The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is providing a $500,000 grant to the North Carolina Solar Center to support its Alternative Fuel Implementation Team (AFIT) project – a two-year collaboration among multiple stakeholders that is designed to increase the deployment of alternative fuels.
The AFIT project is focused on reducing barriers to more widespread deployment of biofuels, electric vehicles, natural gas and propane in public- and private-sector fleets. The group will develop a ‘petroleum displacement plan’ (PDP) toolkit that will assist fleet managers and vehicle owners in assessing and deploying alt fuels by offering cost/benefit criteria and best application options and scenarios for specific alternative fuels.
The project is focused on the Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte and Asheville areas and will draw expertise from DOE Clean Cities groups in five other states, as well as private-industry players such as Duke Energy, Holmes Oil Co., Public Service North Carolina and Piedmont Natural Gas.
