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LI Fueling Your Fleet www.landscapeirrigation.com Landscape and Irrigation March 2015 41 a bulk contract will see a dip in fuel costs over the summer when there's a decrease in demand. Since landscape contractors op- erate mostly through the sum- mer months, they benefit from buying propane when it's tradi- tionally least expensive. Recently, Columbus, Ohio's Recreation and Parks Depart- ment reported substantial cost savings even without a fuel con- tract. According to Bill Burns, fleet operations manager, Co- lumbus still saves about 50 cents per gallon on propane when compared with gasoline. "Our refueling program works really well so far, and we haven't even entered into a bulk rate con- tract yet," said Burns. "Once we set a contract rate, I can imagine we'll save about 50 percent or more on fuel costs and it will allow us to better budget our fuel spend." GasoLIne wILL Go back up Many economists and energy an- alysts are attributing the current oil price decline to the cyclical nature of the petroleum industry. As a Forbes article from Dec. 22, 2014, put it, "In the longer run, this cycle will be another part of the industry's history…" That is to say, gasoline has had major price swings in the past, and it will in the future. At some point in the near term, oil prices will bottom out and then invariably begin to increase. While alternative fuels such as propane also fluctuate in price, they consistently track at a lower price than oil. benefIts beyond the prIce of fueL Propane-powered mowers re- duce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 15 percent and carbon monoxide emissions by more than 40 percent compared with gasoline-fueled mowers. As a result, propane mowers are ex- empt from Ozone Action Days, which means no lost time in the field, bringing even more rev- enue to the table. Regardless of the price of oil, propane's sustainability advan- tages over gasoline can be adver- tised by contractors as point of differentiation from other area landscapers to attract new busi- ness. There is a growing market segment of residential homeown- ers who prefer to hire a contrac- tor operating propane and tout- ing their sustainable practices. In some cases, commercial busi- nesses and public entities actually require sustainable mowing prac- tices as part of their bid. To these customers and bids, propane's benefits resonate re- gardless if a barrel of oil costs $45 or $145. Jeremy Wishart is the deputy director of business development for the Propane Education & Re- search Council. fleet tracking for fuel savings When it comes to fueling your fleet vehicles, a com- prehensive GPS fleet tracking solution with fuel card integration capabilities makes it easy to reduce both fuel usage and fuel costs. Your GPS fleet tracking solution should provide a full range of features that track, moni- tor and analyze fuel consumption so you can improve efficiencies, reduce waste, account for fuel purchases and improve buying behavior. The fuel card integration provided by your GPS fleet tracking solution should give you a complete view of your fleet operations and fleet fuel consumption. Fuel card integration should incorporate gas card data, fuel card transactions and maintenance purchase informa- tion into your GPS fleet tracking solution. This shows fleet managers how much their employees are spend- ing and where they are purchasing fuel, identifying any excessive spending or inefficiencies. In addition, your fuel card integration should allow dispatchers to identify gas and service stations in the area, as well as in- network stations, allowing them to easily direct drivers to the closest merchant and save on fuel usage. Your GPS fleet tracking solution should also provide detailed fleet reports, including reports on fuel efficiency, idling and vehicle activity. These reports provide a window into fleet operations, showing managers what works and what doesn't and detailing any excessive fuel usage. Fuel efficiency reports allow fleet managers to compare ex- pected to actual fuel consumption, while idle reports help reduce fuel consumption by reducing idling activity. A comprehensive fuel management solution should also provide features that assist with vehicle mainte- nance with maintenance alerts, reports, schedules and logs . A well-maintained vehicle is more efficient, uses less fuel and saves on future repair costs. Negative driving behaviors such as aggressive driv- ing, speeding and rapid acceleration, burn excessive fuel, increasing your fuel costs. Your GPS fleet tracking solution should include features that identify and reduce dangerous driving behaviors. This should be provided through driver safety reports, which monitor and alert a fleet manager if a driver needs coaching or improvement. Overall, your GPS fleet tracking solution should pro- vide several options to monitor fuel usage and provide actionable data to reduce fuel spend and increase fleet efficiencies. Sidebar article provided by NexTraq. The NexTraq Fleet Tracking solution and its applications — Fleet Dispatch, Fleet Metrics and NexTraq Connect — deliver real-time data needed to optimize fleet operations. For more information on the NexTraq Fleet Tracking solu- tion, visit www.nextraq.com. Fuel efficiency reports allow fleet managers to compare expected to actual fuel consumption.