Erie County, New York, launches renewable diesel pilot program

Photo: Erie County, New York

Erie County, New York, announced Sept. 24 that it has launched a renewable diesel pilot program for the county public works department.

First announced by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz at his 2024 state of the county address, the pilot program will test renewable diesel in three public-works vehicles and, if successful, will roll out the program to the entire fleet.

Baseline tests were also conducted with petroleum diesel, according to the county. 

“Erie County is committed to reducing our greenhouse-gas emissions and renewable diesel is a promising alternative fuel that can not only significantly cut those emissions but is also drop-in ready for current diesel engines, so no new trucks or infrastructure is needed for this pilot program,” Poloncarz said.  “Renewable diesel can reduce lifecycle greenhouse-gas emissions by 90 percent so it’s better for the environment and reduces health risks to workers as well. I look forward to the results of this pilot program.”

Cutting emissions in the heavy-duty sector via electrification remains challenging.

The technology, infrastructure and market do not yet exist for reliable heavy-duty vehicle electrification, so snowplows and related heavy equipment are not yet able to be effectively electrified, the county pointed out.

In addition to lower greenhouse-gas emissions, renewable diesel has lower tailpipe emissions for particulates, sulfur, aromatics and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), reducing health risks to workers and lowering costs by reducing the amount of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) used and the number of particulate-filter regeneration cycles burned.

“We would like to partner with other municipalities, school districts and agencies on this program in order to achieve economies of scale, and as more buy in the savings increase,” said Bill Geary, the county’s public-works commissioner. “The New York State Office of General Services made renewable diesel available on the state contract for the 10 counties in the Albany area so more commitment from governments locally could get Erie and other counties added to the contract in 2026.”

Erie is currently the only county in New York with its own in-house renewable diesel program, according to Erie County.

The county solicited a bid in April for 5,000 gallons of fuel, which is provided by Kurk Fuel.

This renewable diesel is made from soybean oil, canola oil, waste grease or other feedstocks.

Erie County mandated no palm oil to be used in its fuel because of the “mass deforestation involved in palm-oil harvesting,” the county said.  

The Erie County government uses about 360,000 gallons of diesel annually. 

“If we completely switched over to renewable diesel, we would reduce our greenhouse-gas emissions by 6.6 million pounds per year,” said Lisa Chimera, deputy executive for the county. “New York City, California, New Mexico and Washington state are all using renewable diesel and it’s time for Erie County to join them.”