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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

October 2008

Safeway Delivers a Cleaner Environment With Biodiesel Trucks

Safeway’s trucks have gone “green” with biodiesel fuel, taking the equivalent of 7,500 cars off the road annually.
(Photo: Noah Berger)

Safeway Inc., a national food and drug retailer with Bay Area roots, is taking the term “greengrocer” to a whole new level by embracing environmental initiatives throughout its business operations, including the conversion early in 2008 of its entire California and U.S. truck fleet to cleaner-burning biodiesel fuel. The bold move has earned Safeway a 2008 Award of Merit.

“It’s just the right thing to do,” said Tom Nartker, vice president of transportation at Safeway. “We’ve been very socially responsible in terms of the environment for a number of years at Safeway, especially on the retail side, and we were looking for ways we could expand into our distribution and private fleet operations. So we came up with the idea of moving to biodiesel, which has created a huge opportunity for us to help reduce the amount of CO2 we emit into the air.”

Safeway’s biodiesel program is part of the company’s Greenhouse Gas and Sustainability Initiative, a dedicated effort to use solar power, wind power, alternative fuels and environmentally friendly construction strategies in conjunction with employee education and consumer outreach to reduce carbon emissions in the communities it serves.

Thanks to the “green” move to biodiesel, Safeway’s fleet has cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 75 million pounds annually, the equivalent of taking about 7,500 cars off the road. As a fleet, Safeway trucks annually travel about 25 million miles, and use 5 million gallons of the biodiesel fuel blend. Although there is not yet any cost advantage to using biodiesel, neither is it prohibitively expensive. Every Safeway truck sports special decals indicating the vehicle is operated with cleaner-burning biodiesel.

Safeway’s fleet of 1,000-plus tractor-trailer big rigs now run on what is known as B20 biodiesel, which consists of 80 percent normal diesel fuel blended with 20 percent soy-based biodiesel. B20 biodiesel reduces sulfur, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon and particulate emissions. The 80/20 blend is the percentage at which manufacturers will still guarantee the performance of the engine parts.

“The drivers can’t even tell the difference with the B20,” said Curt Friggle, Safeway’s truck repair manager. “But our fueler let us know that it smells like French fries!”

According to Nartker, “As soon as the manufacturers warrant the engines to a higher soy blend, Safeway will start using it. We’ve even tested a B100 biofuel, which is a 100 percent soy blend, but that is tougher on the engine and gels in cold weather.”

— Karin Betts

See VIDEO: Safeway’s Greenhouse Gas and Sustainability Initiative

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