Fremont switching dozens of vehicles to renewable diesel.

Move should reduce emissions from the city’s vehicles by 13%

FREMONT >> In an effort to reduce its own carbon footprint, Fremont soon will be switching dozens of its heavy duty vehicles and equipment to renewable diesel, following the lead of other public agencies that have made the conversion in recent years.

About 90 city firetrucks, street sweepers, dump trucks, pickup trucks, lawn mowers, backhoes, tractors and vacuum trucks that currently use standard Number 2 diesel fuel will be switched over to renewable diesel, city officials said in an email to this news organization.

In all, the switch should result in “an immediate 13% reduction in total fleet carbon emissions,” Rachel DiFranco, the city’s sustainability manager, said last week.

According to a staff report, renewable diesel “is refined from 100% renewable sources such as cooking oils, vegetable oils, and animal fats and that is refined to the same molecular structure as petroleum diesel.”

The renewable gas is compatible with the city’s fuel storage and distribution systems and “suitable for all diesel engines requiring no additional investment,” the staff report states.

Besides reducing overall carbon dioxide emissions, the switch should result in “significantly lower” amounts of particulate matter hydrocarbons — those black plumes of smoke visible during cold engine startups — and other noxious fumes such as nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide, DiFranco said.

Oakland and San Francisco have been using renewable diesel since 2015 and San Leandro made the switch in 2018. The Fremont Unified School District also switched its school buses to renewable diesel about two years ago, DiFranco said.

Meanwhile, the city has tested out and is still using an all-electric Tesla Model S as a police patrol car and recently bought a Tesla Model Y for patrol use as well.

In a study released last year, Fremont estimated it could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its light-duty cars and trucks roughly 53% by 2030 if it exchanged all of them for electric vehicles.

Fremont has reduced overall greenhouse gas emissions in the city by a little more than 25% from 2005 levels, and as part of its long-term climate action plan is shooting for an additional 30% overall reduction by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2045.