivers, are all inescapable factors impacting profitability these days, but they are not unfamiliar issues at all.

Professor Jerry Osteryoung with the college of business at Florida State University had some thoughts recently on dealing with profitability issues, and while his thoughts below address the business community very broadly, I think carriers can glean some useful ideas from him. Professor Osteryoung, the floor is yours …

“I have seen too many businesses focus on building up sales and, in the meantime, lose track of profits. Sure, you need sales to produce profits, but sales alone cannot bring them in. In fact, you can very easily have sales without profits.

The most successful entrepreneurs know how each of their decisions is going to affect the bottom line. Intuitively, they know that if they do not focus on profits, they will lose them. As I once had printed on some t-shirts, ‘Happiness is a positive cash-flow.’ Without profits, a business is no fun.

Okay, so clearly, profits are important. Now, how do you increase yours? There are 10 secrets to increasing your business’ profits. I will cover each individually, but instead of thinking of them as independent of each other, consider them parts of a whole. The application of all 10 is what will lead to higher profits.

If you want to improve profits by $10,000 (with a 5% net profit margin), you really have two options: improve sales by $200,000, or reduce costs by $10,000. Which is easier? Of course, reducing expenses is the way to go. Any amount you save as a result of these reductions goes straight to the bottom line. Therefore, the first secret to improving your profits is scrutinizing each and every expense to determine if any can be reduced.

There are so many ways to reduce expenses. When I assist a business, I am usually able to easily cut expenses by 10 to 15%. When evaluating each expense, ask yourself, ‘Am I paying too much for this?’ and ‘Do I even need this expense anymore?’ Some of the glaring examples of expenses that can be easily reduced are cell phones, insurance, office supplies and unproductive advertising.

Having great staff makes managing a company fun and worthwhile; therefore, the second secret to having great profits is hiring the right staff. There are three criteria that you need to consider when hiring staff: motivation, people skills and character. Notice that I have not mentioned anything about technical skills or training. You can give staff training and teach them technical skills. You cannot, however, teach motivation, people skills and character. Instead, you must hire candidates that already possess these attributes.

The third secret of profitability is consistently providing outstanding customer service. The best practices of corporations say that 90% of any business’ sales should come from existing customers. Outstanding customer service, which I define as consistently exceeding expectations, is how you get these return customers.

As I like to say, advertising is a means of attracting new customers, whereas customer service is a means of advertising to existing customers. When you think of it this way, it is easy to see how important great customer service really is. For instance, telling a customer that you will be out in two hours to empty their dumpster and then failing to show destroys trust. Compounding the damage, news about bad service spreads as the customer inevitably tells 20 other folks. News about great service will travel too, so it is important to concentrate on giving customers something good to say.

The fourth secret of profitability is ‘incentivizing’ as many workers as possible. Worker incentives allow employees to make money when the business makes money. The more you can create congruence between individual workers and the goals of the business, the higher your profits. On countless occasions, I have seen entrepreneurs double their profits as a result of implementing worker incentives. Everyone is happy since, in the process, the employees make more money as well. Incentives work!

The fifth secret is taking great vacations. Of course you have to work hard, but you also need to ensure that you have balance in your life.

I am convinced that the most successful entrepreneurs truly understand income statements and balance sheets; therefore, the sixth secret of profitability is making sure that you understand your financials. Sure, your accountant might be responsible for producing your monthly financials, but you must be able to interpret the numbers. Along similar lines, every business needs to have a budget. A budget is the roadmap for achieving your goals.

The seventh secret of profitability is finding a mentor. Empirical data has proven that mentoring leads to improved profitability. A mentor’s knowledge and skills add so much value, and all it takes to get one is having the courage to ask someone. Most people are honored to be a mentor.

The eighth secret of profitability is working smarter, not harder. Working long hours is not the solution to success. The solution to success is doing those things that have the highest value to your business. With each task, you need to ask yourself, ‘Should a CEO or a manager be doing this?’ I have seen too many CEOs get caught up in routine tasks only to have the most important tasks fall by the wayside.

