AC Transit was awarded California’s highest environmental honor for its use of hydrogen fuel cells and solar panels, Tuesday evening.
The agency was chosen for the award in part because of its comprehensive use of hydrogen fuel cells in its buses. Along with the 16 other awardees, AC Transit was honored with the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award at a ceremony in Sacramento.
“The thing that is a major part of the governor’s environmental platform has always been to reduce carbon emissions,” said Jim Marxen, head of communications at Cal/EPA, the state agency that coordinates the award program. “Fuel cells are still fairly cutting-edge, and it’s a technology that we’ve looked at for some time.”
AC Transit’s zero-emission fuel cell cars and buses have traveled more than 500,000 miles while carrying more than 1.8 million passengers since 2000, saving more than 68,000 gallons of diesel fuel, according to material presented at the GEELA ceremony.
The agency was also noted for installing more than 1.1 megawatts of solar power on its rooftops, with plans to install 300 kilowatts more in 2013, according to a press release from AC Transit.
Local environmental and transportation groups lauded AC Transit on the award.
“It’s really great to see AC Transit receive recognition from the governor for this program,” said Shannon Tracey, communications and development manager at Transform, an organization that works to improve public transportation in the Bay Area. “Zero emission buses reduce emissions where they travel, and that’s particularly beneficial to low-income communities in the East Bay that already suffer from high asthma rates due to air pollution.”
Other award winners this year include San Diego, Sonoma County and the San Francisco Giants.
“We’re leaders in the environment, so the things we do here in California to protect the environment are often times mimicked and repeated elsewhere in the world,” Marxen said.
Mitchell Handler covers academics and administration. Contact him at [email protected].