DRIVING THE INDUSTRY SINCE 1991
OTHER ROUTES TO FUEL REDUCTION Frank Giordano, transportation director
of Clark County School District in Las Vegas, said he switched tire suppliers a few years ago because of cost alone, not to go “green.” His department, one of the 10 larg- est in the nation, has three tire shops and six employees devoted solely to tires. With a 1,500-plus fleet, Clark County buys a lot of buses, about 100 annually, and a lot of tires. While he has ordered energy tires as
replacements for about two years, Giordano admitted he was more interested in perfor- mance and lifespan than fuel efficiency. He said the district is not requesting LRR tires in its current bid but may in the future. “We just happened to get the benefit of
the LRR tire, but we didn’t go after it when we initiated this change. Honestly, I can’t say we looked at it as fuel savings; we looked at the run-out of the tire,” he recalled. Giordano noted he hasn’t heard much talk about energy tires because transporta- tion directors just accept it as another new technology. “I don’t know if it’s been that big of a deal.
We’re always trying to reduce fuel usage,” he said, adding that his department has reduced overall emissions and fuel intake by retrofitting all buses with a diesel exhaust after-treatment, diesel oxidation catalysts and closed crankcase ventilation systems and by solely using a B5-blend of biodiesel. Dan Zielinski, senior VP of the Rub- ber Manufacturers Association, said LRR technology been around since the mid-1990s but grew in popularity when fuel prices first spiked to $4 per gallon in 2005, after Hurri- cane Katrina. “Tings haven’t come back to pre-recession
levels. It’s definitely been a sluggish recovery, and tire sales are not predicted to rise this year,” said Zielinski. “Businesses are watching fleet costs very carefully. School systems are also stretched for money, and they want to be sure the tires are safe and last a long time so they aren’t in need of replacement.” He added that the association had no fig-
ures to indicate how widespread LRR useage is in the school-bus or any other commercial vehicle market because it currently does not track sales.
Opposite page: Clark County School District's tire inventory. Above: proper tire maintenance and inflation are just as vital as using energy tires.
A WIDE RANGE OF LRR TIRES Currently all major tire manufacturers
offer lines that are SmartWay certified, but there are also LRR and Ultra-LRR tires that aren’t certified but achieve similar results, ac- cording to one tire company chief. Bert Jones, product marketing manager for Bridgestone Commercial Solutions, told STN every tire in their Bridgestone, Firestone and Dayton lines meets the greenhouse gas rule. “Te numbers that are required to comply
See Us At Booth #246
www.stnonline.com 41
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