The ninth secret is focusing on time management. The most important thing you have is your time, and you need to make sure you use it as wisely as possible. Having a plan with goals and objectives to accomplish each day is critical. Focus only on those tasks that are both important and urgent. This helps you identify where you need to spend your time.

Furthermore, the number one killer of time is interruptions. The more you can do to stop them, the better. It is okay not to be available all of the time. Allowing yourself to be unavailable gives you time to tackle the things that are important and urgent.

The final secret of profitability is watching every single advertising dollar. I find more money wasted in this area than in any other. You must ensure that your advertising expenses are outcome-driven. That is, you must be able to measure the effectiveness of every advertising dollar. If you cannot, you will not know if you are spending your money wisely.

The average firm spends 3% to 5% of its revenue on advertising. However, limiting your spending to this range is not enough. You must make sure that every cent is effectively spent.”

By the way, Professor Jerry Osteryoung can be reached by e-mail at jostery@comcast.net or by phone at 850-644-3372.

So it seems the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s risky of move of not changing its new hours of service (HOS) formula may be paying off, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit late last week denied motions filed by the Teamsters and Public Citizen to toss them out.

You may remember that a lawsuit filed by Public Citizen and the Teamster put the FMCSA’s new HOS rules – 11 hours of driver time within a 14-hour duty period, after which truckers must go off duty for at least 10 hours, with a 34-hour restart provision – in limbo last year. The court found the feds hadn’t properly documented the safety aspects of the new rules, so FMCSA went back and pulled together reams of new safety data they said showed the revised HOS rules worked. The feds submitted that data to the court late last year, and now it seems the court agrees with the FMCSA on this.

“Government and industry safety data clearly indicate that the current rules are working in terms of driver health, truck safety, and overall highway safety,” said Bill Graves, president and CEO for the American Trucking Association, which has supported the new rules. “[They’ve] been in force for four years and safety has improved over this time period.”

FMCSA noted that, in 2006, the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled was 1.94 - the lowest rate ever recorded. Similarly, since 2003, the percentage of large trucks involved in fatigue-related fatal crashes in the 11th hour of driving has remained below the average of the years 1991-2002. In 2005 alone, the agency noted, there was only one large truck involved in a fatigue-related fatal crash in the 11th hour of driving while in 2004 there were none.

In addition, between 2003, when the 11-hour driving limit and the 34-hour restart were adopted, and 2006, the percent of fatigue-related large truck crashes relative to all fatal large truck crashes has remained consistent, FMCSA said – adding that estimates show that only 7% of large truck crashes are fatigue related.

“The data makes clear that these rules continue to protect drivers, make our roads safer and keep our economy moving,” said FMCSA Administrator John Hill, last year, when the agency submitted its new findings to the court.

However, the court’s ruling doesn’t mean HOS is home free by any means. The 11-hour drive time and 34-hour restart provision – the most controversial parts of the rule, both of which the court specifically put in limbo last summer – only get to stay in place while FMCSA collects additional safety data, secures comments from interested parties, and subjects its scientific analyses to peer review as it seeks to turn this from an interim final rule into a done deal.

Also, the opposition – and the Teamsters in particular – don’t plan to give up without a fight. “We will continue to fight this dangerous rule, though the court refused to intervene this time,” said Jimmy Hoffa, the Teamster’s general president, in a statement. “This was a procedural ruling that does nothing to support the Bush administration’s justification for letting tired truck drivers spend even more time behind the wheel.”

But at least at this point, current HOS regulations are going to stay in place – crossing a significant legal hurdle that could ultimately lead to them becoming a permanent part of the trucking landscape.

You trundle down Route 5 long enough in James County, VA, and you’ll hit the James River – a broad expanse of water where some of the very first colonists made their home in the once and future United States 400 years ago at the appropriately-named Jamestown nearby.

However, the highway doesn’t end here – it can’t, frankly, for it picks up on the other side of the river outside Surry, VA, about five miles downstream. To connect those two disparate highway halves is where the ferries come in – the only 24/7 ferry system operating in the Commonwealth of Virginia today.

