The Clean Air Fleets program, started in 2003, is a public-private initiative of the Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC) to help on- and off-road diesel operators voluntarily reduce diesel emissions while saving money. To accomplish this goal, Clean Air Fleets:

●   Identifies opportunities and leverages funds from a variety of sources to create effective projects that address the specific needs of 
     Denver Metro Area Fleets.
●   Enables local government and public works, school districts, private, off-road, and over-the-road fleets to install cost-efficient emissions 
     control and idle reduction technologies. 
●   Provides education and outreach assistance to fleet owners and operators about voluntary efforts they can undertake to achieve 
     emissions reductions on their own.

Accomplishments

Diesel Conferences and Workshops (2002, 2006, 2009) – Working with numerous public and private partners, the RAQC hosted two conferences in 2002 and 2006 and a workshop in 2009 focusing on current diesel-related issues. 

EPA Auxiliary Power Unit Project (2007 – 2008) – The RAQC worked with 9 owners and operators to install 10 Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) on over-the-road semi-tractor trailers to reduce unnecessary idling.

Colorado Retrofit Project (2007-2008) – CORP expanded the RAQC’s retrofit and education efforts to a majority of the school districts and public works fleets in the Denver Metro Area as well as working with a small number of private fleets.

Clean Yellow Fleets for Blue Skies (2003 – 2008) – The first phase of CYFBS was a regional education and retrofit partnership involving 15 local school districts. The CYFBS program successfully installed approximately 1,100 pieces of diesel retrofit equipment on over 800 buses throughout the metro-Denver region and encouraged the use of over 1,000,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel by participating districts. The program additionally implemented “best maintenance practice” trainings and educational outreach to reduce idling.

Diesel Initiative for Retrofit Technology (2003 – 2007) – D.I.R.T. was a small-scale program focused on reducing diesel emissions through the installation of diesel retrofit equipment in off-road fleets working in ‘sensitive’ areas throughout the metro-region. The D.I.R.T. project successfully installed 42 pieces of retrofit equipment on four off-road HDDVs at the City of Commerce City and 17 off-road vehicles at Brannan Sand and Gravel. These retrofits tapped into the off-road construction sector and helped reduce diesel emissions throughout the Northeast Denver area.

Clean Air Fleets Program (2002 – 2005) – The original Clean Air Fleets was implemented as a pilot program to educate area fleets about diesel retrofit technologies and successfully installed 69 pieces of diesel retrofit equipment and funded 19 biodiesel grants. The pilot program paved the way to other diesel retrofit efforts by showing project partners the technology was simple and easy to maintain.