Administrator Johnson, UPS Hydraulic Hybrid Presentation, Washington D.C.

Steve Johnson, EPA Administrator
Washington, D.C.
June 21, 2006

Thank you for joining us.

President Bush has said that the best way to meet our growing energy needs is through advances in technology – and we at the Environmental Protection Agency certainly agree.

And we’re not talking about a far-off dream, we’re talking about the rubber hitting the road - literally.  Today, because of our investment in fuel-efficient and cost-effective transportation technology, EPA and our partners are not just delivering packages with this UPS truck, we’re delivering environmental benefits to the American people.

I am proud to share the podium with our prestigious partners – UPS, the United States Army, Eaton, International, and Members of Congress.  This technology is an example of a public-private partnership at its best – where we work in collaboration, not confrontation, to deliver remarkable results.  Through this voluntary partnership, we are making the transportation technology of tomorrow, well within our grasp today.

As a lifelong scientist, I’m a true believer in technology’s ability to improve our country’s well-being.  When I began at EPA, we used typewriters, and blackberries were just something you ate.  Now powerful computers sit on every desk, and we shoot messages around the world from the gadgets strapped to our belts.

But you don’t need to be a scientist to be dazzled by the technology here today, because the bottom line is simple – this technology is good for our environment, good for our economy, and good for our nation’s energy security.

This summer, hydraulic hybrid UPS trucks, like this one here, will be hitting the road, delivering both packages and environmental benefits to doorstops across Michigan.  Soon it will be seen in neighborhoods throughout the entire nation.

EPA estimates these trucks can save one-thousand gallons of fuel each year.  Again, that’s a thousand gallons per year, per vehicle.  Imagine the enormous fuel savings for an entire fleet of trucks.

What we’re talking about is a fuel efficiency increase of 60-to-70 percent in urban settings – where most delivery vehicles are driven.  And as efficiency jumps, greenhouse gas emissions drop.  This technology produces 40 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions as compared to a conventional delivery truck.  With this technology, I guess you could say, Brown is the new green.

And this fuel efficient technology doesn’t just make sense for our environment and our energy security – it makes sense for our wallets.  Because the hydraulic hybrid system on this UPS vehicle is incredibly cost-effective, we expect that the upfront cost of the technology can be recouped within three years.  This means the net savings over the vehicle’s lifespan could exceed $50,000.

President Bush and EPA believe that investments in innovation will improve the lives and the livelihoods of generations of Americans.  So we can all be pleased that much of this technology is home-grown – invented and developed by the staff at EPA’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor, as well as at our partner research and development facilities.  Their vision and hard work has been driving this project, and I want to congratulate all of them on a job well done.

But this celebration isn’t about technology advances – it’s about technology solutions.  Today we are seeing that energy innovation solutions, like hydraulic hybrids, can power our nation’s economy, and drive our environmental success.

In his State of the Union Address, President Bush announced a new national investment in energy innovation in order to break America’s dependency on foreign sources of energy.

His Advanced Energy Initiative includes a national goal of replacing more than 75 percent of our oil imports by the year 2025.  The President knows that America is too reliant on foreign energy, and the best way to jump off this treadmill of dependency is through innovative technology.

Today, we are heeding the President’s call.  By encouraging these advances, EPA and our partners are moving technology breakthroughs from the labs to the streets.

These are exciting times for America.  President Bush has set big goals for our nation’s energy security, our economic well-being, and our environmental health.  Working with our partners, we are meeting the President’s charge by producing the innovations in technology to address our growing energy needs.

As the President understands, these technologies are not only good for our environment and good for our economy – they are good for America.

Once again, I would like to thank our partners for being here.  Through our investment in energy solutions, instead of just delivering packages, together we’re going door-to-door delivering environmental and economic results.

Thank you.