I take my family on the Jamestown-Scotland ferry several times a year (so-called because the ferry departs from the Jamestown and Scotland Wharf pier on the Surry side of the river, hence the use of the name ‘Scotland’ in its title) but the four craft plying their trade down here aren’t built for joyrides. Operated by a staff of 90 from the Virginia Department of Transportation (which has run the ferry system since 1945), these low, flat, bulky water craft form a critical commuter and freight link over the James River, shuttling tractor-trailers, contractors, and everyday folks going from home to job and back again every day.

Four ferries navigate the 15-minute run over the James River: the Pocahontas, built in 1995, which carries 70 cars; the Surry, built in 1979, which carries 50 cars; the Williamsburg, built in 1983, which carries 50 cars; and the Virginia, built in 1936 and still running strong, handles just 28 cars.

While it’s surely a scenic trip – the seagulls effortlessly tracking the wakes of the big ships, as the river slowly undulates away from the bows – security is tight. In 2004, new, security measures went into effect, resulting in armed guards patrolling both docks, carefully screening cars and trucks to prevent dangerous substances and devices from boarding the ferry – all in accordance with the Maritime Transportation Security Act, These measures include checking picture IDs of the driver and passengers, plus comprehensive inspections of vehicles, including under the hood, trunk and undercarriage, along with cargo trailers.

Ah, but it’s done with professionalism and class, with the guards patiently explaining the procedures to those who ask, making sure delays are kept to a minimum. They wave at the kids and are very polite to one and all, staying civil and courteous in spite of the serious nature of their work.

Like big trucks, the ferries wade back and forth on their route, with the skilled helmsmen docking them so expertly that they bump the dock with barely a tremor or ripplein the water. The ramps raise up to link with the dock, and then we file off slowly, winding our ways – freight carriers and tourists alike – to our various destinations. Until another day and another trip across the river.

“We continue to believe that FedEx Ground’s owner-operators are properly classified, and the business remains fundamentally strong.” –Frederick Smith, chairman, president and CEO of FedEx Corp.

Rarely has much money hinged on two small words – “proper classification.” As I noted in an earlier blog entry, the Internal Revenue Service believes FedEx has misclassified the independent contractors working for the company’s FedEx ground division – some 15,000 people nationwide – and has slapped the company with a $319 million tax penalty for the year 2002 alone. The industry analysis I’ve seen so far puts FedEx’s total financial liability in this tax battle with the IRS between $1 billion and $2.5 billion.

That’s some big, big money, even for FedEx, which earned a cool $479 million on $9.45 billion in revenue during its second fiscal quarter of 2008 ALONE.

FedEx staunchly believes it’s in the right here – that the independent contractor model it inherited when it purchased Roadway Package Service) almost 10 years ago is still valid. But the courts may be starting to see this differently – especially at the state level.

A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit recently upheld a grant of class certification by the U.S. District Court in Indiana in case involving FedEx Ground driver claims for employee benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and other state claims. FedEx is also doing away with its independent contractor model in California, where is faced similar setbacks in the courts.

FedEx noted rather strongly following the 7th circuit’s ruling that the court did not rule on the validity of its contractor model and has not decided class certification in any other multi-district litigation case. But the court’s decision has cleared the way for the contractor model to get debated.

But Smith is adamant that none of this is going to change how the company does business, at least so far. “This procedural ruling does not change any aspect of the FedEx Ground operation and we will continue to provide the world-class service our customers have come to expect,” he said in a statement to the press following the court’s decision.

“FedEx recognizes its ground-contractor model faces challenges on several fronts, [but] we continue to aggressively address these issues, and we have strong defenses to these challenges … it is business as usual at FedEx Ground,” he added.

One thing is for certain in all of this: It will be interesting to see where this goes and what impact it may have in store for long-haul owner-operators in the truckload sector.

