In particular, the company says it benefited from the mass deployment of about 10,000 clean diesel Sprinter vans, which are about 70 to 100 percent more fuel efficient than the vehicles they replaced.
In FY12, FedEx Express increased its alternative-fuel fleet by 18 percent, for a total of 118 electric vehicles and 364 hybrid-electrics. It says that these vehicles saved 112,000 gallons of fuel and more than 1,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions in FY12 alone.
FedEx Express continues testing newer EV models as well as retrofitting standard delivery vehicles with all-electric drivetrains, from suppliers including Smith Electric Vehicles and Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. It is also working with General Electric, Con Edison and Columbia University on a smart grid pilot project in lower Manhattan, focused on creating an advanced infrastructure of EV charging facilities. FedEx Express also operates 76 trucks fueled by compressed natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas in its Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America markets.
Facilities
In FY12, the company says it saved 59,910,238 KWh of electricity and 42,270 metric tons of CO2e in 164 FedEx facilities through lighting improvements. These included T5HO fluorescent high-bay lights for interior sorting areas and employee parking lots, LED lighting for loading docks and T8 fluorescent lighting for office buildings.
FedEx now has nine solar-energy facilities, six in the US and three in Europe. In September, the Solar Energy Industries Association listed FedEx among the top 20 commercial users of solar electricity in the US. FedEx Office also bought 25,000 MWh of renewable energy credits in 2012.
The company says it is not feasible for it to determine how much of its purchased electricity comes from renewable sources, because it operates thousands of facilities with numerous local electricity utility suppliers.
Solid waste
In FY12, FedEx’s recycling rate rose to 58 percent, from 36 percent in FY11 – a rise of 38.6 million pounds, from 47.9 million pounds in FY11 to 86.5 in FY12. Total waste at FedEx facilities in FY12 was 74,624 US tons.
But the company says it still has some waste data gaps. At FedEx Ground facilities, it only tracks regulated hazardous and nonhazardous waste, not municipal solid waste. It also says it has no way to track waste disposal at many of its FedEx Office stores, which have waste disposal services bundled with facility leases.
