The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) has awarded $1.11 million in grants for projects that will reduce air pollution from diesel-powered mobile sources.
Mobile sources are any type of vehicle that can pollute the air, including automobiles, trucks, buses, locomotives, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, construction equipment and lawnmowers. DAQ awards Mobile Source Emissions Reduction Grants every year for projects to replace, retrofit or repair diesel vehicles and reduce emissions.
This year’s awarded projects will replace 18 older diesel vehicles — four on-road refuse trucks and 14 off-road vehicles — with cleaner alternatives. Most of the funding, $866,300, will go toward new electric vehicles. Electrification projects, projects in historically under-resourced counties or environmental justice communities, and projects submitted by minority-owned or women-owned businesses received bonus points during the scoring of applications.
Together, this year’s awards will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3,044 tons over their lifetimes. They will also eliminate more than 43 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and 4 tons of particulate matter.
Applications for the 2023 Mobile Source Emissions Reduction grants opened last November and closed in February. After reviewing the proposals, DAQ awarded grants to the following local project:
Applicant: Ingles Markets Inc.
County: Buncombe
Grant Award: $285,400
Project Summary: Replaces two diesel freight terminal switch tractors with electric terminal switch tractors. This project eliminates the greenhouse gas emissions and 15.6 tons of lifetime NOx emissions associated with an internal combustion engine.
Written by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.