“Insanity is doing what you’ve always done, the way you’ve always done it, and expecting things to get better.” –Bill Abberger.

There’s been a slowly building tsunami of events reshaping the truckload market as we know it over the last decade and as a result carriers are being forced to radically re-examine their operations to stay profitable and remain viable entities for the future.

Werner Enterprises nicely outlined many of the issues that are causing such a dynamic shift in the way truckload carriers must do business today in its year-earnings report. Now, being a publicly traded company, the company stresses that it’s only addressing these issues in terms of its own personal outlook – not in any way trying to draw a picture for the whole industry. Still, it’s worth looking at how these trends reshaping Werner’s business are indeed doing the same for the truckload industry as a whole.

“The year 2007 proved to be extremely challenging for the trucking industry and Werner Enterprises, as the downturn in the housing sector and the increased truck capacity that resulted from the 2007 truck pre-buy were among several key factors that contributed to a soft freight market,” the company said in its earnings report.

“By far, the most challenged of our asset-based divisions in 2007 was our medium-to-long-haul Van fleet, which is our irregular route, 48-state, solo driver fleet,” the carrier continued. “While the current weakness in freight volumes can be attributed to recent trends, freight volumes over the past decade in the medium-to-long-haul Van fleet have been affected by several factors.”

Those factors include:

· The continuing decline in length of haul due to the regionalization of freight by the big box retailers.

· The rapid growth of imported products shipped through ports using ocean containers that carry goods intact into the domestic U.S. Although a very high percentage of these ocean containers are currently transported empty back to the ports, this cost structure is beginning to change as railroad and ocean carrier contracts are renewed. This change could lead to more transload opportunities from the ports if freight shifts away from intact container shipments to truckload trailer shipments.

· Growth within the intermodal sector.

Because of these longer and shorter-term trends, the relative size of Werner’s medium-to-long-haul dry van fleet has dramatically changed over the past 10 years. Back in December 1997, the carrier said its medium-to-long-haul Van fleet was approximately 58% (3,100 trucks) of its total fleet size. Today, following fleet downsizing in November 2007, Werner’s medium-to-long-haul dry van fleet numbers 2,250 trucks – but that accounts for only about 27% of its total fleet now. From mid-March to December 2007, Werner effectively reduced its medium-to-long-haul fleet by 750 trucks.

But that’s not the whole story. Werner is also totally reorganizing how its different divisions support one another in the market – for, in the carrier’s own words, while it remains difficult to earn an adequate rate of return on assets and operating margin measured solely on its own, the value of the medium-to-long-haul dry van fleet to Werner is greater than the sum of its parts.

Werner said its regional fleets (shorter length of haul van capacity based in five specific geographic regions) rely on our medium-to-long-haul dry van fleet freight base for additional volumes, equipment maintenance routing, equipment replacement cycles, and weekend mileage production. Freight volumes in Werner’s regional fleets gradually improved during 2007 – supporting the 20% fleet growth that occurred during fourth quarter of 2006.

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The carrier’s expedited “Team Werner” operation (longer-haul, time-sensitive, team driver service) also relies on the medium-to-long-haul dry van fleet for pre-staging of expedited shipments, repositioning team trucks into critical team lanes, and utilizing our medium-to-long-haul dry van freight base to help smooth their freight volumes. Werner noted its expedited division experienced 18% growth during 2007.

Finally, Werner’s dedicated fleet – assets under contract for the sole purpose and use of the customer – also relies on our medium-to-long-haul dry van fleet for flex trucks and surge capacity for our dedicated customers, especially due to its ability to rapidly place hundreds of trucks in a geographic region to meet the needs of dedicated customers. “Our dedicated fleet also relies on our medium-to-long-haul [dry] van freight base to fill backhaul lanes, thereby limiting empty miles and reducing costs for our dedicated customers,” Werner said.

