JK Trucking adds biodiesel to its list of conservation initiatives
Many trucking companies would be content to implement two or three conservation measures and consider themselves done. JK Trucking introduces that many every year.
Since launching its conservation project in 2002, the Lethbridge-based company has created some 15 ongoing programs that offer environmental, economic and social benefits. They range from recycling batteries and installing bulk oil and windshield washer dispensers to using air-deflecting "whale tails" and becoming Canada's first long-haul firm to embrace biodiesel blends fleetwide.
"Obviously, it has to have an economic benefit, first and foremost," says Ryan Deacon-Rogers, project manager at JK Trucking, which operates 60 trucks in western Canada and the southwest U.S. "At the same time, we have a corporate philosophy to be as environmentally responsible as possible."
In 2005, the company spent nearly $200,000 to install Webasto heaters in its trucks. The subsequent reduction in idling resulted in fuel savings that paid off the equipment within a year and led to a 1.5-million-kilogram drop in carbon dioxide emissions.
A year later, JK installed whale tails on its refrigeration units, increasing fuel efficiency by eight per cent. It then further reduced its C02 emissions by 800,000 kilograms a year by introducing highway speed and idle controls, the latter automatically shutting off any truck after five minutes of idling.
In 2008, the company created a tire monitoring program that involves inspecting all 1,200 of the fleet's tires every two weeks for air pressure and wear. "The tire maintenance program has been phenomenal," says Deacon-Rogers, a chartered accountant who checked the tires himself the first few months of the program. "Besides the (4.8 per cent) increased fuel economy, it means fewer trucks pulled over to the side of the road with flat tires."
The same year, JK Trucking committed to a 10-per-cent biodiesel blend in all its trucks, further reducing its emissions by some 560,000 kilograms a year. It has the first biodiesel injection blending facility in western Canada and is a partner in a 66-million-litre biodiesel plant that Kyoto Fuels Corp. is building in Lethbridge.
"We wanted to be at the forefront in using biodiesel in Canada and demonstrate that it can work in the Canadian environment," says Deacon-Rogers. "We pride ourselves on being a leader in the industry. We think if more trucking companies adopt programs like this, the better the industry and the environment will be."
