City Harvest, which collects excess food from restaurants, grocers, company cafeterias and manufacturers and then delivers it to community food programs throughout New York City, has extended its “waste not” motto to its truck fleet.
One of the fleet's 16 refrigerated box trucks was retrofitted to eliminate the need for idling by replacing the refrigerator with a cold plate system.
According to Jennifer McLean, vp-operations, “The…truck draws power off the engine while it's in motion to charge a cold plate…and keep perishable food at the right temperature.” The cold plate, which can be recharged at an electrical outlet, stores energy for 8 to 12 hours during delivery runs and longer when the doors are not opened.
The retrofitted City Harvest truck is expected to use 1,023 fewer gallons of fuel a year.
Adding to the vehicle's green resume is the fact that it runs on B20 biofuel.
www.cityharvest.org