All of this helps Werner’s effort to further diversify its service offerings – thus minimizing the impact cyclical swings in truckload demand can have on its bottom line. Today, Werner said its dedicated operations account for 35% of its overall revenues, with Mexico and Canada international shipments accounting 9% of revenues, and logistics through our value added services [VAS] division making up 11% of revenue. “[That] helped soften the impact of a less favorable freight market in fourth quarter 2007, while providing increased service offerings to our customers,” Werner reported. “We intend to continue to diversify and grow dedicated, international truckload and VAS.”

It’s tough to adapt to the huge market shifts going on in the truckload sector today, but Werner certainly seems ahead of the game in terms of re-orienting itself to benefit from all the business changes occurring right now.

OK. So the Dow Jones index has plunged nearly 500 points as I sit down to write this. The U.S. economy is clearly in a recession now as stock values have dropped close to 20% since last fall – the big red flag in every economist’s handbook that indicates a recession’s presence. In fact, stock markets all over the world are getting slammed this week – London’s fell nearly 5.5%, Germany’s dropped 7.16%, Japan’s is off 3.86%, and even China watched stock values slide over 5%. It’s clearly bad all over.

But I am going to push all that off to the side for a moment, because, frankly, the worth of humanity isn’t tied up in stocks, bonds, indexes and other numbers. Sure, they make life easier or harder – depending on which way the balances swing – but they don’t determine who and what we are, especially in moments of crisis. Will we panic? Will we stand on the sidelines and watch? Or will we cinch the belts a little tighter and get ready to dig ourselves out of this mess?

Me, I vote for option three for I see it in operation much of the time. Here’s a small example from this morning. A woman gets a flat tire out near my youngest daughter’s preschool. I stop to help out. Before a few minutes have passed, so does a Fairfax County police officer. He puts on his emergency lights to warn traffic, then without pause begins to change her tire. He could have told me to do it, could have let her husband do it (he arrived in short order after his wife called him via cellphone). But he just jumped in and got it done – see problem, apply solution, wipe hands, have a nice day. Fairfax’s finest at work.

Stuff like that, even though it’s small scale, helps keep my faith in humankind at a high level. In fact, it goes on pretty frequently all over the world – neighbor helping neighbor, stranger helping stranger – but of course that isn’t dramatic enough for TV or print journalism these days.

There are exceptions, of course: The Washington Post wrote a nice front-page story a while back (above the fold no less!) about two twin doctors who – on their own – flew to Afghanistan in a plane they rented, choked full of supplies bought on their nickel, to provide medical services in the dusty remote villages of that mountainous war-torn country. They got robbed, they got threatened, they even had to beg for protection from local drug lords so they could help people they didn’t even know.

So, yes, we’ve got some very tough days ahead as the global economy is poised for backward slide that a lot of well-paid experts didn’t think would happen. But there’s enough resilience and willing hands out there to help us get through them.

“Thinking green can no longer be a choice in the business world when looking toward the future. Smart businesses are looking over the horizon, and understand that the risks and opportunity associated with this critical issue must be part of their overall plan to grow and to be successful in the future.” –Lt. Governor John Garamendi, California.

California’s LG made that comment at an event highlighting national grocery chain Safeway Inc.’s move to fuel its entire 1,000 unit trucking fleet with biodiesel. And while this is ostensibly being touted for its clean air benefits – reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 75 million pounds annually, the equivalent of taking nearly 7,500 passenger vehicles off the road each year – there’s also a big energy saving benefit here, as by using B20 in its trucks (a blend of 20% biodiesel and 80% regular diesel) Safeway will be reducing petroleum consumption.

Now, sure, Safeway isn’t cutting diesel use dramatically here, and frankly, if it really wanted to show its “green” chops they’d go to 100% biodiesel (labeled B100) fuel. But that brings maintenance and performance headaches – especially in cold weather – and supplies of pure B100 aren’t easy to get on a national basis.

Still, it’s a start – and frankly, this is the way we’ve got to start approaching energy efficiency efforts not only in trucking but also as a nation. If we can just cut petroleum use a little bit here and over there, we’ll see some big gains over time.

Again, let’s look at Safeway for example. Not only are they switching to biodiesel, the company is participating in the Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transportation Partnership, which commits Safeway to establishing a baseline fuel efficiency of its fleet, as well as implement a plan to decrease carbon emissions. Those efficiencies, which include purchasing trailers with large capacity, have saved more than 6.5 million gallons of diesel fuel and decreased carbon emissions by 73,000 tons annually to date.

Under another EPA partnership, Safeway has agreed to purchase 78 million kilowatt hours in the form of wind energy every year for over 50 stores and some 300 fuel stations: the equivalent, according to EPA’s calculations, to avoiding more than 85 million pounds of carbon dioxide, comparable to planting more than 10,500 acres of trees. Another 24 stores are using solar energy to feed their power needs, while other energy-saving strategies – such as installing new energy-efficient refrigeration technology and freezer systems and utilizing LED (light emitting diode) lighting – are further reducing overall electricity usage for the company.

Pursuing all of these energy-reduction efforts simultaneously is also going to save the $40.2 billion grocer some money, too – how much they won’t say, but I think over time as diesel and electricity get more expensive, it could be pretty significant.

And don’t forget one other big plus here – the public relations benefit. “This investment in utilizing cleaner-burning technologies to operate our trucking fleet reflects our strong commitment to protecting the environment,” said Joe Pettus, Safeway’s senior VP for energy operations. “Our customers care about these types of sustainability issues, and we are proud to be a leader in environmental best practices.”

You can be sure Safeway will tout its “green activities” to its customers and the general public as much as possible – and why not? It’s another way to get some more mileage out of its conservation efforts – a strategy trucking could put to good use as well, too, I think.

“They’re actually trying to pass snow plows, which is not a good idea.” Deborah Cox, spokesperson for the Virginia State Police.

I love winter, especially when it snows – but oh how I HATE to drive in it! And the quote from Mrs. Cox above, given to the Washington Post newspaper, sums up why pretty well, I think.

Snow in my neck of the woods (the Washington D.C. metropolitan area) almost always results in a variety of transportation nightmares. We’ve come a long way in terms of snow control strategies – trucks are now always out on the side of the road ahead of storm, large or small, with plows and sand/salt spreaders at the ready – but we STILL can’t figure out how to drive in the white stuff.

First thing, of course, is NOT to drive if you don’t have to. Unfortunately, I had to when we got some three inches of snow yesterday – there are no buses for my preschooler to use. But so many people were out running to the shopping mall, the grocery store, and lord knows what else that it crowded up the slick and snowy streets to a high degree.

Then there’s the real idjits, who go barreling along at 50 to 60 mph – in SUVs, minivans, even high-tined Lexus sedans – like it’s a sunny spring day. PEOPLE! Cars SLIDE in snow; the traction is reduced exponentially. If you drive SLOWER and don’t make violent lane changes (like you’re in turn three at Talladega, trying to pass Jeff Gordon) you might’ve avoided that ditch, telephone pole, and tree – much less the other cars crowded next to you.

Maryland State Police Sgt. M. McGuire told the Post that his force handled five times as many wrecks as usual due to all the brainless driving going on, “People are just in a hurry [and] they think they can go as fast as they always do,” he told the paper. Charles County Maryland reported 22 car wrecks in four hours due to poor driving combined with the weather.

It’s frustrating because I see the same behavior every single time it snows around here. In 2006, I had to drive to the airport in one hell of a February blizzard, following a convoy of trucks (tractor-trailers and snow plows) in the right hand lane on the Capitol Beltway going about 35 mph. Folks came whipping up behind us at 65 mph or more, fishtailing around us with near misses galore. And WHY for goodness sakes? What is so important that you need to go flying down a slick highway in whiteout conditions, when you KNOW there will be slow traffic ahead?

In short, where are everyone’s brains these days when they get behind the wheel?

You know, there’s a saying stenciled on the back of every tractor-trailer operated by Giant Foods, one of the big grocery chains in our area: “Careful driving is a civic duty.” Wish more drivers out there would follow that mantra, especially in the snow.